Being a small-business owner means meeting and facing down regular challenges, and working incredibly hard to establish a niche in your chosen industry. While it would be nice to think that everyone will be willing to help your SME along the journey, in truth there are some unsavoury elements of society who might seek to take advantage of you.
Alarmingly, the New Zealand Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment notes the country is now fourth out of 78 countries surveyed by PricewaterhouseCoopers regarding cybercrime and fraud. Whether from online trading scams, fake directory listings or fraudulent offers, Kiwi SMEs are always at risk of shady practices from third parties.
How to identify fraud
In their 2014 Report to the Nations on Occupational Fraud and Abuse, the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) found that in Asia Pacific, the vast majority of fraud detection came from employee or customer tip offs. Providing a safe, potentially anonymous means of whistleblowing is an effective way to get information about all manner of suspicious behaviour, and can be the difference between uncovering an issue or not.
The ACFE also found that, in businesses of less than 100 employees, more than 50 per cent of all fraud involved billing and cheque tampering. It's a sad reality that a large portion of illicit behaviour within SMEs happens internally, the actions of untrustworthy employees.
Keeping detailed, up-to-date accounting records is a vital part of your small business' fraud defence strategy. CashManager from Accomplish allows you to keep an eye on cash transactions, with an easy to use interface offering monthly analysis reports.
For small businesses, few things can be more disheartening than being a victim of fraud. Small-business accounting software can help minimise that risk, providing you with all the financial information you require at the touch of a button.