When running a small business, fraud is no joke. While larger organizations have well-established cash-handing policies and small armies of fraud prevention staff, a small business owner is on her own. Small businesses can face difficult consequences when fraud happens, but with a few small investments and some changes to workplace policy, you can minimize the chances of an errant employee defrauding you and your cash register.
Instructions
1. Before spending money to protect your business, there are some policy changes that can lower your chances of being defrauded by an employee. The first and easiest is to require that employees give a receipt to every customer. This will make it more difficult for employees to intentionally ring up purchases incorrectly on the register.
2. Implement an inventory control system that will illustrate losses in your inventory. A pattern of inventory losses can indicate fraud and just the knowledge that this system is in place can deter potential theft.
3. Have a trusted employee such as a shift manager count the contents of the cash register at the end of every shift. Keep a log of what amounts should be in the register and what amounts were actually found in the register. This will help track down which employees were working when any sum of money disappeared from the drawer. For added security, have a second employee watch while the drawer is counted to reduce errors or dishonesty.
4. Install a highly visible video camera pointing at your cash register. Record video and keep it in long-term storage. Illustrating to employees when they are hired (or when the camera is installed) that all cash transactions can be clearly seen and correlated to receipts will reduce the possibility of hiding theft and therefore deter the theft in the first place.
5. As your organization grows in size, you might need to hire staff to manage loss prevention and investigate any inventory or cash handling problems in your business. These employees can be worth the investment as they are dedicated to reducing theft and loss and are another visible deterrent to theft.
