By Lindsey Semon
RTO Consulting and Management

An audit, independent of company personnel or conducted by the owner, should be done at each store two to three times a year. Also an audit should be done when a store is not performing or problems are suspected. When performing an audit, a sampling of the following areas should be reviewed. A problem spotted in any one area may be an indication that an expanded audit is needed in all areas.

Rental Agreements
A review of your rental agreements should be conducted to see if you have a valid signed agreement on file.

• Is the agreement signed and does the signature match the rental order?

• Is it dated, does it have blank spaces, is it complete?

• Most important is it legal in your state?

Customers and Credit Files

Your customer credit file should be reviewed regularly.

• Is there a rental order?

• Is it less than a year old?

• Is the rental order completed and verified?

• Is there a copy of ID?

• Does the file have everything that is required by your company policy?

• A random sampling of customers should be called to make sure they exist and are happy.

Delinquency
Delinquency should be verified regularly to insure it is being reported accurately and to spot trends.

• How much free time or extensions are given?

  •  Excessive free time and/or extensions will affect income, falsify delinquency reporting, and can kill store growth. Delinquency not being handled correctly can train your customers not to pay on time and increase skip and stolen units.

Deposits/Receipts
A review of receipts to the reports, to the bank deposit, to the bank statement should be conducted to track money to see if it is getting to the bank.

• Bad checks, debit and credit card transactions should be tracked.

• Pre numbered hand written or field receipts should be tracked to see if any are missing for missing receipts can mean missing money.

• This review will also track trends to see if your income is growing or declining.

Forms, Letters & Door Hangers
Are your store personal writing letters and forms? Are their approved forms, letters and door hangers saying something to a customer that could get your company in trouble? Are you asking for a lawsuit? A review of all forms, letters and door hangers should be done and only approved materials should be used.

Inventory
An idle inventory should be conducted to see if any inventory is missing.

• Is everything assigned to the store accounted for?

• Are tracking/stock numbers, pawn information on everything?

• Do invoices match up?
  Insure that purchased inventory is getting into the system

• Is displayed equipment priced and priced correctly?

• Do you have dead equipment that needs to be sold or disposed?

• Are loaners and service units being tracked, and are they being managed timely?

Store Operation
Appearance
A general review on overall appearance and condition of your store, rental inventory, signs, trucks, employees etc., should be conducted to see if you are projecting the image to attract and keep customers.

Safety and Security
Computer backups should be checked to make sure they are being done and that you are prepared for a system failure. Is your overall security in order and does your alarm system work which also means batteries? Do you have a backup key system in place? Are all Policies & Procedures current and easily available to personnel?

These are areas critical to your operation. An independent, outside audit can provide a fresh set of objective eyes. If you need help, RTO Consulting & Cash Services can design and conduct your companies independent auditing for about the cost of a Big Screen TV.

For more information contact RTO Consulting & Cash Services (704) 535-8808 or check out our Website at www.rtoconsulting.com