Here are some of the places we are speaking soon. We’d love to see you at one of them.
Jul 15
Altura Periodontics, Denver CO
Jul 17
Patterson Dental, Nashville TN
Jul 31
Arkansas Association of Orthodontists, Little Rock AR
Sept 11
Northeastern Society of Orthodontists, Providence RI
Sept 25
Sikka Summit San Francisco CA
Oct 30
Team Orthodontics, Phoenix AZ
Nov 5
ADA Annual Meeting, Washington DC
Nov 6
Dr. Bruce Fraser Study Club, Columbus OH
Nov 10
Limestone City Study Club, Kingston ON
Nov 13
Academy for Orthodontic Excellence, Newport Beach, CA
Nov 24
Lexington Oral Surgery Study Group, Lexington KY
2016
Jan 15
North Eastern District, Duluth MN
Mar 4
American Academy of Dental Practice Administration, Beverly Hills, CA
Mar 25
Presenting to four study clubs, Plantation FL
May 5
Ontario Dental Association, Toronto ON
Our presentations have great titles like “How To Steal From A dentist” and “How NOT to Hire the Wrong People in your Practice.”
To book a great speaker for your meeting or study club, please send an email here or call us at 888-398-2327.
Prosperident’s Mission
“We eliminate uncertainty for dentists with embezzlement concerns and maximize financial and emotional recovery for victims.”
A Promotion!
Scott Clifford, who is one of our “go-to” examiners has been promoted to Supervising Examiner. Scott heads Prosperident’s Special Investigations Department. Congratulations, Scott!
This Month in Our Web Store
For the month of June, we have reduced the price of our most popular document, our Embezzlement Risk Assessment Questionnaire from $79 to $49.
The Questionnaire, which takes about 20 minutes to complete, is the most effective method for determining if embezzlement is happening at your office. It focuses on employee behavior, which research suggests is the primary indicator of dental embezzlement.
The price goes back up on July 4, so get yours today here.
A Testimonial
Danya Montoya is an advisor working with Jamieson Management. She recently shared a story about how one of our previous articles allowed her to help a client avoid a HUGE hiring mistake. We thought we would share. Let’s hear from Danya:
“One of my clients was in the process of hiring a replacement for an underperforming employee.
“I called the client to check in. He informed me that he had conducted interviews of several candidates. One candidate was exceptional with lots of insurance management, chart auditing skills, Dentrix software knowledge, and amazing collection experience. He was so impressed with her that he hired her on the spot to begin working next week.
“I recalled an article I read from Prosperident (click here to see the article) just minutes before my call. In this newsletter, David Harris spoke of finding the right person and ways to verify they were a good fit. David outlined a few key points like being well dressed, having a resume with no typos, having extensive software knowledge, and wanting to do it their way, as traits of someone who knows how to embezzle. His experience has proven that if all of these key things are in place, that you should really check their background. My client described this candidate using ALL of the above descriptors! I immediately shared the Prosperident newsletter information that I had just read and forwarded the article on to my client. I encouraged him to contact the last place of employment and speak with the doctor to ask if he would hire her again. No other questions, just that one.
“When my client called the previous dentist, he did not even get to ask the question to the doctor. The doctor immediately told my client that he would never hire this woman again. He said he could not go into details but the police were at his office conducting an investigation. My client emailed me letting me know that I “must be psychic” and told me the story of speaking with the past employer.
“I encouraged my client to contact the candidate immediately and retract his offer for employment and let her know that her services were not needed. He was so grateful that I shared that article with him. He was not going to call the past employer for verification because he was desperate to replace an existing staff member. Foresight was better than hindsight in this case!
“I am proud to have helped my client and to have kept him from a potential disaster! This was HUGE in my book and his.”
One of our all-time favorite interviews — listen to one of the smartest guys in dentistry, Gary Takacs, interview Prosperident CEO David Harris click here.
A Note From Our CEO:
I
Test the honesty of your staff?
I have seen a few people advocate dentists setting up an “honesty test” for front desk staff. Normally this involves the dentist surreptitiously slipping an extra $50 into the cash drawer to see what happens to it. The theory is simple; if person handling the cash brings the overage to the doctor, they are honest, and if they don’t, they aren’t.
This test suffers from a basic flaw — the inventor understood the thought process of honest people far better than he or she understood thieves.
If I were working at your front desk and noticed an extra $50 in the cash (and I would notice, because thieves almost always have excellent control over cash), the question I would ask myself if what the best way to “invest” the errant $50 would be. Whether I would recognize that I was being tested or not, I would realize that returning this money to you would convince you of my honesty, which will dramatically increase my opportunities for stealing.
Therefore, my “investment” of giving you back the $50 would probably be returned to me hundreds of times. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me at all to find an occasional thief simply returning a small portion of what they have stolen from you as a “cash overage,”with exactly the same effect.
I’ll also make a basic observation about human nature. In general, honest people do not feel a need to tell you how honest they are, and what we call “conspicuous displays of honesty” are a red flag, whether you are observing the behavior of a staff member or buying a car.
