Authors note: After I posted DC&H I received several notes from readers requesting that I tell Kathy's side of the story. I thank those readers for their interest and dedicate this story to them.
I would also like to thank Techsan for taking the time from his busy schedule to edit this story for me.
My name is Kathy Alpin and I was twenty-nine years old when my fall began.
I had felt that 2002 was going to be our year. My Husband Fred and I were having our dream home built and in spite of the problems we were having with the building inspectors I was excited about the prospect of moving into our new house that summer. Fred was handling the frustrating business of dealing with the inspector and our contractor without much help from me. I was preoccupied with events taking place at DC&H where I worked.
At that time I had been manager of the accounting department at DC&H for two years and had twenty accountants reporting to me. DC&H was coming off two years of record growth in the mergers and acquisitions business, which had provided me with very generous year-end bonuses. The problems arose in January when some severe management problems were uncovered at the DC&H offices in Indianapolis. It was an internal audit run by my department that had uncovered irregularities in the revenue claimed by the sales department. The fourth quarter sales numbers had been overstated in order to justify commission bonuses paid to the sales manager, the office manager and a few others. I wasn't sure if the fact that I led the audit team would help protect me from the coming purge.
The proverbial crap hit the fan on the third of February. A team from corporate headquarters in New York, consisting of a company vice president, the head of corporate security, and a team of auditors came to our office. I spent the day with the corporate auditors going over the results of my audit and by the end of the day the office manager; the sales manager and two other lower level managers had been escorted from the building by the head of corporate security.
I felt bad for those that were fired but I was more concerned with what would happen to me. I was told that when I finished meeting with the corporate audit team that I was to meet with the vice president that was leading the team investigating the problems in our office. I was afraid that all of the managers in the office had been tainted by the actions of a few people and I fully expected that my meeting with the VP would be the end of my career at DC&H.
I finished with the auditors at six o'clock that evening and was then escorted to the conference room where Jack Hanson, Vice President of Corporate Sales, was waiting for me.
"Please come in Mrs. Alpin," Mr. Hanson said. "Get yourself a cup of coffee or a soda if you like and have a seat. This won't take very long. It's been a long day and I am sure you are anxious to get home."
Jack Hanson was very distinguished looking forty-six year old man. He was six feel tall, slender and appeared to be in excellent physical condition. His steel gray eyes penetrated me as I sat down across the table from him. I could feel my heart pounding as I waited to hear what he had to say to me.
"I guess this has been a pretty traumatic experience for you," he said. "To have four people fired and know that it was your audit that was responsible. It should put your mind at ease to know that the corporate auditors were already suspicious of the fourth quarter report. If you hadn't found the problem in your audit they would have. The difference is that if it had been corporate that found it you would have been let go with the others."
I felt like I should say something but I couldn't think of anything so I kept silent.
"What I am trying to say is that you are not responsible for what happened. Those men were going to lose their jobs anyway the only thing your audit did was save your job," he said. "By the way, the four that were let go were told that it was corporate accounting that caught them, so you don't have to worry about them being angry with you."
"Thank you. I was worried about that," I said.
I was starting to feel a little better. I wasn't going to lose my job and that was a relief but I was still a little uncomfortable sitting alone with Mr. Hanson.
"Mrs. Alpin, may I call you Kathy?"
"Yes."
"Good. Kathy, in preparation for today I spent the last two weeks going over the personnel files of every employee in this office. First, I needed to determine who and how many were involved in the false reporting of the sales figures. Second, I had to make decisions on which employees to keep after the reorganization. I have to say that I was very impressed with your personnel file. You have an excellent work record and an impressive resume. I have to say that I am a bit surprised to find an MBA from the Wharton School at Penn working as a first level accounting manager."
"When I just finished my degree six years ago, there weren't any good jobs for an MBA in Indianapolis," I said. "I worked for a couple of other companies before I got this job two years ago."
"Why didn't you go somewhere else? I am sure with a degree from Wharton you could have gotten a lot better job somewhere else," he said.
"My husband was working for Independent Investigations Corporation (IIC) in Indianapolis before we got married," I said. "He was doing well and didn't want to leave Indianapolis. I thought that I would eventually get a good job here."
"What is IIC?"
"IIC provides investigative services to large insurance companies. They investigate insurance claims for fraud, retrieve stolen property and that sort of thing," I said.
"Interesting. Do you and your husband expect to be staying in this area for a while?" he asked.
"Yes. We are in the process of building a house and plan to stay in Indianapolis," I said.
"Good. I plan on moving my office from New York to Indianapolis and I will be looking for people I can count on to help get this office back on track. If you are a member of my team I can promise you will be rewarded for your efforts," he said.
"Can I ask what kind of rewards you are talking about?"
"Think high level position in the corporation, big salary, bonuses and stock options," he said. "I think you can begin to get the picture."
My stomach started to do flips and I could feel my face flush. Was he just teasing me or could that really happen. I decided to believe it could really happen.
"What do I have to do to become a member of your team?"
"Nothing right now. First we have to get the office through this transition and then we can focus on other things," he said. "I have to ask you not to tell anyone about this conversation. I wouldn't want anyone else to know what I am telling you. Let me just say that I have big plans for myself in this corporation and this office is going to be a key to my success. If you work with me to help me attain my goals, I will take you up with me."
We talked a little more about personal stuff. I told him more about Fred and the house we were building but he didn't say much about himself. By the time I left to go home I felt very comfortable with Mr. Hanson.
I was so excited on the way home I barely remembered the drive. It seemed as though I was just suddenly home. I couldn't wait to get into the house to tell Fred what had happened at work and about the meeting I had with Mr. Hanson.
