You have enough to worry about without facing the possibility that one of your employees could be ripping off your business. And sadly, that happens way to often to way too many small business owners. At least once a week I read about another small business being ripped off by staff just today it was someone who stole a half million dollars over a three year period!

That is absolutely crazy and quite preventable.

Heres the situation. You’re humming along and all of a sudden a discovery is made that a trusted employee has been stealing from your business for a long time. Typically this is the person who has responsiblity for handling incoming receipts and paying bills. They might start out small and then the problem grows until they are eventually discovered. But by that time they’ve already stolen tons of hard earned cash from your business.

This type of theft happens to a lot of small businesses who trusted someone they shouldn’t have. And typically there are no controls in place to minimize opportunities. Her are six actions you must take to protect your cash or lose your business NOW.

Yes, I know your niece (nephew, neighbor, friends husband or wife, trusted colleague, etc.) is someone who youve known for a good long time. They are someone you trust. But that doesnt mean you can skip the steps to make sure they are a good fit for your business. No matter who you are hiring, you need to conduct a background check to ensure there are no surprises. And you need to conduct an interview to confirm their values are the kind you want demonstrated in your business.

Responsibilities for handling financial transactions in your business should never be assigned to just one person. You should never allow only one person to perform the task of recording and authorizing incoming and outgoing transactions. At least two people should share this responsibility. And by all means make sure that this person isnt the only one with signature authority.

Audits should be commonplace in your business. At least once per quarter there should be a scheduled audit of your financial transactions. Plus a surprise audit on a regular basis will keep everyone on their toes too. Internal audits are fine as long as theyre not conducted by the people who process your financial transactions, but youll want at least one audit per year conducted by an outside party.

Your company culture should foster an environment that makes it easy for staff to raise issues if they see them. No one wants to be a tattletale and often people wont report what they see because they are afraid of what the repercussions might be. Give them a safe and anonymous way to report things that they think are not quite right. They could save you thousands!

Require everyone in your company to take a vacation of at least a week. Often fraudsters will avoid a vacation like the plague because of their fear that their actions will be uncovered. Dont let tasks sit idle while they are gone. That wont help protect your business from fraud if everything is waiting for the same person when they return to work.

Trustworthy people work for trustworthy employers. If you like to bend the rules, you are implicitly giving your staff permission to do the same. Just dont do it. Be the model they want to emulate.

You deserve to reap the benefits of your hard work and effort. Don’t let someone steal it from you.

Quality Learning Online Doesn’t Have To Be Expensive

I know as a small business owner you have plenty to do and you might not have an abundance of cash.

That’s why I created my $7 Action Guide series. Each guide will teach you a skill that you can put into action — right now. And it won’t take you forever to learn. At an average 20 – 30 pages in length, each action guide is long enough to teach you what you need to know, but short enough not to take forever to do it.

Select the link for your action guide below and you will be taken to a page which gives you a bit more detail. Just click the Order Now button on that page, and you’ll have your action guide within minutes — no matter what time of day or night it is. Enjoy!

• Niche Marketing Action Guide
• Blog Topic Ideas Action Guide
• Publish on Kindle Action Guide
• More coming soon…

Filed Under: Small Business Tips Tagged With: cash lfow, employees stealing, fraud About Denise O’Berry

A Message From Small Business Expert Denise O’Berry — It’s no coincidence that my initials are DO. I’ve been helping small business DO things to be successful since 1996. You can be successful too. The best way to have a sustainable business is to take action. Start now by implementing this small business tip in your business. Connect with me on Google+, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube

Similar Posts:

• Tips To Grow Your Small Business Responsibly
• Planning vs. Accounting: 2 Different Dimensions. And Why You Care.
• How I Finally Turned a Profit
• My Week in Cash Flow: Tuesday
• A/B Testing Guide for Beginners