Occupational fraud can seriously damage the business. Many small businesses and medium-sized establishments are at risk for occupational fraud.
Occupational fraud refers to illegal and corrupt acts committed by the workers of an organization. To prevent your business from losses due to occupation fraud, consult a CPA firm in Aventura, FL, and follow these tips.
- Assessment of Risk
To protect your business from occupational fraud, it is crucial to assess all the risks and create a well-planned strategy for its prevention. It is necessary as it lays the foundation for safeguarding your company from criminals.
Not assessing risks can lead to under preparation for dealing with the fraud. The companies may fail in preventing it if they have not created a plan that involves strategies, protocols for employment training, and education of the workers. Along with that, they must work on introducing disciplinary actions as well.
- Limiting Access
An efficient office security system plays a crucial role in preventing occupational fraud. The protection of intellectual data is vital to protect the business. It can be done by allowing only authorized employees to access confidential data. This helps in the investigation if any data gets leaked as the targets for investigation will be limited to only those employees that had access to it.
Keeping control of the accessibility and promoting keyless entry is a cost-efficient option for managing the security of your business. Integration with intrusion detection systems can further elevate security effectiveness by giving different access levels to other workers. Make sure to install a CCTV system for monitoring the business and keeping a close check on the activities of the employees. This plays an essential role in decreasing the risk of occupational hazards.
- Implementing Internal Controls
Implementing internal control is a must to reduce the chances of an occupational hazard. Frauds take place when employees work in isolation and lack frequent assessments. Internal controls can be used in the following ways.
- Make sure that the responsibility of financial transactions is not centered on one person only. Having more than one person responsible for the finances allows the detection of financial mistakes or fraudulent activities. The task is balanced, and the efficiency is increased as a result.
- Ensure to introduce a reporting system that encourages employees to keep you up to date regarding fraudulent activities.
- Implement a policy that allows employees to use their credit cards for only professional usage. Make sure to check all the charges for any personal expenditure.
- Make sure to frequently review employees’ cell phone and vehicle bills for business purposes.
