If one person can create a supplier, approve the invoice, and make the payment — you have a contr...If one person can create a supplier, approve the invoice, and make the payment — you have a contr...
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Hân's avatar
Hân Phạm
• Aug 27
If one person can create a supplier, approve the invoice, and make the payment — you have a control problem.
Small businesses often don't think much about internal controls.
It makes sense.
When the team is only 3–5 people, everyone wears multiple hats.
But that's exactly when small financial mistakes can become expensive.
Consider a simple accounts payable process:
Step 1: Someone creates a new supplier.
Step 2: The same person receives the invoice.
Step 3: They approve the invoice.
Step 4: They make the payment.
Nothing looks obviously wrong.
But there is no independent checkpoint.
A stronger process might separate at least some of these responsibilities:
Create → Verify → Approve → Pay → Reconcile
You don't necessarily need a huge finance department to do this.
Even a small business can introduce simple controls:
→ Two-person approval for payments above a threshold → Separate supplier creation from payment approval → Monthly bank reconciliation → Review of unusual transactions → Clear documentation for expenses → Regular review of outstanding invoices
The goal isn't to make the business bureaucratic.
It's to make sure one mistake — or one bad decision — doesn't automatically become a financial loss.
And internal controls aren't only about preventing fraud.
They're also about catching:
• Duplicate payments • Incorrect invoices • Missing transactions • Unauthorized expenses • Data-entry errors • Unusual spending patterns
A good financial system should answer two questions:
“Where did the money go?”
and
“How do we know it went there for the right reason?”
The second question is where financial controls come in.
💬 What's one financial control you think every small business should have, even with a very small team?
financialcontrolsAccountingfinancemanagementBusiness AnalysisFinancial AnalysisMicrosoft ExcelMYOBXero
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