Timesheet Fraud
Definition
The falsification of hours worked, rates of pay, or attendance records to generate a larger payroll payment than is legitimately owed. Includes recording overtime not worked, clocking in for absent colleagues, and supervisor approval of inflated time records.
- Category
- Payroll fraud
- Common methods
- Unworked overtime, buddy clocking, inflated hours
- Enabler
- Supervisor approval of records without verification
- Effect
- Larger payroll payment than legitimately owed
Common questions
How is timesheet fraud usually detected?+
Investigators typically compare timesheet-reported hours against independent data such as building access-card logs, computer login timestamps, or CCTV, looking for hours claimed when the employee was demonstrably not on site.
Why does supervisor approval not prevent this fraud?+
A supervisor who signs off on hours without checking them against an independent source is only confirming that a claim was submitted, not that it is accurate, and collusion between an employee and a lax or complicit supervisor is a common variant of the scheme.
Related terms
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