Sales Audit Saves Millions For NEX

By Matt Pillar, chief editor

April 2014 Integrated Solutions For Retailers

$2.8 billion The Navy Exchange realizes the cross-departmental benefits of tight sales audit controls.

Auditing retail sales doesn’t require an advanced degree in mathematics. In and of itself, it’s simple addition of tender and payment types — cash, credit, check, layaway, gift card, etc. — in pursuit of a topline number that matches total sales. In theory, determining your cash-on-hand requires nothing more than data, time, and simple math.

But when you run more than 400 multi-segment stores staffed by more than 13,000 associates and operated by 11 different management “jurisdictions,” that simple math can get a bit fuzzy. In a $2.8 billion retail enterprise, a little bit of fuzzy math has multi-million dollar implications. That was just the case at The Navy Exchange (NEX), where long-time Director of Financial Accounting and Associate Controller Joe Lange says shortages and overages were going unaccounted.