Safeguarding & Fraud
Most problems don't start with fraud.
They start where there is no clear control over how things happen.
How it starts
The gaps are there long before anything goes wrong.
Work gets handled differently depending on the person. Responsibilities overlap. Checks happen inconsistently, or not at all. At first it doesn't feel like a problem. Things still get done.
But as the business grows, money moves through more hands, decisions happen faster, and there is less visibility over what is actually happening. The gaps that seemed manageable get bigger.
Mistakes go unnoticed until something breaks
Payments are made incorrectly or without proper sign-off
Duplicate or invalid transactions slip through
Issues are only picked up after the damage is done
Mistakes go unnoticed until something breaks
Payments are made incorrectly or without proper sign-off
Duplicate or invalid transactions slip through
Issues are only picked up after the damage is done
Where fraud comes in
Fraud is rarely the starting point. It's what fills the gap.
When there are no clear checks, no separation of responsibilities, no consistent way of handling money, the door is open. Sometimes that leads to honest mistakes. Sometimes it leads to something worse.
Most businesses run on trust. That's not wrong. But trust without any system behind it means you only find out something is wrong when it's already been happening for a while.
From practice
I uncovered a debtors clerk who had been stealing cash from the business. It wasn't obvious. The entries looked normal on the surface. It was only when I started pulling at the detail that the pattern emerged.
The controls that should have caught it earlier weren't in place. No one had designed the process to make that kind of thing visible. By the time it came to light, it had been going on long enough to cause real damage.
That business wasn't unusual. The same gaps exist in a lot of growing businesses, and most owners have no reason to suspect anything until it's too late.
What safeguarding means
It's about building protection into the way your business already works.
Safeguarding isn't a separate process you run alongside everything else. It's about making sure the right checks are part of how things get done every day, so problems are caught early and the opportunity for fraud is reduced.
01
Clear approval processes
Money doesn't move without the right sign-off. Payments are reviewed before they go out, not after something looks off
02
Separation of responsibilities
The person processing a payment isn't the same person approving it. The person capturing supplier invoices isn't the one reconciling the account. One person shouldn't be able to control both sides of any transaction.
03
Consistent handling of suppliers and payments
New suppliers go through a proper vetting process. Payment runs follow a set procedure. Nothing relies on memory or whoever happens to be available.
04
Checks built into the workflow
Review points are part of the process, not something added on after a problem surfaces. Issues are caught at the step where they're easiest to fix.
What changes
You stop finding out about problems after they've already grown.
When the right controls are in place, mistakes get picked up earlier, irregular transactions stand out, and you're not relying on being involved in everything just to stay informed. The business becomes harder to take advantage of, and easier to manage.
You don't need to watch everything. You need the right things to be visible when they matter.
Detection by design is better than detection by accident, or by someone deciding to tell you.
The goal isn't to catch people. It's to build a business where the opportunity doesn't exist in the first place.
If something has already gone wrong
When something feels off, it usually is.
Numbers that don't add up. A pattern you can't quite explain. A gut feeling that something isn't right. These things are worth taking seriously.
If controls weren't in place when they should have been, the first step is understanding what actually happened and how far back it goes. That means working through the detail carefully, without assumptions, to get a clear picture of what occurred and what it cost.
The longer something goes unaddressed, the harder it becomes to trace.
Acting on a suspicion early is almost always less damaging than waiting for certainty.
Find out how exposed your business actually is.
The Preventative Review looks at where your controls are weak, where the gaps are, and what needs to change before something goes wrong.
NOT SURE WHERE TO START?