Puzzle No. 1: The Ghost Payroll

Solve it in your head or work the clues on paper. When your accusations are locked in, check your answer below.

The accounting firm of Hollowell & Finch is missing $84,000, and the partners have narrowed it to four people and four schemes. Each suspect ran exactly one scheme. Match them all to close the case.

The clues

  1. Running a ghost payroll required payroll access. Only the bookkeeper and the auditor ever had it.
  2. Petra's scheme billed the firm from a company that does not exist.
  3. Oswald never learned to imitate the partners' handwriting, which the forged ledger required.

Your accusations