Quick tips to set up a fraud prevention program
Posted 03-23-2015 at 07:50 AM by info4yourlife2015
Small and mid-sized businesses (SMEs) are not immune when it comes to fraud. In fact, due to their size or to their limited resources, these companies are often the target of costly scams from both outside and inside sources.
“According to Industry Canada, SMEs represent two-thirds of all the jobs generated in the private sector, so they need to be healthy in order to contribute to the vitality of our country's economy,” says François Ramsay, the senior vice-president of corporate affairs for Yellow Pages. “That's why it's important to equip them against the various types of fraud they are regularly exposed to – and the best way for a company with limited resources to combat fraud is to set up simple prevention systems that will save considerable amounts of money and provide invaluable peace of mind.”
Here are some tips to help small businesses set up a fraud prevention program:
• Identify your company's weaknesses so that you can create and implement internal preventive mechanisms. Examples include reassessing if only one person is responsible for finances, or curbing free access to your inventory.
• Deal only with suppliers that are included on a list approved by management and whose invoices are regularly checked.
• Be aware of fraudulent solicitations of invoices or agreements, a particular kind of scam that masquerades as a legitimate company, like Yellow Pages. In response, Yellow Pages has put together a guide to help identify such fraud.
• Get to know your employees. Check their references and their professional and academic history for instances of fraudulent or illegal activities. If you want to fill a stock management position, you might think about running a credit check with the applicant's permission.
• Install security cameras to monitor activities at checkouts and in areas where products are stored. People are less likely to commit fraud if they know they are being watched.
• Conduct spot checks of specific functions in your company where fraud might occur. Spot checks are a useful deterrent, because employees know there's a chance that fraudulent activity will be discovered.
• Check over bank statements yourself. Watch for: missing cheques or cheques issued out of sequence; unknown recipients; cheques that appear to have been altered or not signed by authorized signatories; and any other unusual detail.
• Develop a fraud policy and distribute it to all employees. This way, you make it clear that not only do you take such activities seriously, but that they have consequences. This in itself can be a deterrent.
• Take the necessary measures when you discover fraud. Having a fraud policy is useless if you don't apply it.
“According to Industry Canada, SMEs represent two-thirds of all the jobs generated in the private sector, so they need to be healthy in order to contribute to the vitality of our country's economy,” says François Ramsay, the senior vice-president of corporate affairs for Yellow Pages. “That's why it's important to equip them against the various types of fraud they are regularly exposed to – and the best way for a company with limited resources to combat fraud is to set up simple prevention systems that will save considerable amounts of money and provide invaluable peace of mind.”
Here are some tips to help small businesses set up a fraud prevention program:
• Identify your company's weaknesses so that you can create and implement internal preventive mechanisms. Examples include reassessing if only one person is responsible for finances, or curbing free access to your inventory.
• Deal only with suppliers that are included on a list approved by management and whose invoices are regularly checked.
• Be aware of fraudulent solicitations of invoices or agreements, a particular kind of scam that masquerades as a legitimate company, like Yellow Pages. In response, Yellow Pages has put together a guide to help identify such fraud.
• Get to know your employees. Check their references and their professional and academic history for instances of fraudulent or illegal activities. If you want to fill a stock management position, you might think about running a credit check with the applicant's permission.
• Install security cameras to monitor activities at checkouts and in areas where products are stored. People are less likely to commit fraud if they know they are being watched.
• Conduct spot checks of specific functions in your company where fraud might occur. Spot checks are a useful deterrent, because employees know there's a chance that fraudulent activity will be discovered.
• Check over bank statements yourself. Watch for: missing cheques or cheques issued out of sequence; unknown recipients; cheques that appear to have been altered or not signed by authorized signatories; and any other unusual detail.
• Develop a fraud policy and distribute it to all employees. This way, you make it clear that not only do you take such activities seriously, but that they have consequences. This in itself can be a deterrent.
• Take the necessary measures when you discover fraud. Having a fraud policy is useless if you don't apply it.
Total Comments 0
