Sometimes, you need more information than even the best background check can provide.

Today, I’m talking specifically to all the business owners and CEOs out there who may be looking to hire a new CFO. As I’m sure you can imagine, this isn’t the sort of endeavor you want to undertake lightly. A quality background check is great, but sometimes there’s more to the story than that.

A typical background check won’t tell you, for example, how a particular candidate has managed their assets in the past. It won’t tell you if they’ve ever been bankrupt, if there are any liens and judgement’s on their record. No matter how experienced an interviewee may be, debt is a very real concern in today’s age. A person may never have stolen anything more than that pencil from Susie Jones’ desk in 2nd grade, but you’d be surprised what the looming threat of financial ruin can drive people to.

The last thing you want is to find out that your new CFO has embezzled money from your company to dig themselves out of a personal financial hole.

There are two steps you need to take to avoid this. First, run a quality asset search on all of your applicants. This will give you details on how each person has handled their finances in the past, as well as any outstanding debts they may be holding and any bankruptcies they may have undergone. This will give you a fuller picture of how a candidate actually handles money, not just how they’re capable of or how they’ve been trained to handle it. Sadly, there’s often a disconnect between head knowledge and actual practice.

Before entering into a partnership like this with someone, you need to be reasonably certain you can trust them.

Second, you need to file a UCC Financing Statement on your CFO hire. Here’s a definition of the UCC according to the State of Tennessee Business Services Division:

“A UCC-1 is a ‘financing statement’ filed to provide notice that a creditor has a security interest in a debtor’s personal property. It is not an agreement. It is just notice to the world that one person claims an interest in someone else’s property, usually as collateral for a debt.”

Basically, if you’re going to trust someone with your company’s money, you need assurances lest—God forbid—something goes wrong. If you lose money because of the new hire, you’ve got a lien on their assets and can make sure you’re reimbursed.

Marcus Background Investigations offers quality asset searches that will get you the information you need when you need it. No cheap reports or long waits here! Just professional reports guaranteed to protect you and your business from ruin.

Embezzlement is a very real problem that can cripple your organization. With this new knowledge under your belt and Marcus Background Investigations on your side, you won’t become a statistic.