Investigating Financial Control Essay Example Essay Example

Investigating Financial Control Essay Example Paper Investigating Financial Control Essay Introduction The business I’ll be examining and find out their objectives and aims is Sainsbury. Sainsbury is a retail store that was founded in 1869 by John James and Mary Ann Sainsbury and it is Britain’s longest-standing major food retailing chain. They opened their first small dairy shop at 173 Drury Lane, London. Drury Lane was one of London’s poorest areas and the Sainsburys’ shop quickly became popular for offering high-quality products at low prices. It was so successful that further branches were opened in other market streets in Stepney, Islington and Kentish Town. In addition, their head office is in J Sainsbury plc, 33 Holborn, London, EC1 N2HT.By 1882, John James Sainsbury had four shops and had plans to expand his business further. He opened a depot in Kentish Town, north-west London, to supply this growing chain and, on the same site, built bacon kilns that produced the first Sainsbury brand product. It was also in 1882 that John James opened his first b ranch in the prosperous suburb of Croydon. This shop sold a wide range of ‘high-class’ provisions and was more elaborately decorated than the earlier shops. However, between 1890 and 1900 the number of Sainsbury’s branches increased from 16 to 48.In addition to a wide range of quality food and grocery products, many stores offer bread baked on the premises, delicatessen, meat and fish counters, pharmacies, coffee shops, restaurants and petrol stations. There are over 14 million people that shop at Sainsbury’s supermarkets regularly and there are 721 stores throughout the UK. Over 10.3 million aluminium cans are recycled at Sainsbury’s stores each year along with 22,000 tonnes of glass.J Sainsbury plc is one of the UK and US’s leading food retailers with interests in financial services and property. Sainsbury’s is the parent organisation controlling these operating companies and they are: Sainsbury’s supermarkets Sainsburyâ€℠¢s bank in the UK Shaw’s Supermarkets Star Market in the US Sainsbury’s Development Sainsbury’s property companySainsbury’s goal is†To deliver an ever-improving shopping experience for customers with greater product at fair prices†Sainsbury’s mission is†To be the consumer’s first choice for food, delivering products of outstanding quality and great service at a competitive cost through working ‘faster, simpler and together†Sainsbury’s has got a lot of different aims. One of the aims is: To exceed customer expectations for healthy, safe, fresh and tasty food making their lives easier every day.Sainsbury’s has also got a lot of different objectives. One of the objectives is: To meet customers’ needs effectively and in addition provide shareholders with good, sustainable financial returnsSainsbury’s main products are supermarket/grocery products, retail banking services, and retail prope rty development services. Sainsbury’s are committed in providing food at the highest quality that is not only delicious but also safe for everyone. The range of customers is the public; it is a store that is open to everyone. Sainsbury’s sells almost all types of products, for example: Milk Bakery products All types of food Toiletries Canned food, etcSainsbury provides employees with a stimulating and well-equipped working environment. According to one of the departmental head, he stated that ‘Making teamwork work’ should be the goals of a lot of organisations in order to make use of all employees’ strengths to improve the organisation as a whole.TransactionsIs a method of buying or selling goods and it could also be a way of purchasing money from one person to another. It can also be a technique of transferring services from one business to another.Transaction from customersThere are different ways in which customers purchases their goods. It could either be by cash and debit or credit card. Furthermore, most customers pay by debit or credit card because they feel more convenient and they could always get limited cash from the store when they are paying for their shopping and then the staff records it on to the till and also their receipt.Transaction – Manual recordingThis is when a ccutomer purchases goods from the store and then he/she pays by credti or debit card. After paying for the items with the credit or debit card, the customer recieves a receipt to sign and then when he/she signs the receipt, the staff checks the receipt with the card given by the customer to be sure it’s the right signature and the signed reciept is being kept with other customers’ receipt. However this is copy of the store and everything is being recorded at the end of the day.Transaction – Electronic recordingIf a customer made purchses with cash, credit or debit it is automatically registered in the cash register and this is recorded electronically. This process is easy because at the end of the day the business would know how much money they’ve made and they could easily retrieve information on the system for future references.The effectiveness and security of recording transaction maually and electronicallyManual recording is effective because its way of recording transaction