Keeping your small business safe

Conduct background checks on potential employees, vendors, suppliers, and customers.

• Self-reported information on applications isn't reliable
• References aren't helpful since they're either shills or won't provide subjective information
• Develop applications and forms that ask the questions you need answered
• Get approval to run credit reports

Put secure financial protocols in place

• Segregate cash functions so that receiving cash is separate from disbursing cash and signing checks is separate from reconciling accounts
• Restrict access to your master file of vendors
• Restrict access to your master personal files for payroll
• Insist on finial approval of all employees, vendors, suppliers, and customers
• Pick up and drop off the mail yourself

Conduct frequent, irregular audits

• Personally open bank statements and reconcile accounts monthly
• Conduct periodic audits of vendor, supplier, customer, and payroll accounts, but do them on an irregular schedule
• Conduct periodic audits of inventory on an irregular schedule

Put secure credit card protocols in place

• Be wary of someone who buys an unusually large number of big ticket items
• Don't accept a card that cannot successfully be swiped or whose chip doesn't work
• Don't agree to speak "with a bank" about a card that isn't going through
• Have separate personal and business credit cards
• Ensure each salesperson has their own POS password

Put secure IT protocols in place

• Back up regularly to a secure external hard drive as well as an online server
• Block pop-ups on your computers
• Keep anti-virus, firewall, malware, and spyware software up to doate
• Require regular password changes
• Block access to some websites from work computers
• Consider having a separate computer for banking and finance

Build a culture of security

• Have an anti-fraud policy
• Provide anti-fraud training for staff
• Explain how damaging fraud can be to the company
• Include yourself in all security protocols; someone should check your work too
• Put an anonymous third party hotline in place