Is employee theft of cash ruining your profits?

There are many things that employees can steal, but the most sought after item is cash.  Unlike merchandise, it can be used anywhere.  Cash is often the easiest item to steal.  It does not have sensor tags applied, it is small and employees handle it all day.  So how is internal theft of cash happening at your business and what are you doing to stop it?

There are several ways that employee theft of cash can occur and there are various things to consider when conducting an employee theft investigation into these losses.  The most basic is taking money directly from the drawer.  You will notice the effects of this internal theft the next day when your accounting department shows missing money from the drawer.  When you conduct your employee theft investigation I suggest starting with reviewing “No Sale” functions.  Generally speaking, most associates do not take cash during an actual transaction as there are witnesses (i.e. the customer) present.  Instead, many will wait until no one is around, conduct a “No Sale” function and then pocket the cash.  They think the absence of witnesses helps them get away with it, but in reality it is usually easy to pinpoint.

Another way is by conducting voids.  This is much harder to catch, but possible.  In this employee theft scam the associate will void a transaction and take the cash.  Since the register thinks the sale did not happen then it will not show short since the cash “should not have been there” according to the register.  Again, routinely look 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.  You can also just pull random voids and review the video to see if the merchandise, in fact, stays in the store or does the customer take it.  If the customer takes it then the cashier is stealing from you.

There is no easy solution to internal theft, but a quality employee theft investigation will help eliminate a problem and prevent future loss.

For more information on employee theft , employee theft investigation or internal theft contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 – Atlanta Georgia