What describes a ghost employee?

What describes a ghost employee?

• A. A fictitious vendor
• B. Overstating hours for an actual employee
• C. A ghost employee on the payroll
• D. A duplicate paycheck

Answer: (C)

A ghost employee is someone who appears on the payroll but does not actually work for the company. This happens when a non-existent or inactive worker is kept on the payroll, often through collusion with someone who controls payroll records, leading to wages paid for work never performed. This is a payroll fraud type, rooted in weak internal controls, where HR/payroll data aren’t properly verified and reconciled. That matches the description most precisely because it specifically refers to a person on the payroll who isn’t a real, working employee. The other scenarios describe different frauds—fictitious vendors involve suppliers, overstating hours concerns timekeeping for a real employee, and a duplicate paycheck involves paying the same check twice—so they do not describe a ghost employee.

A ghost employee is someone who appears on the payroll but does not actually work for the company. This happens when a non-existent or inactive worker is kept on the payroll, often through collusion with someone who controls payroll records, leading to wages paid for work never performed. This is a payroll fraud type, rooted in weak internal controls, where HR/payroll data aren’t properly verified and reconciled.

That matches the description most precisely because it specifically refers to a person on the payroll who isn’t a real, working employee. The other scenarios describe different frauds—fictitious vendors involve suppliers, overstating hours concerns timekeeping for a real employee, and a duplicate paycheck involves paying the same check twice—so they do not describe a ghost employee.