Lesson 3.2
It’s Not Your Money
Estimated time: 7 minutes
This is one of the most important principles in this course:
IT’S NOT YOUR MONEY.
If money belongs to:
- the customer
- the employer
- the organization
- another employee
- a supplier
- another authorized party
then access to it does not make it yours.
Scenario 1 — Customer Overpayment
A customer accidentally transfers ₦120,000 instead of ₦102,000.
The employee notices.
The customer does not.
The extra ₦18,000 is not a bonus.
It is not “luck.”
It is not yours.
Scenario 2 — Cash Without a Receipt
A customer pays cash.
The employee thinks:
“Nobody knows exactly how much the customer gave me.”
That is not an opportunity.
That is a test of integrity.
Scenario 3 — The Business Has Plenty
An employee says:
“This company makes millions. What is ₦5,000 to them?”
Ownership does not change because the owner has more money.
Taking what does not belong to you does not become ethical because the other person can afford the loss.
Scenario 4 — “I’ll Put It Back”
Someone removes money intending to replace it after payday.
The intention to return it does not create permission to take it.
If authorization was required and was not given, the money was still taken without permission.
More Workplace Examples
Retail — “The Machine Is Down”
An employee tells a customer the card machine and transfer details are not working and gives their own bank account instead.
The system was working. The aim was to divert the payment.
That is not a payment problem. It is taking money that belongs to the business.
BETTER BEHAVIOR
Authorized Exception
The owner sends a written message: “The business account is frozen until Friday. Collect transfers into your account, record each one and send the full amount to the business account when it reopens.”
BETTER BEHAVIOR
Authorization, transparency, documentation and intent matter. Without them, the same action becomes diversion.
Remember
Access is not ownership.
Being trusted with money is not permission to use it personally.
Workplace action
Identify the money-handling points in your workplace.
Ask:
- Whose money is this?
- What am I authorized to do with it?
- What record should exist?
- Who should be informed if something is wrong?