It’s December 23rd, and most business owners are wrapping up for the holidays and planning for 2026. But there’s one item that rarely makes the checklist: a security audit.
Not cybersecurity – We’re talking about the physical, operational security of your business, like who has access to what, where your vulnerabilities are, and whether the systems you trust are actually working.
After 30 years of conducting corporate investigations across Toronto and the GTA, we’ve learned that most internal theft happens because business owners assume their security measures are working when they’re not.
Why Year-End Is the Right Time
Year-end gives you natural cover to review things without raising suspicion because inventory audits, financial reviews, and policy updates are all expected right now, so employees don’t question them.
It’s also when you have the clearest picture of your year, where you can see patterns – where inventory shrinkage happened, which months showed unexplained losses, which employees had access during those periods. If something looks wrong, you’re catching it before it gets worse in 2026, and if everything checks out you start the new year with confidence.
What to Actually Review
Access controls. Who has keys to your building, codes to your alarm system, passwords to financial systems, and do former employees still have access they shouldn’t? We’ve investigated Toronto cases where employees fired six months ago still had building access because nobody thought to deactivate their key card.
Inventory reconciliation. Your system says you have 500 units but do you actually have 500 units? The gap between what your database shows and what physically exists is where theft lives. Don’t spot-check – do a comprehensive count and compare it against sales records, receiving records, and waste logs.
Financial anomalies. Duplicate vendor payments, refunds that don’t match customer complaints, expense reports that seem high, petty cash that never balances. These aren’t always theft, but if you don’t review them, you’ll never know which it is.
Vendor relationships. Is one employee insistent on using a specific supplier, do they handle all communication personally, do they resist competitive quotes? That vendor might be a shell company they created or they’re getting kickbacks. Workplace investigations often uncover these relationships because business owners assume vendor preferences are based on service when they’re actually based on personal profit.
Employee behaviour patterns. Who works odd hours alone, who never takes a vacation, who gets defensive about routine questions? The bookkeeper who hasn’t taken a day off in two years might be dedicated, or they might know their absence would expose fraud within hours.
What This Costs You
Internal theft costs Canadian businesses billions annually, and the average small business loses about 5% of revenue to fraud, according to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners. For a business doing $500,000 in revenue, that’s $25,000 gone every year.
Most business owners don’t notice because it happens gradually – inventory shrinks slowly, small amounts go missing, and expenses creep up. A year-end security audit catches these patterns before they become five-figure problems.
What to Do If You Find Something
Don’t confront the employee directly because you’ll either tip off someone guilty and give them time to destroy evidence, or damage your relationship with someone innocent.
Document what you found by gathering records, comparing timelines, and identifying specific discrepancies, then contact Investigation Hotline. We conduct discreet investigations that either confirm your suspicions or rule them out, and if there’s theft happening we document it in ways that hold up legally.
For investigations in Toronto, Mississauga, Brampton, Vaughan and throughout Canada, we’ve worked with businesses from retail to manufacturing to professional services where the approach is always the same: document facts, follow evidence, provide clear answers.
What This Looks Like Practically
You don’t need to hire an investigator for a routine security review:
- Schedule a comprehensive inventory count for the first week of January
- Review vendor relationships and get competitive quotes for your top suppliers
- Audit who has physical and digital access and revoke any unnecessary access
- Reconcile financial records and flag anomalies for closer review
- Document any patterns that seem unusual
If that review reveals actual problems, then you bring in professionals, but the review itself is straightforward and should be part of your standard year-end process.
The Reality
Business owners trust their long-term employees completely because they’ve worked together for years and the employee has been reliable. Then we document that employee stealing for six months straight.
Trust your employees but verify your systems – the two aren’t mutually exclusive. Good employees appreciate working for a business that takes security seriously, and if someone is stealing your verification catches it before it destroys your business.
Moving Into 2026
If you’re reading this on December 23rd, you’ve got a natural window between now and early January to review your security because employees expect year-end audits right now.
Use that window to look at your access controls, reconcile your inventory, review your financial records, and document anything that doesn’t add up. If everything checks out, you start 2026 confident, and if something’s wrong, you catch it early while it’s still manageable.
Investigation Hotline has been conducting corporate investigations and employee theft investigations across the Greater Toronto Area for over 30 years. If your year-end review reveals problems, contact us for a confidential consultation.
To learn more, contact Investigation Hotline at +1 416-205-9114 or Speak with the Experts Now
