Are Employees Stealing Your Profits? – Employee Theft

The most sought after item that dishonest employees like to steal is cash. Unlike merchandise, cash can be used anywhere and cash is often the easiest item to steal.  It is small and easily hidden, employees handle it all day, and cash has no sensor tags applied.

Do you know if internal theft of cash is taking place at your business?  What are you doing to uncover this distinctively challenging form of employee theft and put an end to it?

There are a variety of situations and circumstances in which employee theft, involving cash, is likely to occur.  There are also a number of considerations when conducting the employee theft investigation around these losses. 

The most uncomplicated scheme is simply taking money directly from the drawer.  The effect of this style of internal theft is blatantly obvious the next day when the accounting department discloses that money is missing from the drawer. 

It is most effective to begin the investigation by reviewing “No Sale” functions when conducting an employee theft investigation.  Most associates do not take cash during an actual transaction because of the witnesses (i.e. the customer) present. 

Instead, the employee waits until it appears that no one is observing to conduct a “No Sale” function, and then pockets the cash.  The employee wrongly believes that the absence of witnesses enables him to hide his or her actions.  In reality this type of theft is usually quite simple to pinpoint.

Another scheme to take cash is conducting voids.  This is more difficult to apprehend, but it can be accomplished with due diligence. The dishonest associate will void a transaction and take the cash in this particular form of employee theft sting.  Because the register now assumes the sale did not happen, it will then not show short since the cash “should not have been there” according to the register. 

Prevention and discovery requires that the employer routinely watch for associates conducting a lot of voids followed by “No Sales”.  Since they voided the transaction the cashier has to use the “No Sale” function to open the drawer and make change for the customer. 

The employer can also pull random voids and review the video to see if the merchandise stays in the store or, if in fact, the customer takes it out of the store.  The cashier is stealing from you if the customer takes the item out of the store.

There is no easy solution for internal theft; however, a thorough employee theft investigation helps eliminate problems and prevent future loss.

For more information about employee theft, employee theft investigation and internal theft please contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 – Atlanta Georgia.