In the last week I must have heard three stories about small business people robbed by people who worked for them. Over the years I have heard this story a dozen times. I am not referring to stealing merchandise, this is white collar crime, ususally women. The lady who writes the checks or approves the bills uses company funds to go on a personal spending spree.

Ususally this is a small business with a single person who handles all of the accounting functions. It is hard for the owners to conceive that this trusted person would stoop so low to steal from her employer. Yet a few simple steps would have prevented this in every case.

1. Only you should open the bank statement. Review the checks and be sure you recognize all of the vendors, and that the signature is yours. In fact you may want to have the bank statement sent to your home, so no one else has the chance to interfere. You may also want to use an outside accounting firm to balance your statement.

2. The same procedure should apply to credit card statements if your employees use company credit cards.

3. If you are in a business that deposits cash then either a) you deposit the cash or b) you check the deposit slip from the bank.

4. Insist that your accounting people take their vacations. An accounting or office person who can not afford to “let the work get behind” is a red flag.

5. When you sign checks have the supporting documentation, invoices etc attached to the check.

6. Occasionally check the receipts and be sure they are kosher. One enterprise I am affiliated with had a high level person go to extravegant lengths to falsify receipts for plane fares and hotels for trips that were never taken.

To me a person who would steal from a person who provides them a job and a paycheck is about one level above a child molester. But it is common and few owners suspect the perpetrator until a lot of money is missing. It is often not recoverable.

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7. Prosecute them. Get it on their record. Do the rest of the work force a favor and stop passing these thieves on to the next employer. You do check criminal records, don’t you?

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