Hiltz’s Axiom; stealing 5% of revenue adds up.
Have you ever wondered how much a dental embezzler can steal and it go unnoticed?
HILTZ’S AXIOM is a general rule that applies to a most cases of dental embezzlement.
The axiom states that the most a dental embezzler can steal for an extended period of time and it go unnoticed is 5% of practice revenue.
In a Typical Case of Dental Embezzlement stealing more than 5% of practice revenue for many months (or years) can cause the practice owner to notice that something is wrong and become suspicious.
Chronic embezzlement is most always “slow and slow” – here is a graph is from an real case of dental embezzlement.
The dental embezzler in this case began stealing when she was 56 years old and over the next eight years stole in excess of $160,000 and the actual losses were likely over $220,000 .
The y-axis is percent of total revenue. The x-axis represents years from 2012 to 2019.
As we look, you can see that the amount increases each successive year to a maximum of 4.88%
In 2019, the practice owner started becoming suspicious, which caused the dishonest employee to reduce the amount of theft in 2019 by 1% (about $8000)