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On Wednesday afternoon Matt was due to attend a lecture on campus at Persford University. He’d spent Tuesday at home reading some background to the topic for the lecture. It was the first lecture in the Accounting and Finance module. Particularly appropriate thought Matt as he’d been checking his bank statement that morning in fact and had noticed that the university had taken two duplicate direct debits of just over a thousand pounds. He’d opted to pay by instalments as he was no longer working. They could have afforded to pay as a lump sum, but fifteen thousand was a sizeable amount so they had paid the twenty-five percent deposit upfront and then there were ten monthly instalments due. Fortunately, Emma’s salary had just been paid into their joint account otherwise they would have gone overdrawn. All the same, it meant they’d had to transfer some money from their savings account to cover their direct debits and expenditure. They had no idea how long it would take for the duplicate payment to be refunded but Matt was heading over to the student services department prior to his lecture. He wanted to make sure that this double payment wouldn’t happen again.
Having received an apology, he headed over to the snack bar to pick up a coffee. As it was after the main lunchtime rush there wasn’t much of a queue. He bought his latte and then realising he had over half an hour before the start of his lecture decided to sit and drink it in the seating area rather than walk straight over to the lecture theatre. He was checking his emails on his phone when he was conscious of a shadow, indicating the approach of someone. He looked up and found himself looking at a young woman. There were a few seconds before either of them spoke, then Polly broke the silence.
‘Hi, it’s Matt, isn’t it?’
‘Yes, oh, hi, Polly, good to see you! How are things?’
‘Well, OK, mind if I sit down? Or are you in a rush?’
Matt moved his bag and his jacket from the spare seat and moved it out slightly so Polly could take it.
‘I’ve got about fifteen minutes then I need to head over to my lecture.’
Polly looked surprised.
‘Oh, sorry, I guess you don’t know, I’ve decided to study part-time for an MBA, Executive MBA to be precise. Decided I wanted to move in that direction and it also means I can share the childcare with Emma, Toby’s at nursery three days a week now.’
‘Sounds like a nice balance,’ said Polly.
‘Yes, it is, much better than when I was at BioQex. I do miss the science, but, well,’ and he paused, ‘it’s better,’ he said.
‘It’s nice to see you, I just wanted to thank you again for your support when Nick, well, when Nick had his spot of, er, well trouble a few months ago. I know you contacted the police and offered to be a character witness. It was good of you.’
‘Nonsense, it was the least I could do. Nick’s a good chemist and a good employee. How is he now after that awful assault?’
‘Well, he’s OK, much better actually, although he’s rather prone to headaches. I’ve insisted he takes it easy, well easier than he used to at BioQex. He’s doing OK though.’
‘Well, that’s good to hear, and are you still in publicity, or was it marketing here?’
‘I was in that department but I moved a few weeks ago. I’m now in the Finance Department, specifically procurement.’
Matt nodded, ‘well that’s excellent, a new challenge for you.’
‘Certainly is,’ said Polly, looking around and checking who else was taking a break at that precise moment. ‘I’ve taken over from someone who left suddenly, although I’m not officially allowed to say why that was,’ Matt nodded and winked at that point. ‘Well, I’ve got some experience of being in accounts, I did an accounting qualification before I joined the university, I worked for a small engineering company. Anyway, they wanted someone to examine the processes in accounts, look at efficiencies that sort of thing, and I’ve been tasked with saving at least ten percent of the budget.’
‘Goodness, that’s quite an undertaking,’ said Matt, ‘good luck with that. Mind you I’m not surprised really, the university has grown so much in the last few years and it wouldn’t be surprising if their accounts department hasn’t kept pace with things. I’m sure things need streamlining.’
‘Yes, they do seem to be a bit old-fashioned in the way they do things, it doesn’t seem very transparent from what I can see at the moment.’
Matt looked at his watch and started to gather his things.
‘Sorry Polly, just keeping an eye on the time. It’s funny you should mention processes in your department. I’m early as I’ve just been over to Student Services as they took two duplicate direct debits for my course fee this month. Good thing I spotted it as we would have gone overdrawn and then we would have been charged bank fees. They’ve promised to refund the money in a few days. Some complicated explanation about some new software or something. Anyway, it’s all sorted now.’
They stood up and said their goodbyes. Polly walked back to her office mulling over her conversation with Matt. It had been good to catch up with him, he was such a nice guy. It was very interesting what he’d just told her. She wondered how often this was happening, double charging for course fees. It could be a one-off, these things were bound to happen. However, it was worth remembering. She was conscious that she was turning into Nick, reading too much into things. She’d accused him so many times of inventing conspiracy theories. This was the first time she’d been in this situation but she had to admit she was going down the same path as her fiancé. She’d only been in her new financial role for a few weeks but she’d been concerned by what she’d seen so far. There was little accountability and little regulation. At the moment she had no direct proof but she had a suspicion that things were not as rigorous as they should be. Lack of controls could be serious and if the wrong people were employed it could mean only one thing, an opportunity for fraud.
