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Is your business at risk of theft?

Businesses lose large amounts of money each year to theft, and the sad thing is, this risk can be minimised and reduced with a bit of investigation. No loss is too small to investigate, as it is these small losses that lead to or may be an indication of larger thefts. Have you noticed anything out of the ordinary in your business? Don’t be left scratching your head. Make sure your business is safe from theft.

It starts small
It’s an all too familiar story. At first the cash register is a bit short. Then, one night as you’re looking over the books, the numbers just don’t add up. It’s easy to dismiss small discrepancies as human error, and of course they very well could be, but you also know that they could be something else. They could be an indication of theft from your employees.

The real cost is lack of trust
If your employees are stealing pocket change, the real impact on your business isn’t the funds you’re missing. It’s the lack of trust you now have in your employees. If you think an employee is stealing from you, it can be hard to trust anyone, and it isn’t good for you, the honest majority of employees nor the business for you to be ever suspicious and distrustful. You may end up micro-managing, putting in difficult and restrictive procedures that slow down your business, or you may take on more responsibilities, unable to trust another employee with some of the more important jobs such as locking up or emptying the cash drawer. This is obviously not good for anyone.

It can get much worse
Another major issue with minor theft is that it can create confidence for the thieving employee. If they get away with small thefts here and there, they could decide that they are able to get away with their crimes scott free. This increased confidence often leads to bigger thefts. It starts as change missing from petty cash, and soon your business could be losing thousands every year. In almost every case of large theft and criminal activity against a business, the culprit has started with smaller crimes first to ‘test the waters’ and gain confidence in their stealing efforts. It’s sad, but it happens all the time. Some people just can’t be trusted.

Finding the theft isn’t enough
You may think, well I’ve detected the thefts, so I can stop them from happening now. Unfortunately, without knowing who the culprit is, you can never stop them from stealing from your business. You can put measures in place to stop them getting at the petty cash, but they will likely just move on to another part of the business. But how can you find out who the thief is?

We can find the rat
Our elite detectives can investigate any suspicions you may have about your staff (current and former staff), any suspicions about the financial activities in your business or investigate a particular loss or string of losses that you want to get to the bottom of. We’ve helped with cases of monetary theft, asset theft (such as stock or equipment), embezzlement, misuse of employee allowances, false invoices, intellectual property theft (such as selling your ideas, product designs or business secrets to a competitor!), and many many other scenarios of an employee acting against the best interests of your business.

If you are unsure about whether you can trust your employees, or if you are sure that something isn’t right in your business, our detectives can help you find the culprit before they get a stronghold on your business. Please call us today to speak with one of our experienced detectives. We can help work out a plan of attack to find the rat (or rats!) in your business! Give us a call on 1300 721 715 or email info@eliteinvestigations.com.au to talk to us about your concerns.

 

Image courtesy of chanpipat and freedigitalphotos.net