So I agree that if you sneak $50 into the cash drawer and it disappears, you have a problem, but in the situation where the $50 is returned, I think that you learned absolutely nothing.
So what does work in controlling embezzlement? Since the majority of embezzlers display at least two “embezzlement-like” behaviors, the best detection tool available is our Embezzlement Risk Assessment Questionnaire. You can get yours here and for the month of June it is available at a reduced price.
Here are some of the places we are speaking soon. We’d love to see you at one of them.
Jul 15
Altura Periodontics, Denver CO
Jul 17
Patterson Dental, Nashville TN
Jul 31
Arkansas Association of Orthodontists, Little Rock AR
Sept 11
Northeastern Society of Orthodontists, Providence RI
Sept 25
Sikka Summit San Francisco CA
Oct 30
Team Orthodontics, Phoenix AZ
Nov 5
ADA Annual Meeting, Washington DC
Nov 6
Dr. Bruce Fraser Study Club, Columbus OH
Nov 10
Limestone City Study Club, Kingston ON
Nov 13
Academy for Orthodontic Excellence, Newport Beach, CA
Nov 24
Lexington Oral Surgery Study Group, Lexington KY
2016
Jan 15
North Eastern District, Duluth MN
Mar 4
American Academy of Dental Practice Administration, Beverly Hills, CA
Mar 25
Presenting to four study clubs, Plantation FL
May 5
Ontario Dental Association, Toronto ON
Our presentations have great titles like “How To Steal From A dentist” and “How NOT to Hire the Wrong People in your Practice.”
To book a great speaker for your meeting or study club, please send an email here or call us at 888-398-2327.
Prosperident’s Mission
“We eliminate uncertainty for dentists with embezzlement concerns and maximize financial and emotional recovery for victims.”
Hear David Harris’ podcast interview with The Relentless Dentist called “Are You Employing Criminals?” here.
Take our assessment questionnaire for FREE!
OK — still can’t believe that we are doing this. Our best-selling web store item is our Embezzlement Risk Assessment Questionnaire, which allows dentists to gauge the chance that they are being embezzled. To date, the questionnaire was a paper form that people completed and scored manually.
Our boss has been wanting this converted to an online format — easier to complete, and our big shiny computer can do the scoring.
The online version is finally ready, and the boss told us that he will allow up to 500 dentists to complete it for FREE (we normally sell the questionnaire for $79). It now takes less than 10 minutes to complete.
So this is a great chance to use a state-of-the-art practice assessment tool at no cost whatsoever. The quota will certainly be used up quickly, so don’t dawdle!
This is a question that we get asked a lot. Most dentists expect their CPA to be on their “front-line” of embezzlement protection. And yet, in a 2007 study by the ADA showed that external accountants discovered less than 9% of embezzlement in dental offices. I think it is safe to conclude that most dentists overestimate the embezzlement protection provided by the accounting relationship.
Before you reach the conclusion that CPAs are letting the dental community down (and as a CPA myself, I feel some obligation to defend the accounting profession) let me explain some of the elements of the relationship between dentist and CPA that you might not have considered:
Many dentists deal with “generalist” CPAs, who do not specialize in dealing with dentists. While the generalists can bring valuable perspective to your situation, they may not have the basis for comparing your practice to others that a “dental CPA” can.
CPAs can perform three different levels of scrutiny and analysis when doing your work. The highest level of assurance is provided by an “audit.” In an audit, your CPA will do sufficient analysis and independent verification to obtain “reasonable assurance that the financial statements are free from material misstatement.” An audit’s primary focus is financial statement integrity, not embezzlement, and while an audit increases the chance of embezzlement detection, this is not the primary focus of an audit. Even so, audits can be expensive, and for that reason, most dental practice owners elect for a lower level of scrutiny; either a “review” or compilation.
In a review, the accountant normally performs ratio analysis to obtain “limited assurance” that your statements do not need modifications. In a compilation, which is the most common engagement for dental practices, the CPA simply turns your raw information into financial statements, without any particular scrutiny.
So it isn’t that the accountants are asleep at the switch; it’s that most dentists aren’t prepared to pay for any scrutiny of their information from their accountant. And even if they did, there are some further limitations you should consider:
Most accountants aren’t well equipped to think like criminals. For most of what they do, this is hardly a character flaw. However, it reduces their ability to spot embezzlement. In general, accountants have limited ability to navigate through your practice management software. Most embezzlement happens inside your software, with a much smaller amount taking place outside your software (such as stealing funds out of your bank deposit.
Accountants typically have a strong seasonal pattern to their workflow, and most dentists interact at their CPA’s busiest time of year. This limits the amount of mental energy and proactivity that your accountant can offer you.
We have the privilege of working with some truly excellent CPA firms, and I am quick to defend the accounting profession against the sometimes unrealistic expectations of its clients. The lesson here is to ensure that you and your accountant understand each other; accountants are happy to accept a mandate to provide higher assurance about your financial statements, but you have to mandate them to do so and be prepared to pay for it.
