If you have an employee on your staff who is in a position to delete checks after they are written, you need to make sure you are watching that bank statement.

Compare the cancelled checks to your system's printed check register and note any discrepancies. If you see a voided check on that register you should be able to find the original copy of that numbered check with VOID marked across its face.

Here's a story about one employee who embezzled more than $500,000 over a period of years from her small business employer using QuickBooks software.  

I am pretty sure it's hiding in plain sight, right there on your balance sheet. 

It could be in your accounts receivable or maybe it's tied up in the inventory that you have piled up in your warehouse. But the keys are right there on that balance sheet.

Take a look:

1. If accounts receivable grew more than revenue, then AR is your likely culprit. (Compare the % growth of revenue this year to the % growth of AR this year.) Investigate your collection activities and see if you can automate your processes. Or dedicate someone's time to the chore. Or e-mail invoices instead of using regular mail. Cash is critical in today's environment, don't let it slip through your fingers.

2. If inventory grew more than COGS, your problem is in inventory. Look at your product mix, talk to suppliers, weigh the trade-offs between good customer service and inventory carrying costs.

3. Look at your payables. Manage the payment terms with your vendors to find opportunities there.

And then be sure to keep your eye on operating cash flow. That is the critical measure that determines the sustainability of your organization. If your operations are not generating enough cash, no amount of revenue growth is going to keep you alive.

There are opportunities in every market.  What are you doing to succeed in today's world?

I had to reschedule a hair appointment. That's a big deal to a woman, especially when you miss an appointment and you are in the midst of a hair crisis. Particularly one I like to call the "big giant head" problem. That's when your hair grows not longer, just thicker. 

Anyway, I got a reminder call for the rescheduled appointment on Saturday. I had rescheduled for just a cut rather than the full treatment because their calendar was full. But the sharp woman on the phone gave me the reminder and then noticed that I wasn't getting the complete service. She could see my appointment history - or maybe one of my friends had secretly called her. Either way, she then said they now had room on the schedule for the full service - "would I like to schedule that?" Now picture the aforementioned big giant head totally covered in grey hair and you get a sense of the joy with which I responded, "yes please!".

Hair issues aside, what struck me about this interaction was:

1.) her efficiency and the pleasantness of the interaction.

2.) the information she had access to on her screen - my prioir history and the current schedule and alloted time needed, and she could match the information and book the appointment immediately

3.) she took the time to look for another opportunity to serve me. She could have just made the reminder and not bothered to check on other options.

4.) she just made a sale for her company.

How many times have you talked to someone at that level who has access to the right kind of information they need to make a customer happy and to generate more revenues for their company? 

This is an Aveda salon in Livermore and they do a million little things to make their experience stellar. But it all starts with the person on that phone.