easily and faster by customers’ purchasing items from the store. In addition, all the receipts should be kept for future references at the end of the day and they should be stored in a safe and dry place.Manual recording is not secure due to some certain reasons like if: Customers’ reciepts could be lost. Receipts may not be handled with proper care, that is, a staff could put it in the bin without taking note that it is still a receipt that could be useful for the future. Time is being wasted because it takes a lot of time to record transaction of customers. Receipts could get wet mistakely by staff. Staff could forget to record transaction.Electronic recording is effective because it saves a lot of time. Whenever a transaction is made it is automatically recorded on to the main system. In addition, customers’ see how much they’ve spent whenever a transaction is being processed for them.Electronic recording is not secure because when the system crashes, most of the transaction information being recorded could be lost. When typing in the payment made by customers, the wrong amount of money could be recorded and this could lead to difficulty when trying to retrieve customers’ payments on the products purchased from the store.Task 2They are different ways in which fraud could occur in Sainsbury’s and they are: Fraud could occur in this business when any of the staff gives out the security code for some certain information. Fraud could take place when a staff obtains money from the company, cashier or till. When some basic equipments or products are bein g taken out without anyone knowing. When purchases made by customer, purchases made by staff and sales to customers are not recorded. Fraud could occur when a staff gives out a product to family, peers without payment. When customers or staff walks out from the store with some certain products without paying. When staff or customer eats or drinks a certain product form the store without payment. Fraud could occur when staff doesn’t record a purchase made by customer. It could occur when prices of products are beind reduced for some family or peers without recording. Where the company’s equipment is used for inappropriate personal use or log in to some confidential information, e.g. access to the computer and the changing some information on spreadsheets or database.Task 3Prevention of fraud could be avoided in different ways in Sainsbury’s and they are:Fraud monitoring serviceIf Sainsbury’s staff sees unusual transactions appearing on a customer’s card and become suspicious that someone is using his/her card or card details without the customer’s knowledge, Sainsbury’s company would as soon as possible to check whether the customer made the recent expenditures. The business organisation has also a contact number to call in case of any fraud, which is 0845 355 0866.Free online guaranteeIf a transaction is using a customer’s details and has been carried out on the Internet without the knowledge or consent of the customer, Sainsbury’s organization take this case serious by providing a free online guarantee to safeguard against malicious card use.Chip and PINAs in this modern time, there are all new credit and debit cards, customers’ Sainsbury’s Bank credit card comes with the added security of Chip and PIN. This is a simple way to pay for shopping that doesn’t involve signing a receipt. When paying for something, the customer needs to have or do is entering a 4-digit personal iden tification number (PIN) – this is just as using a cash machine. This is a PIN that will be personal to the customer; it will make counterfeiting almost impossible, keeping all customers’ transactions secure. All customers can change their PIN to make it easier to remember or if anyone knows their PIN and they want to change it for security. If a customer wants to change his/her PIN, they could visit any Sainsbury’s Bank, Halifax or Bank of Scotland cash machine and simply follow the on screen instructions.Sainsbury’s strongly advise that customers never write down or tell anyone their credit card PIN number. In addition, customers should never give their card, or card number, to anyone unless they are giving them payment details. There is also a contact number, which is 0845 300 0344 in case a customer thinks anyone is in a position to use their card without their permission.Public ActionThe company encourages members of the public or staffs that if they presume fraud and corruption, they should contact anyone in a higher rank in the store, that is the Chief Executive, Manager or security.My source of information was from www.sainsburybank.co.ukFraud could also be prevented through this ways too, which are:o Staffs are trainned on how to recognise shop lifters.o CCTV cameras are being installed.o Before employees are employed, their personal record are being checked for any criminal record before they are employed.o Security gaurds.o At the start and at the end of sales for the day, stock are being doubled checked in order to make sure everything is in perfect and not missing.This is an appendix of Sainsbury’s group profit and loss account to show how much the business has gained and lost through sales. 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