Protect the company and its people -Double checking system must always work-

This time, Inamori* spoke about the above motto to Seiwajuku workshop members. What Inamori said is quoted with “”.

“People can simply make mistakes. Even though we understand that we should never do this, occasionally, we end up making mistakes due to some reasons. To prevent such mistakes and fraud, it is necessary to have a double-checking system involving multiple departments and people. Typical examples include checking by multiple departments such as the acceptance department and inspection department in the purchase of goods, checking by multiple people such as the seal user and seal custodian in the use of corporate seals, and two-party verification in reconciliation of numbers. Especially in the management of cash and goods, this double check must be thoroughly carried out, and a system must be in place to prevent mistakes and fraud.”

Mr. Inamori says,

This principle looks like the theme of how to prevent accounting mistakes. But I think there is a profonde significance behind it. Below are the three principal reasons why this double-check is necessary.

Let me explain one by one.

1 Prevent accounting mistakes

The purpose of this system is to prevent numerical errors. Of course, if mistakes can be prevented, the credibility and trust of the company will increase.

2 Prevent staff from committing crimes

“Human beings are, at the end of the day, weak reeds. If a person commits a crime because he or she could not resist the temptation, I don’t think we should blame him/her. This is an issue of the system or top leader who has been leaving such a temptation. If the preventive measure had been designed and implemented, he or she could not have committed crimes. Well organized and designed system could have kept people away from those crimes. This is the starting point why I introduced this double-checking system. I’m not saying this based on the theory that humans are inherently evil, but I have been stressing that we must double-check to make sure we can not do anything wrong. They are all good people, but sometimes they get tempted. That’s why you shouldn’t let it happen. We double check because we don’t want to make our people sinners.”

→　I think this attitude is quite important and can be seen as a form of affection towards others.

3 Cultivate a sense of responsibility

Inamori also shared his episode regarding how to deal with the corporate seals.

“I decided to leave the corporate seal management to the administrative and accounting people. However, those who hold the corporate representational seal, which is the official seal of the company, can withdraw as much money as they want, so if it is misused, it could lead to serious trouble. On the other hand, even if I don’t trust everyone and I hold those seals, I can’t do my other jobs. Therefore, I decided to implement the system where someone fills in the application form and the other person checks and approves this request, while some other person puts the seal by checking the application form. For example, the accounting manager has the president’s seal. When a person brings in an application form to ask for a seal, the accounting manager checks the request and approves, after double checking the application content. However, that accounting manager shall not prepare such documents by himself. At the same time, the box in which the stamps are stored is locked, and that key is held by someone other than the accounting manager. When the accounting manager said, `I need to put a seal on these documents. ‘ The box administrative staff re-confirms the application form, checks the contents, then opens the box. In such a procedure, I decided to handle the representative seal under the double and triple checking system. This is also to prevent mistakes and prevent people from committing crimes.”

Even the management of a single seal is so important since this could heavily damage the company’s financial status. Therefore, I think staff must be aware of its importance and work with a sense of responsibility. When we understand that other colleagues and supervisors, even the CEO, trust us and expect our performance, we spontaneously do our best to deliver the best performance under our responsibility. From this point of view, I think it is very important to have a sense of responsibility when working. Double checking system also works to cultivate such a sense of responsibility among staff.

Further queries or doubts, please email to ytomizuka@abrilsjp.com

News Letter subscription is here