Employee theft is something that no business owner wants to experience. Unfortunately, the culprit is often a trusted employee who has never complained about working overtime and without vacations. If you notice a combination of the following warning signs, it will be well worth your while to start investigating.

• There is an unusual drop in your profits.
• Your records are disorganized.
• There are unexplained changes in your accounting records.
• There are unusually large or numerous credits to a particular customer.
• An employee works late, on the weekends and refuses to take vacations.
• An employee's standard of living changes to a degree that is inexplicable based on her salary.
• Documents are missing.
• Bank deposits delayed.
• Customers are complaining about having already paid a bill.
• There are too many increases in past due accounts receivable.
• Check amounts are altered.
• Duplicate payments are made.
• Bank reconciliations have too many outstanding checks.
• Too many payments are being made to individuals with the same name or address.
• Vendors' addresses are the same as an employee's address.
• Bank reconciliations are late.
• Accounts receivable and payable don't balance.
• The petty cash fund is disappearing.