I’ve said it before — your best defense against embezzlement is to watch employee behavior closely. Our Embezzlement Risk Assessment Questionnaire is free for a short time — click here to find out how at-risk your practice is.
Here are some of the places we are speaking soon. We’d love to see you at one of them.
Sept 11
Northeastern Society of Orthodontists, Providence RI
Sept 11
Davis Dental Lab, Wyoming MI
Sept 15
Limestone City Study Club, Kingston ON
Sept 17
Windy City Study Club, Elmwood Park IL
Sept 25
Sikka Summit San Francisco CA
Oct 30
Team Orthodontics, Phoenix AZ
Nov 5
ADA Annual Meeting, Washington DC
Nov 6
Dr. Bruce Fraser Study Club, Columbus OH
Nov 11
Yakima Valley Dental Society, Yakima WA
Nov 13
Academy for Orthodontic Excellence, Newport Beach, CA
Nov 24
Lexington Oral Surgery Study Group, Lexington KY
Dec 1
American Association of Orthodontist, webinar
2016
Jan 15
North Eastern District, Duluth MN
Jan 22
Long Island Dental Forum, Hauppage, NY
Feb 27
Ortho2 User Group Meeting, Las Vegas NV
Mar 4
American Academy of Dental Practice Administration, Beverly Hills, CA
Mar 25
Presenting to four study clubs, Plantation FL
May 5
Ontario Dental Association, Toronto ON
May 29
Journees dentiare internationales du Quebec, Montreal QC
Our presentations have great titles like “How To Steal From A dentist” and “How NOT to Hire the Wrong People in your Practice.”
To book a great speaker for your meeting or study club, please click here or call us at 888-398-2327.
Prosperident’s Mission
“We eliminate uncertainty for dentists with embezzlement concerns and maximize financial and emotional recovery for victims.”
See David Harris’ video interview with Dr. Suham Alexander of the Canadian Dental Association here.
EXTENDED — Take our assessment questionnaire for FREE!
Our last offer to take our Embezzlement Risk Assessment Questionnaire (which normally sells for $79) for FREE sold out quickly, so the boss agreed to extend the offer until the end of August.
The Questionnaire takes ten minutes or less to complete, and is the most reliable indicator of whether a dentist has an embezzlement issue.
You can take the Questionnaire by clicking here. We will email you back with your score and our recommendations.
A Note From Our CEO:
I
Why does it take YEARS for someone who embezzles to go to jail?
Something that surprises victims is the painful slowness with which the justice system operates. Many victims expect, on making a complaint, that the police to immediately appear at their office or the suspect’s home and remove them in handcuffs. What actually happens is quite different.
Before they arrest someone, the police need to investigate. In a complex white-collar crime like embezzlement, few police departments have the expertise to analyze transactions conducted in practice management software, so they normally wait for us to complete our investigation and provide them with a report. Using our report as a starting point, they will then conduct their own investigation, which might include questioning the suspect, interviewing witnesses and possibly compelling banks to supply information on transactions through the suspect’s account.
Every police department exists in a climate of limited resources, so it must determine its priorities. As you might expect, public pressure to deal with violent crime often diverts resources away from non-violent crime like embezzlement. As a result, it might take six months or more after you have made a complaint before a detective is assigned, and then several more months before their investigation is complete. Then the detective will review his or her findings with their supervisor to make a decision about whether there is sufficient evidence to meet with the District Attorney or US Attorney about moving the case into the court system.
As a result, it may take a year or so after police work is complete before an accused steps into a courtroom and an equal amount of time for someone to be tried, convicted, and sentenced. So the entire process may take 3-4 years to conclude, and as I mentioned first-time offenders often receive seemingly light sentences. While I share the frustration of many victims about the speed and end results, I also understand the reasons why the system functions as it does, and how unlikely these factors are to change.
If you have embezzlement concerns about your practice, a great place to start is to take our Embezzlement Risk Assessment Questionnaire, which is free until the end of August. Please click here to be taken to the Questionnaire. It’s now quicker than ever to complete the Questionnaire, and investing a few minutes of your time can save you a bundle.
Here are some of the places we are speaking soon. We’d love to see you at one of them.
