July 2nd, 2010 | 
Author: The safest way to start a business is to start small. All the big companies started with a small amount of capital, until they found that it was profitable and thus, expanded. An entrepreneur would normally start his business with a few members of manpower – which could be less than ten people. After sometime, when the business starts to grow, he will have to invest more in the operations and in his people. He will have to hire not only those close to him, but outsiders as well.
When it is time to hire a larger number of people, responsibilities need to be divided. For the division of labor to work properly, he has to have a control system to avoid fraud and error. This system will help in avoiding abuses and sets the line between the employees and the critical elements of the business. The physical documents need to be secured to avoid unauthorized access. All important electronic files should also be saved in a special drive or computer with password protection.
To avoid fraud from happening, the manager or boss should be hands-on in the business. He or she must review the invoices, tickets and purchase orders coming in and out of the business. In this manner, the employees will not be lax in terms of these things. They know that every document they have is reviewed carefully. There should also be fixed job descriptions for employees and there should be no major overlapping with tasks. This will also help in avoiding conflicts of interests.
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