Employee Theft: Minimizing Risk « ePractice Manager | Systems for next-level growth

Employee Theft: Minimizing Risk

By epractice
October 3, 2017

Did you know that seven percent of annual revenue is lost to employee theft and fraud?[1] Although most dental offices have a small number of staff, and fraud and theft are more easily hidden in a large group, one of the main findings of the study indicated that the majority of fraud cases occurred in companies with fewer than 100 employees.

With that in mind, here are some quick pointers to help prevent fraud and theft within your practice. Each of the following points should be instituted by the Doctor/Owner of the practice, or a trusted Office Manager.

Split the allowances. Make sure that the employee who writes the checks is not the same employee that manages the books.
 Watch your receivables.  If you see a significant increase in receivable aging and/or bad debt, look into it very closely.
 Personal monthly reviews. Schedule a regular monthly review of the journal entries, checking for anything that looks out of line.
 Use your home address. Always send your personal credit card statements to your home address.
 Limit final sign-off. Institute an office policy that you are the only person who can sign any business checks.
 Regular 3rd party audits are key. Set up a regular audit of your books by a competent outside bookkeeper or accountant.

While the above points are all very important, proper hiring and training of finance staff is the best insurance against fraud and theft!

For more information and training on proper hiring techniques, enroll in ePracticeManager’s HR course series.


[1] “Employee Theft Statistics – Statistic Brain.” 2017 Statistic Brain Research Institute, publishing as Statistic Brain. April 1, 2017* http://www.statisticbrain.com/employee-theft-statistics/


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