24 tagged with "Fraud Prevention"
Proactive strategies and controls to prevent financial fraud in your business
Business Identity Theft: A Practical Detection and Recovery Playbook for Small Business Owners
A 72-hour response playbook for small business owners facing EIN-based tax fraud, registered agent hijacking, or payroll account takeover — including how to file IRS Form 14039-B, place fraud alerts at Dun & Bradstreet, Experian Business, and Equifax Small Business, and harden IRS, Secretary of State, banking, and payroll footprints year-round.
Title Insurance and Settlement Agent Bookkeeping: ALTA Best Practices, Three-Way Reconciliation, and the Compliance Realities of Closing Other People's Money
How title insurance agencies and settlement firms keep escrow trust books — three-way daily reconciliation, ALTA Best Practices controls, premium remittance liability tracking, RESPA Section 8 compliance, and the wire-fraud controls that survive a state department of insurance audit.
Inventory Shrinkage and Cycle Counting for Small Retailers and Warehouses
A practical guide for small retailers and warehouses to compute their shrink rate, design an ABC-based cycle count program, book shrinkage adjustments to the ledger, and turn variance patterns into loss-prevention action.
The Quiet Margin Leak: How Retailers and Warehouses Measure Shrinkage and Fix It With Cycle Counting
Inventory shrinkage is the gap between recorded and physical stock. This guide explains how to calculate a shrink rate, why cycle counting and ABC analysis beat the annual physical count, and how to record the adjustment with a dedicated expense account.
Segregation of Duties With Three Employees: Preventing Embezzlement at Small Businesses
The median fraud at a company with fewer than 100 employees costs $141,000. This guide explains how to apply segregation of duties — separating authorization, custody, recordkeeping, and reconciliation — and use compensating controls when you have only three employees.
Bank Reconciliation Done Right: The Monthly Process That Catches Errors and Fraud Early
A monthly bank reconciliation done in 30 to 90 minutes is the cheapest fraud control a small business has. This guide walks through the two-column worksheet, how to handle outstanding checks and deposits in transit, the recurring items that trip people up, and the internal controls that turn the exercise into real protection.
Segregation of Duties When You Only Have Three Employees: A Practical Internal Controls Playbook for Small Businesses
A working blueprint for splitting authorization, custody, recording, and reconciliation across a three-person business — including the compensating controls that stop the $141,000 median fraud loss that hits small companies hardest.
The $141,000 Wound: How Small Businesses Catch Occupational Fraud Before It Ends Them
How small businesses can detect and deter occupational fraud — using the ACFE fraud triangle, segregation of duties, surprise audits, management review, and proactive data monitoring — with a 90-day plan tailored to a 20-person organization.
Section 170(h) Conservation Easements: 40% Penalties, the 2.5x Partnership Limit, and the 6% Court Allowance Rate
Section 170(h) lets landowners deduct the diminution in fair market value caused by a perpetual conservation easement, but syndicated versions now face a 2.5x partnership-basis cap under SECURE 2.0, a 40% gross valuation misstatement penalty, and an average 6% Tax Court allowance rate at trial.
FedNow and RTP in 2026: How Small Businesses Replace Slow ACH With Instant 24/7 Bank Transfers
FedNow and RTP now reach over 1,700 and 1,200 U.S. financial institutions, settling credit pushes in under 20 seconds, 24/7/365. A practical guide for small businesses on when instant rails replace ACH, how the two networks differ, and how to defend against the fraud patterns that irrevocable settlement creates.
Accounts Payable Automation in 2026: How AI Invoice Capture, Three-Way Matching, and Touchless Approvals Cut Processing Costs and Eliminate Duplicate Payments
AP automation in 2026 takes invoice processing from roughly $18 and 10 days down to $3 and 1 day by combining AI invoice capture, three-way matching, and rule-based touchless approvals—while cutting duplicate-payment losses 80 to 95 percent.
IOLTA Trust Accounting for Law Firms: How Three-Way Reconciliation Prevents Disbarment in 2026
IOLTA violations triggered 1,247 attorney discipline cases in 2025. As twelve states adopt a 30-day reconciliation deadline on July 1, 2026, this guide walks through how three-way reconciliation works, the workflow that keeps individual client ledgers tied to the bank balance, and the mistakes that most often end legal careers.