This article is contributed by Jason Dirkham.
Fraud can be a major issue for businesses. It can emerge from inside or outside the business and you have to take concrete steps to ensure you don’t become a victim of it. If you’re looking for a place to start and want to prevent this issue, we’re going to discuss some of the things you can start to do right away. Read on now to find out more about these steps.
Secure Your IT Infrastructure
Most of the transactions that your business carries out each day happen online. That’s a simple fact and it’s something that you have to take into account when looking to prevent fraud. That’s why you need to make sure that your company’s entire IT infrastructure is entirely secured and isn’t going to run into any problems that could lead to compromised security and the possibility of fraud. You can hire a company to take care of this for you if you like.
Set the Right Policies, Protocols and Training
Having good policies and protocols in place will make people accountable and ensure they don’t do anything that might lead to fraud being committed. This ensures the business is protected from outside threats, while also making people accountable inside your business and, therefore, less likely to commit acts of fraud themselves. Good employee training will also help with this, so don’t be one of those businesses that refuses to pay for good employee training.
Introduce Stronger Identity Checks
Having good identity checks in place is something that every company should be looking to do. If you run a business that relies on customers being who they say they are, this is essential. Jumio leverages on-device tech to meet KYC obligations, so this might be something for your company to look into and consider. Stronger identity checks reduce the risk of problems emerging.
Carry Out Random Audits
To ensure no one inside the business is secretly embezzling the company, you should carry out regular and random audits. This will give you a chance to look at the finances of your business and ensure everything adds up as it should. If it doesn’t, you’ll have to dig deeper and find out what’s behind those discrepancies in the finances. It could be the case that someone is stealing money.
Keep Personal and Business Accounts Separate
Finally, you should remember to keep personal and business accounts completely separate. There’s always a temptation to mix these together when you’re running a small business but it’s not a good idea. It can make things more confused and even make fraud more likely further down the line. It’s best to be clear about those two financial pots being entirely distinct.
Your small business doesn’t want to be rocked by a big fraud scandal. It’s one of the main reasons given for businesses filing for bankruptcy. Obviously, you don’t want your business to ever be in that position, and that’s why it’s worth taking action now and protecting your business going forward.
