Stop Internal Fraud: How to Prevent Employee Theft Now

Trust is not a financial control.

It is the hardest lesson for a small business owner to learn. You hire people you like. You treat them like family. But the statistics are brutal: 64% of small businesses experience employee theft, and the median loss is $29,000.

Most owners think the solution is “hiring better people.” But the real solution is structural.

At Maxim Liberty, we have stepped in to assist many businesses after significant losses were discovered. In almost every case, the issue wasn’t sophisticated hacking—it was simple proximity. The thief was too close to the money and too close to the other staff.

Here is why switching to a remote, outsourced bookkeeping team acts as a powerful deterrent against the most common types of employee theft.

1. Stopping the “Lunch Buddy” Collusion

The most dangerous form of employee theft happens when two employees work together.

The Scenario:
In a retail business, your Store Manager handles the cash drawer. Your In-House Bookkeeper handles the reconciliation. Over time, they become friends. They grab lunch together. Eventually, the professional boundaries blur. If the Manager skims cash, the Bookkeeper might feel pressured to “adjust” the daily sales report to cover for a friend.

The Remote Solution:
This collusion relies on personal relationships. As your remote bookkeeping team, we maintain total professional independence.

• We don’t know your staff personally.
• We operate objectively based on the data.
• We perform daily cash reconciliations to catch discrepancies immediately.

Every night, we log in, pull the raw data from your Point of Sale (POS), and compare it strictly to the bank deposit. If it doesn’t match, we flag it immediately to the owner. This objective reporting makes collusion significantly more difficult.

2. Preventing Mail & Check Fraud

This is a classic scheme that businesses still face today.

The Scenario:
An in-house bookkeeper with check-writing authority starts writing checks to a fake vendor. When the bank notices suspicious activity, they mail a “Fraud Alert” letter to the office. Because the bookkeeper sits in that office, she can simply intercept the physical mail and destroy the alert before the owner sees it.

The Remote Solution:
Since we are 100% remote, we physically cannot intercept your mail. We cannot hide letters from the IRS or your bank.

Furthermore, we typically operate with “Read-Only” access. This creates a critical safety layer:

• We record transactions but cannot sign checks.
• We cannot initiate international wires (which often require physical presence at the bank).
• We separate the person recording the money from the person moving the money.

3. Five Red Flags of Internal Fraud

Before you switch to a remote service, check your current books for these warning signs. If you see them, you may need to act quickly.

• The “Never Vacation” Employee: A bookkeeper who refuses to take time off is often afraid that a replacement will discover their scheme.
• Perfectly Round Numbers: Legitimate expenses rarely end in “.00” consistently.
• Duplicate Payments: Paying a vendor twice (once for real, once to a personal account).
• Messy Records: Fraudsters often keep books disorganized intentionally to confuse owners.
• Lifestyle Creep: An employee whose spending suddenly exceeds their salary.

4. The “Digital Air Gap” & Technical Security

In cybersecurity, an “air gap” is a security measure where a secure computer is isolated from unsecured networks. Maxim Liberty acts as your financial air gap.

By outsourcing to us, you are leveraging a security infrastructure that has protected clients for over 20 years with zero data breaches. We consistently rank as a top provider when companies compare the best bookkeeping services because we prioritize security alongside accuracy.

• Bank-Level Encryption: All data is transmitted via secure, encrypted channels.
• Verified History: We hold an A+ Rating with the BBB and have served businesses since 2005.
• No Office Politics: We report the numbers exactly as they are, without emotional bias.

Don’t wait until you find a discrepancy to tighten your controls. Build the firewall now.

Disclaimer: While outsourced bookkeeping significantly improves internal controls and segregation of duties, it cannot guarantee the prevention of all forms of fraud. Owners should always maintain oversight of their financial accounts.