Sept 11
Northeastern Society of Orthodontists, Providence RI
Sept 11
Davis Dental Lab, Wyoming MI
Sept 15
Limestone City Study Club, Kingston ON
Sept 17
Windy City Study Club, Elmwood Park IL
Sept 25
Sikka Summit San Francisco CA
Oct 30
Team Orthodontics, Phoenix AZ
Nov 5
ADA Annual Meeting, Washington DC
Nov 6
Dr. Bruce Fraser Study Club, Columbus OH
Nov 11
Yakima Valley Dental Society, Yakima WA
Nov 13
Academy for Orthodontic Excellence, Newport Beach, CA
Nov 24
Lexington Oral Surgery Study Group, Lexington KY
Dec 1
American Association of Orthodontist, webinar
2016
Jan 15
North Eastern District, Duluth MN
Jan 22
Long Island Dental Forum, Hauppage, NY
Jan 28
Topsfest, Atlanta
Feb 27
Ortho2 User Group Meeting, Las Vegas NV
Mar 4
American Academy of Dental Practice Administration, Beverly Hills, CA
Mar 23
Oral and Dental Implant Surgery, Pittsfield MA
Mar 25
Presenting to four study clubs, Plantation FL
May 5
Ontario Dental Association, Toronto ON
May 29
Journees dentiare internationales du Quebec, Montreal QC
Coming soon
The Thomas P. Hinman Meeting, Atlanta
Chicago Midwinter Meeting, Chicago
Our presentations have great titles like “How To Steal From A dentist” and “How NOT to Hire the Wrong People in your Practice.”
To book a great speaker for your meeting or study club, please click here or call us at 888-398-2327.
Prosperident’s Mission
“We eliminate uncertainty for dentists with embezzlement concerns and maximize financial and emotional recovery for victims.”
A promotion!
Prosperident’s CEO once described hiring Wendy Chediac as “the best hiring decision we ever made.” Her role in improving the company’s efficiency has been huge. So we are pleased to announce her promotion to Vice President Investigations, overseeing all of Prosperident’s examinations. Congratulations, Wendy!
EXTENDED — Take our assessment questionnaire for FREE!
Our recent offer to take our Embezzlement Risk Assessment Questionnaire (which normally sells for $79) for FREE ended on Labor Day (when hopefully many of you were away from the office), so the boss agreed to extend the offer until September 15, 2015. So you have one last chance to take the Questionnaire for FREE.
Completion takes ten minutes or less and the Questionnaire is the most reliable indicator of whether a dentist faces an embezzlement issue.
You can take the Questionnaire by clicking here. We will email you back with your score and our recommendations.
Are Criminals Running your Practice? Dr. Mark Costes chats with Prosperident CEO David Harris
Hear Author, speaker, dental business coach and practicing dentist Dr. Mark Costes interview David here.
A Note From Our CEO:
I
Welcome Back!
With summer vacations now a fading memory for most of us, the kids back in school, cottages closed up etc., it’s time to turn our minds back to our practices.
We have had a busy summer here at Prosperident — we completed a major upgrade of our computer systems that increased our computing power by about 500%. We also are in the process of implementing some new software that will help us do our work better and more quickly. And to top it off, our active case load this summer was more than 30% higher than at the same time last year.
To keep up with the workload, we have also been busy hiring and training people to add to our workforce, and I have been very pleased with the caliber of the people we have been able to attract. I’ll be telling you more about them in future newsletters.
One final development that I am excited about is that we have been working with a company that has been developing software that will be of tremendous value to dentists in protecting themselves from embezzlement. I can’t say much more right now, but the software is currently in the final testing stages and should be released to the market in the very near future.
So there are lots of exciting things happening here. It meant that most of us got less time at the beach this summer than we had hoped, but for some very good causes.
Now that we are back in focus, it’s time to talk about that nasty concept, embezzlement. With 8-10% of dental practices in the US and Canada being embezzled each year, all dentists need to be aware of the possibility that you may be a victim.
A fantastic diagnostic tool is our Embezzlement Risk Assessment Questionnaire, which is free until the middle of September. Every practicing dentist should do this basic check.
Please click here to be taken to the Questionnaire. It’s now quicker than ever to complete, and investing a few minutes of your time can save you both money and heartache.
Here are some of the places we are speaking soon. We’d love to see you at one of them.
Oct 30
Foothills Study Club, Phoenix AZ
Nov 5
ADA Annual Meeting, Washington DC
Nov 6
Dr. Bruce Fraser Study Club, Columbus OH
Nov 11
Yakima Valley Dental Society, Yakima WA
Nov 13
Academy for Orthodontic Excellence, Newport Beach, CA
Dec 1
American Association of Orthodontists, webinar
2016
Jan 15
North Eastern District, Duluth MN
Jan 22
Long Island Dental Forum, Hauppauge, NY
Jan 28
Topsfest, Atlanta
Feb 27
Ortho2 User Group Meeting, Las Vegas NV
Mar 4
American Academy of Dental Practice Administration, Beverly Hills, CA
Mar 23
Oral and Dental Implant Surgery, Pittsfield MA
Mar 25
Presenting to four study clubs, Plantation FL
May 5
Ontario Dental Association, Toronto ON
May 29
Journees dentiare internationales du Quebec, Montreal QC
Coming soon
The Thomas P. Hinman Meeting, Atlanta
Chicago Midwinter Meeting, Chicago
Our presentations have great titles like “How To Steal From A dentist” and “How NOT to Hire the Wrong People in your Practice.”
To book a great speaker for your meeting or study club, please click here or call us at 888-398-2327.
Prosperident’s Mission
“We eliminate uncertainty for dentists with embezzlement concerns and maximize financial and emotional recovery for victims.”
