Part 2 · Running the business · Chapter 2.11
Controls and daily reports
Draft: the wording may change.
The idea
A bank locker opens only with two keys: yours and the bank's. Put the same rule on the few steps in your business where one person could lose or take money — one person does it, a second person approves it. Then read a short report every day, the way a driver glances at the dashboard. Two keys and a dashboard: the keys stop the big leaks, the dashboard shows the small ones early.
The two keys
Most work needs only one person. A few steps need two: one who makes the entry and one who checks it. Keep the list short, or people stop taking it seriously.
| Risky step | Why it is risky | Second key |
|---|---|---|
| Credit note to a retailer | It reduces what he owes — money given away on paper | Owner or accounts head approves |
| Discount beyond the scheme | Same, hidden inside a bill | Owner approves |
| Changing a selling rate | Every later bill uses it | Owner approves the change |
| Cancelling or deleting a bill | Goods may have left with no bill behind them | Owner approves; a credit note, never a delete (chapter 1.14) |
| Billing a shop over its limit | It raises your risk (chapter 2.5) | Owner approves by name |
| Changing a supplier's bank account | The next payment goes to whoever changed it | Confirm by phone with the supplier, on a number you already have |
| Stock adjustment after a count | It can hide theft (chapter 2.3) | Owner approves |
| Cash payment over a set amount | Hard to trace later | Owner signs the voucher |
One more rule: the person who handles cash does not also write the books for it. If the cashier collects money and also enters the receipts, a missing receipt is invisible. Split the two jobs, even in a five-person office — the cashier counts, someone else enters, and the evening count brings them together (chapter 2.4).
The dashboard
A daily report is useful only if it is short enough to read in two minutes, every day, at the same time. Eight numbers are enough:
| Line | Today | What makes you look twice |
|---|---|---|
| Sales billed | ₹3,84,000 | A sudden drop or jump |
| Collections | ₹3,52,000 | Far below billing for several days |
| Cash: should be vs counted | ₹3,410 / ₹3,360 | Any shortage |
| Bank balance | ₹7,12,000 | Below what is due this week |
| Outstanding over 30 days | ₹1,96,000 | Rising week on week |
| Orders not yet billed | 4 | Any order older than a day |
| Bills not yet delivered | 2 | Any bill older than a day |
| Credit notes raised today | 3, ₹4,150 | Many, or large, or from one person |
Read it before the vans go out. If something looks wrong, ask one question the same morning. Most problems are cheap on day one and expensive by day thirty.
Common mistake
The owner doing every risky step himself, because he trusts nobody. It works with ten bills a day. At a hundred bills a day he becomes the bottleneck: credit notes wait a week, retailers get annoyed, and staff start finding ways around him. Two keys means the owner approves, not that the owner does.
Where you'll use this
In Part 3, the company watches its own dashboard of you: billing, outlets billed, claims raised. Part 3 explains those numbers, and Part 4 shows how software builds the two keys and the daily report without anyone typing them up.
Check yourself
- Name three steps in a stockist's business that should need a second key.
- Why should the cashier not also enter the cash receipts?
- What makes a daily report useful?
Answers
- Any three of: credit notes, discounts beyond scheme, rate changes, cancelling bills, billing over limit, changing a supplier's bank account, stock adjustments, large cash payments.
- A receipt that is never written cannot be noticed by the same person who kept the cash. Splitting the jobs makes the evening count a real check.
- It is short, read at the same time every day, and each line has a clear "look twice" signal.