“Backdate this payment” and other improper requests

Every finance panel asks an integrity question, and it is worth more points than any other. The usual forms: “Your manager asks you to backdate a payment so it falls inside the grant period.” “A director tells you to pay a supplier today; the invoice will come next week.” “A colleague asks you to sign a cash count you did not witness.” “You notice a supplier's phone number is the same as a staff member's.” They all test the same thing: will the records stay true when someone with power wants them changed?

The panel is not looking for a hero who shouts “fraud” and resigns. It is looking for someone who does not do it, stays polite, and uses the channel. Most improper requests are not fraud; they are a manager under pressure who has not thought it through. Your answer should treat it that way first.

1. 1Do not do it, and say why in the manager's interest. “If I date it 30 June, the auditor will see the bank date in July and the whole grant report is questioned. Let me find the correct way to handle it.”
2. 2Offer the correct route. For a late payment: charge it to the next period or ask the donor for a no-cost extension. For a missing invoice: a pro-forma invoice and an advance against it, approved at the right level, with the invoice due before the next payment. For a cash count: recount together, now.
3. 3If the person insists, ask for it in writing. “Please send me the instruction by email and I'll attach it to the voucher.” Most requests end here. If it arrives in writing, you still do not process it: you take it to the next level.
4. 4Escalate through the channel: your manager's manager, the finance director, the internal auditor or the board's audit committee, or the whistleblowing line or donor hotline that most NGOs and banks publish. Keep copies of the documents; change nothing.
5. 5If you suspect fraud rather than a mistake, do not investigate or confront. Note what you saw, keep the evidence safe, report it privately to the right person, and cooperate with the investigation. Reporting in good faith is protected by policy at serious organisations.