An
internal auditor for a manufacturing
group was concerned about anomalies in
stock levels. He thought
someone might be pinching stock but he
couldn’t prove it. He had his
eye on one shifty-looking individual who every
day drove his old
truck out of the factory with the load covered by a
tarpaulin. Time
after time the auditor stopped the bloke, made him
remove the
tarpaulin and then inspected the load. On every occasion there
was only
scrap metal in the truck which the driver said he was taking to
the
tip. On three occasions the auditor made the bloke remove the

tarpaulin and then unload the scrap in front of him, suspecting that there

might be stolen stock hidden underneath. Nothing. He could never
find
anything amiss.

After a few months of this the auditor was
offered a better job
elsewhere and resigned. A few weeks later he
was drinking in a pub when the
shifty character walked in. On a
n impulse the auditor went up to him and
said, “Look, I’ve left
the company, I’m not interested in taking it
any further and I
won’t shop you, but I just have to know. What were
you
taking?”

And the bloke said “Tarpaulins.”