•  Nightclub Company: Liquor stock losses were in excess of £30k per period.

A full investigation found that the responsibility for checking large deliveries of beverage stock was delegated to very inexperienced staff, locks to store rooms, beer and spirit cupboards had not been changed for years and thus compromised security, bar staff were able to do void transactions on tills without management knowledge or approval, and they were also allowed to drink on duty, unsupervised. Allowances were not supported by verifiable documentation and allocation of liquor income for events was inaccurate. The following two months recorded surpluses of £8k and £10k

•  Restaurant Group: Food gross profits were lower than expectations.

A full investigation was undertaken and concluded that the Head Chef was too inexperienced to control the food operation. The findings indicated inaccurate menu costings, non-approved suppliers were being used that were more expensive & poorer quality goods. Storage was inadequate resulting in goods perishing and subsequent stock losses, high proportion of wastage in the preparation of meals and no effective portion control. Head Chef was replaced and the GP improved from 52% to 68% in two accounting periods

•  Hotel Group: The Hotel had requested a complete risk assessment on the systems and procedures for the Conference and Banqueting department.

The review found that the main conference and banqueting diary was being completed in pencil, there were incomplete client files with no confirmation of charges or copies of invoices and no management involvement or authorisation. The head of the department was aware of the audit in advance and then went absent on the day it started and never returned to the hotel. The investigation concluded that there was a very significant probability that fraud had been committed on a large scale.