The Retail Management
Advisors
|
|
INTERNAL CONTROL MANUALIf An Employee Steals $100 from you it will take $2000 in Sales to make up for the loss.If you are operating at a 5% net profit, it will take $2,000 in extra sales to make up for the $100 profit the employee stole from you. As your net profit percent goes down, the amount of sales required to make up for the lost profit dollars increases. For example, at 3% net profit it would take $3,333 in extra sales and at 1% net profit it would take $10,000 in extra sales. You have worked very hard on your store (buying, merchandising, advertising, selling, hiring, etc) and it is only natural that you want to reap the fruits of your labor. But, did you know that your profits could be literally walking out the door due to lack of good internal controls and procedures? A study done in 2002 by the National Security Survey showed that of all shrinkage,
Since so much of shrinkage is accounted for by employees, it just makes sense to remove as many opportunities as possible. If you have employees you need to be concerned. Click here to order your copy. Only a small percentage of people are totally honest, only a small percentage of people are inevitably dishonest. The majority of people (employees and customers) are basically honest. However, basically honest people will steal. There are three requirements to be satisfied before a basically honest person will steal:
As a store owner you can not do much about #1 and #3 but you can and must do something about #2 - - eliminate any risk-free opportunities in your store. This is where internal controls and good procedures come into play. Well-defined and written policies and procedures will eliminate most opportunities for theft. Theft will never be 100% eliminated from the retail environment. Your goal as store owner should be to minimize it as much as possible. The first step to take in setting policies and developing procedures to combat this problem is to recognize the weak areas in your store. With that goal in mind we have developed a questionnaire for the independent retailer that can be used for this purpose. This is based on my years as a retail controller in a 5-store chain and 20+ years consulting with The Retail Management Advisors working with 100’s of retailers throughout the country. As you use the questionnaire to review your current procedures, any NO answer indicates a possible weakness that needs to be addressed. As a store owner, you are very busy so we have set up the manual in such a way to make it easy to complete the project a little at a time. We have left lines for you to enter the date you completed each section so it is easy to see what areas have been reviewed and which still need to be done as you go through your store. ABOUT THE INTERNAL CONTROL MANUAL
See below for a sample section on petty cash handling. To have a consultant come into your store to do this analysis and review for you would take 2-3 days and cost at least $3,000 - $4,500. You, however, can get the knowledge of an experienced consultant for just $89 by ordering this manual and doing the review yourself.
PRICE: $89.00 + $6.00 shipping and handling (Priority Mail) For immediate shipment, order using PayPal by clicking on the link below: Internal Control Manual (PRIORITY MAIL DELIVERY)
IF YOU WANT OVERNIGHT DELIVERY, Internal Control Manual (OVERNIGHT DELIVERY ONLY)
For regular mail service, please mail check for $95.00 to:
The Retail Management
Advisors Allow 3 weeks for delivery.
SampleCASH PAID OUTS FROM PETTY CASH FUND (From Internal Control Questionnaire)
Do not think internal theft can not happen to you. Even employees who have been with the company many years are not immune to the temptations of cash and merchandise within easy reach. We have been called to investigate a number of situations where money or merchandise was missing and found that it was a long-term trusted employee. In one instance it was a company bookkeeper who was writing checks to fictitious companies and then cashing them for her personal use. Also, do not think it could never be someone higher up in company management. We found one instance of a store manager removing merchandise and then selling it in his own store front. Now, with E-Bay it is easier than ever for people to sell stolen merchandise. Take steps now to protect yourself from internal theft. Order our Internal Control Manual today and start the review process at your store. You will be glad you did. To order, click here.
Do you have a friend who could benefit from the information on this page? If so, click the link below to send this page to that person.
|
