6% of small business revenue is lost to these familiar faces.
Amazingly, small businesses stand to lose 30% more than large businesses due to fraud. Fraud is probably the last thing a business owner thinks about when establishing his business but it deserves to be much higher on the list of concerns.
Average Fraud Scheme Losses
Source: Certified Fraud Examiners AssociationOver 80% of business fraud involves asset appropriation, and 90% of the time cash is the targeted asset. Cash is usually defined as any medium of exchange that a bank will accept at face value, including checks, bank drafts and other forms of negotiable instruments. The most common ways employees steal cash are tricking the business into making a fraudulent payment, such as producing an invoice from a fake company, and by physically sneaking money out of the company?s control. For example, an employee might take cash out of the cash register or remove a portion from the bank deposit envelope.
The average fraud scheme lasts almost 18 months before it is discovered, so timely detection is very important. Fraud is most commonly identified through tips from employees or customers, but many instances are uncovered purely by accident. It is also interesting that losses caused by employees over 60 are 27 times higher than those caused by employees 25 or younger.
… from Warrilow