What is “Litigation Support”?
Prosperident’s Senior Examiner Annie Joseph was on her way to a career as an attorney when she got bitten by the investigation bug. Annie now heads our Litigation Support department, with the role of gathering information used in litigation matters.
Examples include working for buyers of practices who believe that facts were misrepresented, assisting with disputes between dentists in group practices and dealing with “covenant breaches.”
Annie’s law degree and Master of Science in Fraud and Forensics make her ideal for this work.
Are You Getting Embezzled? Dr. Howard Farran interviews Prosperident CEO David Harris
Hear Dentaltown’s CEO Howard Farran, one of the most interesting guys in dentistry, interview David here.
EXTENDED — Take our assessment questionnaire for FREE!
Our recent offer to take our Embezzlement Risk Assessment Questionnaire (which normally sells for $79) for FREE ended on September 15. However, response was so good that the boss agreed to extend the grace period until the end of October.
Completion takes ten minutes or less and the Questionnaire is the most reliable indicator of whether a dentist faces an embezzlement issue.
You can take the Questionnaire by clicking here. We will quickly email you back with your score, what it means, and our recommendations for action.
A Note From Our CEO:
I
Big Announcement!
In previous newsletters, I have dropped a couple of hints about this, but now it’s time to fill you in on an exciting development.
For many years we have seen the need for some technological assistance to help dentists monitor their practices for embezzlement. Without this help, monitoring is a daunting task and is frequently done poorly or not at all.
In the last few years, there have been a couple of entrants into the monitoring market, but the software that they work with is limited, and the monitoring software is still maturing. And while we have been pleased to support these options, we have continued to pine for the next generation of monitoring software.
We were thrilled to be approached over a year ago by a company with a strong background in software development. This company shared our vision to develop advanced and innovative practice monitoring software. Our team of embezzlement experts quickly meshed with their cadre of software developers, and Shieldr was conceived. It developed into a product that can not only provide sophisticated monitoring for embezzlement, but also identify other types of revenue “leakage,”and can measurably reduce a doctor’s time in managing his or her office. This time saving alone more than justifies Shieldr’s modest monthly cost.
Shieldr is currently being beta tested in a small number of offices and is expected to be generally available within the next month. You learn more about the product by going to Shieldr’s web site at www.shieldr.com.
Shieldr will also be exhibiting at major dental shows over the next several months, and if you are going to the ADA, Greater NY, Yankee Dental or Chicago Midwinter conferences, please be sure to stop by the Shieldr booth. Who knows — you might even see me there.
Here are some of the places we are speaking soon. We’d love to see you at one of them.
Nov 11
Yakima Valley Dental Society, Yakima WA
Nov 13
Academy for Orthodontic Excellence, Newport Beach, CA
Dec 1
American Association of Orthodontists, webinar
2016
Jan 15
North Eastern District, Duluth MN
Jan 22
Long Island Dental Forum, Hauppauge, NY
Jan 28
Topsfest, Atlanta
Feb 27
Ortho2 User Group Meeting, Las Vegas NV
Mar 4
American Academy of Dental Practice Administration, Beverly Hills, CA
Mar 23
Oral and Dental Implant Surgery, Pittsfield MA
Mar 25
Presenting to four study clubs, Plantation FL
May 5
Ontario Dental Association, Toronto ON
May 29
Journees dentiare internationales du Quebec, Montreal QC
Coming soon
The Thomas P. Hinman Meeting, Atlanta
Chicago Midwinter Meeting, Chicago
Our presentations have great titles like “How To Steal From A dentist” and “How NOT to Hire the Wrong People in your Practice.”
To book a great speaker for your meeting or study club, please click here or call us at 888-398-2327.
Prosperident’s Mission
“We eliminate uncertainty for dentists with embezzlement concerns and maximize financial and emotional recovery for victims.”
What is “Special Investigations”?
Scott Clifford had spent his adult life in dental offices when he and Prosperident found each other. He quickly proved himself both a brilliant investigator and a willing and patient mentor to Prosperident’s team.
Scott now holds an enviable position — he oversees Prosperident’s Special Investigations group, which handles some of our most complex files (including spouses embezzling from dentists, and dentists in group practices embezzling from each other).
SI is the place where “the unusual is a daily occurrence, and the unimaginable happens about once a month.”
Scott’s wife Rose is also now working with us, and we expect that it his genius-IQ daughter will eventually feel the calling.
Eight Things Dentists Misunderstand About Embezzlement
A common topic for our speakers is what dentists misunderstand about embezzlement. Here is our list:
MYTH #1 — Embezzlers only steal cash, and it is difficult for thieves to monetize other forms of payment.
FACT — It is simple for a thief to turn a check, credit card payment or even an electronic funds transfer into cash.
MYTH # 2 — Embezzlement can’t be happening in my practice because my daysheet always balances to my bank deposit.
FACT –Embezzlers have gotten good at “cooking” your daysheet so that it balances to what is left after they steal. The only thing that your daysheet and deposit being equal means is that your thief can add.
