Discussion Response 4A

Respond to the discussion post below with your educated opinion in 3-4 sentences:

Small businesses are particularly vulnerable to fraud because they often don’t have adequate accounting controls in place (Wells, 2003).  Cash is a particularly vulnerable asset because it’s liquid and readily available (Wells, 2003).  Small restaurants are a great example.  Sequentially numbered checks are used to control cash receipts in some restaurants by tracking orders and cash receipts.  The amounts from the checks are compared to the register receipts and variances are tracked back to the server who wrote the check.  Without the numbered checks, it would be possible for the server to collect and keep cash without putting the sale into the register.  

A more efficient method of controlling cash is the use of a point-of-sale (POS) system.  A POS would require the servers to enter the order in the system to send the order to the kitchen.  So, it would be difficult for the server to give away meals and drinks and pocket the collected cash (Mealey, 2016).  The POS keeps track of checks and as such, employees are held accountable for transactions which reduces theft and fraud (Mealey, 2016).  A POS system can also act as a credit card processing system to reduce and prevent credit card fraud (Mealey, 2016).