Protect Your Company From Internal Fraud

By: Rachel Raupp

Bookkeeping fraud is one of the most common forms of internal fraud. When running a business, there is always the potential risk for fraud within your company’s four walls. Unfortunately, not everyone in the workforce is a trusted individual; they could access your private files and

hurt not only your company but also your clients. It’s better to be safe than sorry when it comes to your books and important, confidential company information. Aside from looking out for missing checks or misuse of company credit cards and money and watching for misappropriated inventory or supplies purchased, here are a few ways to be sure that you are being safe with your company (and other company’s) sensitive information: 

Separate duties by having one person sign the checks and issue petty cash money while a different person reconciles bank accounts and the petty cash drawer. To avoid any fraud, differentiate job duties by having one person do the ordering and another person approving payments.

Set up internal controls to avoid duplicating expense reimbursement items.

Have your employees track their time by using a time tracking solution. We use TSheets. This will make ensure that employees aren’t wasting company time or money. 

Control access to who can view what. Set up permissions in your QuickBooks account to limit access based on areas of responsibility. This will ensure that people are only working on what they need to be.

Outsource your accounting. Take your bookkeeping out of the walls of your company altogether by having an outside bookkeeper or accountant keep up with your books. From experience and training, they will also be able to point out if odd things are happening in your books.