MYTH #3 — Most embezzlement is caused by making hiring mistakes.
FACT — While it is true that “serial embezzlers” usually can easily find work in a new dental office, the vast majority of our casework involves long-term employees who have decided to start embezzling.
MYTH #4 — If embezzlement is happening, my accountant will spot it.
FACT — in a 2007 study of embezzlement, the American Dental Association found that less than 15% of embezzlement was identified by accountants. This is not the result of any failing on their part — most dentists ask the lowest cost mandate, and this means that the accountants are doing accounting but no analysis.
TO BE CONTINUED NEXT MONTH…
Financial automation and protection for dentists
www.shieldr.com
A Note From Our CEO:
I
Six things you may not know about Prosperident
We talk about embezzlement quite a bit, but we are sometimes a bit shy when it comes to talking about ourselves. Here are a few things you may not know about us:
1. We did our first investigation in 1989 (on a manual “peg-board” system), before we had a cell phone or an internet connection. We have grown a lot since then in both size and technology.
2. We only investigate dental embezzlement and do not assist physicians, physical therapists or anyone else.
3. Everyone who works here has a dental background. 20% of Prosperident’s people have at least one parent who is a dentist.
4. Our work is completely stealthy and is normally done through the Cloud — it is rare that we need to be physically present when we are doing an investigation.
5. Our head office is located in Nova Scotia, Canada (known as “Canada’s Ocean Playground”), but more than 60% of our work force lives in the US, and is spread out across both coasts and the middle. We have team members on both coasts, some who inexplicably do not live near an ocean.
6. We offer four kinds of help to dentists:
● We work with dentists who have already confirmed embezzlement to find out what happened and maximize recovery.
● We assist dentists who have concerns that embezzlement may be happening in their practices.
● We work with dentists who want a “prophylactic” look at their practices to make sure that embezzlement isn’t happening.
● We review control systems in use in an office to identify where improvement can be made.
Please feel free to call us (our toll-free phone number is 888-398-2327) if you think that we can help you.
American Academy of Dental Practice Admin, Beverly Hills CA
Mar 23
Oral and Dental Implant Surgery, Pittsfield MA
Mar 25
Four study clubs, Plantation FL
May 5
Ontario Dental Association, Toronto ON
May 13
Eastside Dental Study Club, Cincinnati OH
May 29
Journees Dentiare Internationale du Quebec, Montreal QC
Wendy Askins, MBA, CFE
We would like to congratulate Wendy Askins on the completion of the Certified Fraud Examiner designation.
Wendy, who is one of our longest serving team members, heads our Orthodontic Examination Department.
The CFE is the “gold standard” certification for fraud investigation. Way to go, Wendy!
Embezzlement’s Biggest Myths (continued)
Last month we started an article outlining the things most doctors misunderstood about embezzlement. The online news site DrBicuspid.com saw the first part of the article and asked if we would develop it into a piece suitable for its online publication, which we were happy to do.
You can read the full article on DrBicuspid’s web site here.
This Month in Our Web Store
The boss said make it good, so we did. Until December 31, everything in our web store is 50% off the regular price. Check it out at www.dentalembezzlement.com/store
Also, we should mention that the prices for several of our investigative services will be increasing on January 1, so if you think you need us and want to lock in 2015 pricing, please contact us before December 31.
A Note From Our CEO
With the Thanksgiving turkey eaten, and with Christmas decorations erupting everywhere, it’s the time of year when I normally become a bit introspective.
It’s been a phenomenal year for Prosperident; we have progressed in so many areas. Our computer horsepower has quintupled, our investigative prowess keeps growing, and we have reduced the average time for completing an investigation by almost 25%.
We are also excited about our involvement with Shieldr — this affordably-priced embezzlement monitoring software is now testing in a few dozen offices. The Shieldr programming team continues to expand the practice management software that Shieldr can work with (it now monitors Eaglesoft, Dentrix and Open Dental systems, with Practiceworks and Softdent integration imminent). In addition to embezzlement monitoring, Shieldr virtually eliminates a doctor’s dependence on printed reports by elegantly organizing all important financial information on your smartphone.
Even more exciting for me is the people with whom I am privileged to work. Prosperident has collected a team of incredibly talented and motivated people who make working here a joy. In 2015, we have promoted several people into new positions and all have moved capably into their new roles. We have made several excellent new hires.
Sadly, we have also lost some friends this year, including one of our “originals,”Dr. Roel Wyman, who passed away a few months ago.
On behalf of everyone at Prosperident, I hope that you and your family have a wonderful (and embezzlement free) holiday season.
American Academy of Dental Practice Admin, Long Beach CA
Mar 23
Oral and Dental Implant Surgery, Pittsfield MA
Mar 25
Four study clubs, Plantation FL
May 5
Ontario Dental Association, Toronto ON
May 13
Eastside Dental Study Club, Cincinnati OH
May 29
Journees Dentiare Internationale du Quebec, Montreal QC
www.shieldr.com
Examiner Profile
Mindy Salzman CFE
Senior Examiner Mindy Salzman is one of our newest, but also most experienced, examiners.
