First published in COVER, Winter 2020. Copyright 2020 by Tetman Callis.
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The under assistant operations manager was on the spot. The assistant vice president for operational administration had just that morning received a memorandum from the general executive associate, informing as to irregularities found in the accounts receivable. Spreadsheets were attached. The proof was absolute. Twenty-one point three-five-seven percent of the projected gross receipts for the previous quarter could not be accounted for.
The assistant vice president for operational administration summoned the under assistant operations manager to his office, told him to close the door, showed him the general executive associate’s memorandum with attached spreadsheets, demanded an explanation. The under assistant operations manager spent the next three hours walking the assistant vice president for operational administration through the complex computations and formulae that neither of them, nor for that matter anyone else at the firm, fully understood, demonstrating in excruciating detail how the projected gross receipts were apriori estimates and not aposteriori summations. Once the full extent of the situation was clear to both of them, they transferred certain sums between selected accounts, cleared out their desks, left the premises, and slipped across the border after nightfall.