The co-founders of Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey have filed a civil lawsuit against their former CFO, Michael Senzaki, accusing him of fraud, forgery, breach of fiduciary duty, and related misconduct. They allege Senzaki used his control over the company’s financial systems to conceal liabilities, manipulate invoices, redirect funds, and falsely leverage co-founder equity without consent, painting a misleading financial picture to lenders and third parties that harmed the company’s reputation and finances.

This legal action follows a separate lender lawsuit alleging default on more than $100 million in loans, although the founders contend they personally never guaranteed those loans and that mismanagement by the former CFO was the root cause. The founders seek compensatory and punitive damages and aim to clarify responsibility for financial harm attributed to Senzaki’s actions.

15 Takeaways & Best Practices for Financial Oversight

1. Limit single-point financial authority. No one person should control invoicing, payments, and check writing all at once—it’s too much power in one set of hands. For example, if the same person can create an invoice and mark it paid, you’ve eliminated your own safety net.
2. Separate duties—on purpose. Divide responsibilities so one person prepares transactions and another reviews or approves them. For instance, one person issues invoices, another applies payments, and a third reviews the bank reconciliation.
3. Turn on two-factor authentication everywhere. Every bank account, accounting platform, and payment processor should require a second layer of verification. It’s a simple step that can stop unauthorized access before it turns into a financial mess.
4. Set transaction alerts that come to you. Create text or email alerts for transactions over a certain dollar amount so nothing big happens without your awareness. If a $25,000 payment goes out or comes in, you should know about it in real time—not three months later.
5. Question numbers that don’t pass the sniff test. If the books say you sold 300,000 cookies last month but you know that didn’t happen, stop and dig in. Numbers should match operational reality, and when they don’t, that’s your cue to ask questions—immediately.
6. Review your own bank statements every month. Even if you have a bookkeeper or CFO, you should personally scan your bank statements. You don’t need to be an accountant to spot charges that don’t belong.
7. Don’t hand over control blindfolded. Trust is important, but full financial control without oversight is risky. Giving someone “full access” without checks is how small issues turn into major fraud.
8. Bring in a third party to audit periodically. From time to time, have an outside professional review your books with fresh eyes. Accountants are human—sometimes they get overwhelmed, distracted, or simply stop doing parts of the job, and you want to catch that early.
9. Use AI as a second set of eyes. Tools like ChatGPT can help analyze financial trendlines and flag anomalies without sharing sensitive data like bank account numbers or customer information. You can paste in high-level reports from QuickBooks and ask what looks off—the good, the bad, and the ugly.
10. Reconcile the books every single month. Reconciliation isn’t optional or “nice to have.” Skipping it allows errors and fraud to pile up quietly until the cleanup becomes painful and expensive.
11. Standardize invoicing and payment procedures. Everyone should follow the same process, every time. Clear, documented workflows make it much harder for payments to be misapplied or hidden.
12. Document authority limits in writing. Be explicit about who can approve what—and at what dollar level. For example, one person may approve expenses up to $5,000, but anything above that requires a second sign-off.
13. Schedule regular leadership reviews of the numbers. Leadership shouldn’t only look at financials once a year. Quarterly—or even monthly—high-level reviews help catch inconsistencies before they snowball.
14. Set escalation rules for unusual activity. Define what triggers immediate review, such as duplicate deposits, large adjustments, or unexplained revenue spikes. When those flags appear, someone must escalate them right away.
15. Maintain a governance or finance oversight committee. Whether it’s a board committee or a small internal group, regular oversight meetings create accountability. This group should periodically review controls, ask hard questions, and meet with auditors.