Back to the Basics Olympic athletes practice their skills to become the best in the world. When their skills begin to falter, their coaches often return to the basics to reinforce the foundation. In banking, the basics sometimes are forgotten in the haste to move ahead.
Simple things constitute the foundation of the loss prevention function of banking.
Audits, double checking work, and other seemingly simple tasks may seem inconvenient and after a while unnecessary. When a control is eliminated, however, an opportunity is created for a dishonest person to take advantage of the weakness. Cash Accountability Fundamental to the bank's security is accountability for cash in the vault and on the teller line. Many investigations are made unnecessarily complicated by a lack of controls on the facility's cash. What begins as a firm rule about who may enter the vault and under what circumstances weakens as employees get to know one another.