Mindy is a Certified Fraud Examiner with 25 years of accounting and dental embezzlement examination experience.
She also knows her way around dental software, having been a trainer for Carestream, Dentrix, Curve, DentiMax, and QuickBooks Pro.
Mindy has also lectured on embezzlement in the United States, Australia and New Zealand, and has authored numerous articles on embezzlement.
We are thrilled to have Mindy on our team.
Did you miss a previous newsletter? We archive them here.
My Embezzlement Problem is Solved — The Person I Suspected Just Quit…
Occasionally, a dentist who called us with embezzlement concerns subsequently tells us that, because the suspected staff member has now quit or been fired, the dentist believes that the “door is closed” on this matter, and no further action is required.
Are they right about this?
In a word — NO!
It’s dangerous to think that nothing further needs to be done because the employee about who you were concerned has left.
If your New Year’s resolution is to see if you are being embezzled, we are here to help.
Our popular Embezzlement Risk Assessment Questionnaire, which normally costs $79, is yours this month for only $19. A pretty small price to look at the likelihood that your practice is being embezzled. Check is out at www.dentalembezzlement.com/store
A Note From Our CEO
Early in December, I got a very frustrated call from a dentist’s spouse. The source of her frustration was that when they suspected embezzlement several months earlier, she had hired a well-known firm of forensic accountants. After investing several months (and many thousands of dollars) with the forensic accounting firm, she felt that she was no closer to having an answer than when she engaged the accounting firm.
In speaking with her, my impression was that the accounting firm really didn’t understand how to look for dental embezzlement and was visibly “grasping at straws.” One of the things the forensic accounting firm billed for examining was how many vehicles the suspected employee owned. Results of such a search are circumstantial– even if the suspect owned several vehicles, this would not prove that she was embezzling, and more importantly, how she was stealing. This oblique approach suggested that this firm didn’t have a more direct way to solve this problem.
This couple decided to terminate the engagement of the forensic accountants and hire us. I’m pleased to report that we were able to deliver the answers that they were seeking within a month, and for less money than they had already been billed by the forensic accounting firm that produced no tangible outcome for them. The clients were pleased with the results we got, and the speed with which we obtained them.
What this reinforces to me is that investigating dental embezzlement is a specialized field, and that even people who understand other fraud may struggle with this work. Our people all understand both dentistry and embezzlement. Mindy Salzman, who is profiled in this newsletter, is representative of our examiners. She has an accounting degree, a formal fraud investigation qualification, and has spent most of her adult life working in the dental field.
Even within our narrow niche, many of our people are sub-specialized. For example, certain dental specialties (e.g., oral surgery and orthodontics) have business processes and software quite different from other branches of dentistry, and we have examiners who specialize in these files. We also have team members who deal with specific situations, like fraud or misrepresentation on the part of a seller in a dental practice sale.
If you are a dentist who is an embezzlement victim, we would welcome the opportunity to discuss your situation and how we could assist. Please feel free to email us here and tell us about your situation. We will be happy to schedule a time to chat with you.
Thanks for reading.
David Harris CPA, CMA, MBA, CFE, CFF
Chief Executive Officer
Prosperident — the world’s largest dental embezzlement investigation firm
Journees Dentiare Internationale du Quebec, Montreal QC
Oct 15
Pacific Coast Society of Orthodontists, Palm Springs CA
Nov 10
Carestream Global Oral Health Summit, Las Vegas NV
www.shieldr.com
Examiner Profile
Anne (Joseph) Bernacki JD, MS
Senior Examiner Anne Bernacki was, as they say, on her way to a successful career as an attorney when she got bitten by the investigation bug.
Like many at Prosperident, Anne comes from a dental family. Her father is an orthodontist and both grandfathers were dentists.
Anne completed her law degree at Duquesne University and has a graduate degree in Fraud and Forensics from Carlow University.
Anne heads our Litigation Support group, which provides assistance to attorneys in matters involving practice purchase disputes, lost income claims and similar matters.
Did you miss a previous newsletter? We archive them here.
Guest Column — Sandy Baird MBA
As our regular readers know, we sometimes feature guest columns from people we consider to be bright lights in dentistry.
This month’s guest is Sandy Baird. Sandy is a consultant with broad knowledge and a particular interest in embezzlement. She is also a long-time friend of our CEO, David Harris.
We periodically share our knowledge on how to avoid making hiring mistakes. Sandy recently provided us with an excellent article with the compelling title “How do you Stop an Embezzler? DON’T HIRE ONE!”. This article offers some valuable practical suggestions that may well help you “dodge a bullet” when hiring.
READ SANDY’S ARTICLE HERE
Sandy’s website is www.bairdconcepts.com, and her phone number is 877-511-4759. Thanks for being our guest, Sandy!
