The Road To Recovery after Covid-19 and Need for Internal Audits

Reconsidering Fraud Threats and Risks in Hospitality

As hotels pivot from the reaction phase to the establishment of new operational baselines, internal auditors continue to adapt their assessments and audit plans.

This requires that internal auditors focus on hotel’s changing risk profile, resulting in the reprioritization of their original fraud assessments.

Not only does the risk assessment involve postponing audits; it also involves providing audit services for new and emerging risk areas.

Shift In Employee Resources

• Staffing cuts and immediate measures to reduce payments to employees. Which has been shown, to create an incentive to commit fraud

• Staffing shortages as the economy returns to full speed

• Managers more focused on operational measures than compliance to fight fraud

Examples of Fraud

• Collusion with disreputable third parties by some employees, for their personal benefit

• Submitting duplicate invoices for expense reports, which are not properly checked and verified by the company

• Payment of invoices without the usual approvals

• Theft of Cash

• Credit card fraud

• Employee misuse or theft of sales and sensitive data (customer lists, pricing calculations, etc.)

• Asset theft by employees and hotel guests that are not properly secured or monitored.

Internal Audits play a key role in minimizing the potential occurrence of fraud. Our auditors have considerable experience in understanding potential weaknesses in hotel operations, and instituting internal control procedures to minimize the occurrence of potential fraud.