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#fraud-prevention

Fraud Prevention

Proactive strategies and controls to prevent financial fraud in your business

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9 min read

Returnless Refunds: When 'Keep the Item' Beats Return Shipping — and How to Book It

A returnless refund is a sales allowance, not a return. No inventory comes back, so nothing gets restocked and COGS stays put. This guide gives the per-SKU break-even math for when letting a customer keep a $40 item beats paying return shipping, the exact double-entry bookings for restocked returns, keep-it refunds and unsellable returns, the sales-tax posting, fraud guardrails, and the three metrics that show whether the policy is working.

Mike Thrift

e-commercerefund-managementinventory
12 min read

ACH Reversals Explained for Small Businesses: When You Can Correct a Payment—and When You Need a Return

Under the Nacha Operating Rules, an ACH reversal corrects only a sender's qualifying error—a duplicate, wrong amount, wrong account, or qualifying wrong date—and must reach the receiving bank within five banking days of settlement. This guide explains how reversals differ from returns and R10/R11 unauthorized-debit claims, and how to record each event so payments stay reconcilable.

Mike Thrift

paymentsbankingsmall-business
10 min read

Three-Way Matching for Small Businesses: The Purchase Order, Receipt, and Invoice Control That Stops Duplicate Payments

A three-way match compares the purchase order, receiving record, and supplier invoice before any payment is released, catching duplicate bills, unapproved price increases, and short shipments. This guide shows small businesses how to implement the control with clear ownership, line-level matching, written tolerances, and a practical exception workflow — plus when a two-way match is the better fit.

Mike Thrift

accounts-payablesmall-businessfraud-prevention
15 min read

When Your EIN Gets Stolen: A Small Business Guide to IRS Letters 5263C, 6042C, and Business Identity Theft

IRS Letter 6042C verifies a specific business return; Letter 5263C verifies the entity itself on file from Form SS-4, and both carry a 30-day response window that, if missed, stalls your returns, refunds, and overpayment applications. This guide explains how thieves obtain an EIN, the tax and non-tax red flags that signal fraud, exactly what to fax back in each case, when Form 8822-B is required within 60 days of a responsible-party change, and a monthly-quarterly-annual monitoring routine that catches misuse early.

Mike Thrift

small-businesstax-compliancesecurity
15 min read

When 5% of Your Customers Drive 40% of Your Returns: Serial Returners, Returns Reserves, and Refund Liability

ASC 606 treats a right of return as variable consideration, so an $80,000 sales month with a 9% historical return rate is $72,800 of net revenue, a $7,200 refund liability, and a recoverable-inventory asset — not $80,000 booked as final. This guide shows how to build a category-weighted reserve from 12 months of your own data, flag the 5 to 10% of buyers who generate 30 to 40% of returns, and apply graduated account limits that stay documented and defensible.

Mike Thrift

ecommerceretailrevenue-recognition
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