Just as important as the due diligence process whether investing in real estate, construction or your own business, the importance of oversight should not be taken lightly or even overlooked. To start, have the bank statements mailed to your home, not to the office. There’s absolutely no reason that the office manager should have first crack at viewing your banking activity. Why? …Office managers whose primary activity is writing company checks pose the greatest threat to money being missing. Whether it be embezzlement, the creation of shell companies for personal gain, or outright theft, history has proven time and again, the office manager, the one handling your money, is the primary target. In other words, the first person of suspicion when it comes to the investigation of missing funds.
Companies recognizing the need for oversight, meaning periodic checks, can retain our services on a fixed fee basis. This means that your company office will be visited for two or three days, and your books will be examined by a Certified Fraud Examiner / Forensic Accountant. While there, bank records, payroll, material purchase records and payables will be examined. The visit can be either scheduled beforehand or accomplished on an unannounced basis. Hopefully, no surprises will be found. However, if there are problems, rest assured you will be the first person (and maybe the only one) to be notified. An additional benefit for those having multiple offices is knowing that word travels fast. Meaning that within a day or two other offices will know that you’ve taken fraud prevention seriously and that if bad things like embezzlement and theft are happening, it might be a good idea to stop. In short, the action you take today is done to protect your bottom line, not theirs.
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