Occupational fraud is defined as: "The use of one’s occupation for personal enrichment through the deliberate misuse or misapplication of the employing organization’s resources or assets."  Below are 12 reasons to Get a Background Check that reinforce the needs for understanding the background of employees, contractors and those have access to your companies assets. The statistics are gathered from the 2008 Report to the Nation on Occupational Fraud & Abuse.

1. It is estimated that U.S. organizations lose 7% of their annual revenues to fraud. That translates to approximately $994 billion in fraud losses.
2. The median loss caused by the occupational frauds in this study was $175,000. More than one-quarter of the frauds involved losses of at least $1 million.
3. Occupational fraud schemes frequently continue for years before they are detected.
4. Occupational frauds are much more likely to be detected by a tip than by audits, controls or any other means.
5. The largest median losses occurred in manufacturing $441,000, banking $250,000, and insurance $216,000.
6. Small businesses are especially vulnerable to occupational fraud. The median loss suffered by organizations with fewer than 100 employees was $200,000. This was higher than the median loss in any other category, including the largest organizations. Small businesses also suffered the largest losses in our 2006 study. Check tampering and fraudulent billing were the most common small business fraud schemes.
7. Occupational frauds were most often committed by the accounting department or upper management.
8. The most commonly cited behavioral red flags were perpetrators living beyond their apparent means 39% of cases or experiencing financial difficulties at the time of the frauds 34%.
9. Nearly 40% of the victims in our study were privately owned companies, making this category the most highly represented among cases reported to us
10. More than half of the fraud cases we studied involved a fraudster over the age of 40, and over one-third of the schemes were perpetrated by individuals between the ages of 41 and 50.
11. Schemes perpetrated by individuals in their 50s resulted in a median loss of $500,000, twice as high as any age bracket below them.
12. The 29 schemes perpetrated by individuals who earned over $500,000 were associated with a median loss of $50 million dollars. This is 50 times that of any other income bracket.

Statistics taken from the 2008 Report to the Nation on Occupational Fraud & Abuse