This Month in Our Web Store
This month’s offering isn’t technically from our web store. Instead, we are offering a $500 credit against any investigation for which we are retained between now and February 28, 2016.
Simply mention this newsletter to get the credit, which our attorneys insist we tell you cannot be combined with any other offer.
A Note From Our CEO
I’d like to share a letter we got last week, the kind of letter we absolutely love getting. The recipient was Supervising Examiner Wendy Askins MBA CFE. The letter reads:
I wanted to thank you for your assistance in processing my claim with my insurance company after I was embezzled from a couple of years ago. It was an absolute pleasure working with you in spite of the nature of the situation.
Prosperident is a wonderful company based on my dealings with them and they have a gem in having you on their team. I have never known anyone with a clearer understanding of accounting and dealing with different management software to get to the facts in a financial situation. Your skills are amazing to me and you could certainly have a job with me if you ever wanted.
I also appreciated the tact and great people skills you have in clarifying to the accountants and researchers from the insurance company. Sadly, their skills and knowledge of the business was far less than yours as you patiently explained the obvious facts from your research.
I just wanted you to have this letter of recommendation from me for your records because it’s rare that I come across someone like you that I can confidently give my highest recommendation to. Thank you so much for the great work you did for me!
If you are a dentist who is an embezzlement victim, we would welcome the opportunity to discuss your situation and how we could assist. Please feel free to email us here and tell us about your situation. We will be happy to schedule a time to chat with you.
Thanks for reading.
David Harris CPA, CMA, MBA, CFE, CFF
Chief Executive Officer
Prosperident — the world’s largest dental embezzlement investigation firm
Alabama Association of Oral Surgeons, Birmingham AL
Mar 7
Spartanburg Dental Society, Spartanburg SC
Mar 18
Hinman Meeting, Atlanta GA
Mar 23
Oral and Dental Implant Surgery, Pittsfield MA
Mar 25
Four study clubs, Plantation FL
Apr 5
North Shore Implants & Oral Surgery, Huntington NY
Apr 26
Will County Dental Society, Joliette IL
Apr 29
Port Huron Study Club, Port Huron MI
May 5
Ontario Dental Association, Toronto ON
May 13
Eastside Dental Study Club, Cincinnati OH
May 29
Journees Dentiare Internationale du Quebec, Montreal QC
Oct 15
Pacific Coast Society of Orthodontists, Palm Springs CA
Nov 10
Carestream Global Oral Health Summit, Las Vegas NV
For more information, or to book a fantastic speaker for your society or study club, please click here.
Examiner Profile
Luci Berardi, BSc, CFE
Senior Examiner Luci Berardi’s two decades of managing large dental specialty practices, plus her Certified Fraud Examiner designation (which is the “gold standard” for fraud examiners), make Luci one of our “go-to” examiners for tough cases.
Luci is also actively involved in the American Association of Dental Office Managers, and serves as the President of AADOM’s Denver chapter.
In her spare time, Luci eats really healthy food.
Did you miss a previous newsletter? We archive them here.
What Houdini And Embezzlers Have In Common
Harry Houdini was probably the most famous magician of all time. His daring escapes included the “Water Torture Cell” (where he was manacled and suspended upside down in an oversized aquarium), and the “Overboard Box Escape”, where he was locked in a wooden packing crate that was lowered into the water.
While many who watched Houdini’s daring escapes probably believed that he had supernatural powers, Houdini was a master illusionist. Since many of his stunts were performed in full view of his audience, he relied on two key elements to perform the impossible. First, he was dependent on cleverly constructed props. However, his true genius was mastering the art of misdirection — getting his audience to focus on his hands while he was doing something with his feet, for example.
Although embezzlers in your office do not stand in the spotlight in the same way that Harry Houdini did, they rely om the same two things. Like Houdini, they have clever props (often taking the form of adulterated reports on which the embezzler has worked their “magic”). A busy dental office is an excellent place to introduce some distraction, and embezzlers become adept at encouraging you to see what they want you to see.
This week marks a significant milestone for Prosperident. In the next seven days, we will be giving SIX embezzlement presentations in various parts of the country.
I’m pleased that we have been able to attract a talented team here — these speaking engagements involve four different speakers from Prosperident. The other three are excellent speakers, and I try hard to be as good as they are.
I’m also pleased that our long-held goal of educating dentists about the danger that embezzlement poses to their practices is producing results; dentists are more aware of the problem, and more interested in the solution, than they have ever been.
It is also shocking and sometimes saddening to grasp the enormity of the problem (embezzlement took well over a BILLION dollars out of dentists’ pockets in 2015). I occasionally need to remind myself that awareness does not cause the problem — it just facilitates keeping score.
If you a member of that large cohort of dentists who is an embezzlement victim, we would welcome the opportunity to discuss your situation and how we could assist. Please feel free to email us here and tell us about your situation. We will be happy to schedule a time to chat with you.
Thanks for reading.
David Harris CPA, CMA, MBA, CFE, CFF
Chief Executive Officer
Prosperident — the world’s largest dental embezzlement investigation firm
