Small businesses are where fraud hurts most. Organizations with fewer than 100 employees suffer a median fraud loss of $141,000 per case — higher than companies with 10,000+ employees — and they account for one in five reported cases (ACFE, Occupational Fraud 2024: A Report to the Nations). The schemes are painfully ordinary: check and payment tampering, skimmed cash, padded expense reports, ghost vendors, payroll manipulation. They run for months because more than half of all frauds trace to missing or overridden internal controls — and the typical scheme goes on for a year before it's found. Almost always, the person responsible is the one everybody trusted.

The Hubbard Accounting Firm is located in Cartersville, GA, serving businesses across Northwest Georgia. This service exists because it's what Kyle Hubbard, CPA did for a living at PwC, EY, and KPMG. Kyle has worked in risk advisory and internal controls for some of the largest organizations in the world. Small businesses deserve the same protection, scaled to their size and budget. We focus on prevention — building the controls, separation of duties, and monthly checks that make fraud hard to commit and quick to surface — so you never have to make the phone call that starts with "I think someone's been stealing."

Note: This is a consulting service. It is not an audit, review, or other assurance engagement, and no opinion or assurance is expressed on your financial statements. In-person attendance at board or business meetings is available at an additional cost; virtual meetings are included.

Fraud Prevention & Risk Advisory Services

Fraud Risk Assessment

A structured assessment of where your business is actually exposed: who can move money, who can create vendors or change payroll, what happens to cash, and which duties dangerously overlap. You receive a written, prioritized report — most owners are surprised by what one person in their business could do unnoticed. Only 14% of small organizations have ever done one (ACFE, 2024).

Internal Controls Design & Implementation

We don't just hand you a memo — we build the fix. Right-sized controls for a small team: approval thresholds, dual authorization on payments, vendor setup checks, and monthly owner-level checks that take minutes, not hours. Strong enough to protect you, light enough that work still gets done.

Segregation of Duties & Approval Workflows

The single most effective anti-fraud principle: no one person controls a transaction from start to finish. Even with a team of three, we'll separate who bills, who deposits, who pays, and who reconciles — and document who approves what, so the rules survive employee turnover.

Cash, Billing & Payroll Controls

Targeted protection for the areas where small businesses bleed: check and electronic payment tampering (23% of small-business fraud cases), skimming (19%), billing schemes, and payroll manipulation (ACFE, 2024). Practical safeguards: positive pay, deposit checks, vendor master reviews on a schedule, and payroll change verification.

Fraud Awareness Training for Owners & Staff

Short, practical sessions that teach your team the red flags — the employee who never takes vacation, vendors with P.O. box addresses, customers complaining about payments you never received. Organizations that train staff detect fraud faster and lose less; tips remain the number-one way schemes are caught (ACFE, 2024).