For the past two months, I’ve been conducting the 2024 Utility Staffing Survey. This survey has become a biennial survey, alternating years with the Utility Fee Survey. The initial Utility Staffing Survey was in 2016, followed by additional surveys in […]
0 comments
Continuing with the theme of fraud prevention, this issue looks at another fraud case involving an easily overlooked internal control. Cheaters never win! I’m a huge Carolina Hurricanes fan and, when a player from the opposing team is charged with […]
0 comments
Following up on the last issue dealing with fraud prevention, this issue looks at void payments and another important, but easy to implement, internal control. As with the last issue, today’s example can easily be implemented by monitoring existing reports. […]
0 comments
Recently, I’ve been giving some thought to a new presentation dealing with fraud prevention. The working title is Safeguarding your Business Office Against Fraud. It will draw upon my experiences with the handful of fraud cases I either worked with […]
0 comments
Have you ever wondered if your office is understaffed…? Do you need to justify a new position to management…? Here’s your chance to find out! You’re invited to participate in the 2024 Utility Staffing Survey. This survey will examine staffing […]
0 comments
Last week, a newsletter subscriber emailed me and inquired if I had written about offering incentives for customers signing up for bank drafts or paperless billing (ebilling). I have touched on it in the past, but I’ve not written a […]
0 comments
I subscribe to a number of daily emails – probably too many, if I’m honest with myself! One of them, Axios Finish Line, arrives at bedtime and this one from last week really stood out to me. What really spoke […]
0 comments
I’m not sure where ideas for this newsletter would originate were it not for the listservs I belong to! This week, it was a question about starting a round-up program to assist customers who have difficulty paying their bills. Since […]
0 comments
A recent listserv post started me thinking about policies and policy manuals, in particular. The question on the listserv asked about charging a returned check fee for a failed ACH payment. This seems like an easy answer – or is […]
0 comments
As we approach the New Year, I want to take a moment to reflect on the past year and wish you a very Happy New Year! This past year was my first full year as a freelance consultant, helping utilities […]
0 comments