I've just discovered we've paid an "employee" for a month's work where the employee hasn't reported for work all month.

He was not included in the "absentee" list that is used when the payroll is generated, an oversite by the person responsible for generating that list. He was marked absent for the first week of the month in our attendance sheets, and then dropped off the attendance sheets for the following weeks. Another oversight by the same responsible person?

It's only hit the fan now because the payslip came back unsigned - possibly because the responsibility for getting payslips signed lies with someone else.

Clearly a case of the employee has absconded, or has had some serious mishap. But we're not that big a company. How the heck could I not hear that the guy had gone?

The whole episode has made me think about how large organisations manage this. We hear stories of ghost employees in government, perhaps it happens in large businesses too?

What organisational procedures are needed to prevent this sort of thing?