Part-time CFO | Avoiding Small Business Fraud Risks
Many small business owners have a very small staff says part-time CFO, and because of that they only have one person working on the counting and their financial files. This is a significant risk to a business because having only one person working on the finances of the business can increase their chances of getting defrauded. Only having one person work on their finances means that that one person could commit fraud in a number of ways, and the business owner unless there checking their work will not catch them. By having two people working on the file, this risk can be eliminated. Business owners need to minimize or eliminate this risk, but they donít know how because they are small and canít afford to people doing it and donít believe that outsourcing is an option they can pay for. There are lots of things that a business owner can do to protect themselves against fraud and completely eliminate or minimize their risks greatly. By finding the answer to these following questions, business owners can reduce their risk immediately.
Do The banks check the signatures on checks? Part-time CFO says unfortunately this is not something that happens on a regular basis. banks do not check the signatures on the checks unless they have been alerted to a problem. Business owners can protect their checks the way they protect their cash. By treating their checks like cash and ensuring that nobody else can get access to them, business owners can minimize this fraud risk immediately.
How does using an electronic fund process are on a set schedule reduce fraud risk? This one is a great way for businesses to not only minimize fraud risk, that make it much easier for them to double check payments that are going of their bank. Because using an electronic fund process that changes how many cash disbursements are coming out of the business owners bank throughout the day. It changes the amount of cash leaving the bank from several times a day to once every one or two weeks. This is easier for a business owner, itís easier for the business owner to check as much easier for the business owner to catch stakes. When they reduce the number of transactions, itís much easier to look at those transactions. It doesnít cost a lot of money and can help business owners stay on top of their finances.
It is pretty cash a fraud risk, and how can you use a debit card to avoid it? There is really no reason that a business owner needs to have cash on hand anymore says part time CFO. If there any purchases that a business needs to make, it can be done with a company debit card. The debit card can be protected and locked so that employees canít purchases online. The business owner puts a limit on the maximum amount of money that can be used per transaction per day by that card, and not only does the business owner completely eliminate the risk of petty cash fraud, they can also avoid getting audited on their petty cash.
Many business owners donít think about fraud risks when they think about their business says part-time CFO. I they think theyíre not large enough for someone to try to commit fraud, or they are extremely trusting of their employees. While trusting employees is a very great thing, business owners can trust their employees while they protect themselves against fraud. Not only can most of the things they do to protect themselves against fraud, can also protect them From employees making mistakes. By finance to these following questions, business owners can take action to minimize and eliminate potential fraud risks within their business.
How do we will use dummy corporations to defraud the company? Part-time CFO says this is where the person sending payments creates a payment that doesnít exist and make the payments go to a corporation that they invented. Business owners review the transactions and see that all the payments went to a legitimate sounding business, and donít question that payment. That fraudulent jacket then goes to the employee who cashes the check and pockets the money. Business owners should review all of the payments and just because it may sound like a legitimate company, if it doesnít match in their records, they should look into it. By having two people work on accounts payable, business owners can eliminate this risk.
How easy is it for people who control payroll to inflate earnings? Who this is an easy and very common way that the people doing the people can steal money from a business. They either inflate the amount of hours that they worked, or they inflate their wage per hour. By doing this over a significant amount of time can amount to a lot of money being stolen. Business owners can minimize this risk with having two people work on their payroll, but part-time CFO recommends that business owners can also outsource their payroll to a third-party company. This way it will completely eliminate that risk giving a business owners peace of mind.
Should businesses share credit card credentials? Many business owners get rid of their petty cash fund and use a company credit card that it her staff has the credentials to. The reason why this is a bad idea says part time CFO is by allowing many people to have access to that card is that it will be extremely difficult or impossible for a business owner to know who made the mistake or made the fraudulent purchase on that card. A better option says part-time CFO is by getting a company bankcard that is locked from be able to make purchases online and that has a daily limit. It doesnít completely eliminate the fraud risk, but if one of their employees does steal money, theyíll only be out a few hundred dollars instead of thousands.