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A typical small business loses about 5 percent of its annual revenue to fraud each year — a median of $150, 000. What’s more, the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners’ 2016 Global Fraud Study shows that about 23 percent of cases cause losses of $1 million or more. Clearly, when it comes to securing your small business, every bit counts.
Employee misconduct is a significant part of this problem, but there are other important factors that can threaten your business, as well. Here are seven ways you protect your business from fraud:
1. Provide Employees Separate Logins
When employees share a point-of-sale system (POS), it can be difficult to pinpoint the source of fraud when an issue arises. To avoid this, assign all employees their own separate login credentials and don’t allow them to share these logins with each other. This way, every transaction will be linked to a specific individual, limiting confusion.
As an added precaution, set up the POS to automatically sign off when not in use for a prolonged period of time. Doing this will force your employees to verify themselves regularly and make your POS less vulnerable to unauthorized use.
2. Use an EMV-Compliant POS
Up until recently, most major credit cards have used a magnetic stripe system, which allows customers to swipe their card when making a purchase. According to CreditCards.com, however, this type of “swipe card” makes it easier for thieves to steal personal information and compromise your payment’s security system.
To help mitigate credit card fraud, the United States has adopted a new chip-based authentication technology called EMV, which stands for Europay, Mastercard and Visa — the developers of this global standard. While EMV offers more security to the customer, the introduction of the system in the U.S. also represents a shift in fraud liability. Instead of banks being responsible for fraudulent credit card transactions, merchants who choose not to enable EMV are now liable. To better protect your business from fraud, a system like QuickBooks Point of Sale Desktop 12.0 with payments and an EMV-ready PIN pad allows for secure EMV-compliant transactions.
3. Perform Regular Inventory Checks
Be watchful for red flags like disappearing merchandise, voided transactions or misplaced items. Keep an accurate tally of what’s in your inventory by performing regular and unscheduled inventory audits. By establishing these regular inventory checks, you can better control irregularities and pinpoint efficiency issues.
Accurately managing your inventory will reduce waste, help your business increase its bottom line and ultimately prevent fraudulent activity.