Unless you know the manager you hire and also trust him as a dearest brother, I would arrange for close surveillance! You would have a lot to lose with a clever operator.
For starters, you would have to have someone local audit the paperwork at least every three months -- just 'for accurate accounting, don't you know' with the manager fully knowing of such financial oversight before you hire him, and written out in his signed Job Description. You would set up bank accounts such that statements, etc., were mailed to your out-of-town location during relevant months and then back to your local address when you return, automatically (a Post Office Box may be safer than your home address!). Don't rely upon a local lawyer or accountant to receive and faithfully retain all your documents; no matter how much you pay them, they are imperfect too and you are, after all, just one of their clients. ALWAYS send them only photocopies of needed documents that have first come to you; that way you can check off documents that should appear by certain dates, and also control just who knows how much about YOUR business. There is usually no reason for your lawyer to have your box office reports, for example, nor for your accountant to have deeds and private employee papers.
You would allow a local petty cash account into which only you made deposits, but anything over a certain amount would come from a separate account to which only you had access. Banks do NOT check signatures, so do NOT depend upon a 'Dual-Signature' check arrangement to protect you.
The thing here is to detect someone keeping two sets of books, which is one of the oldest tricks in the book. Maybe arranging for a separate and secret electronic report from your ticket vending machine would help in this area as well as similar at concession terminals, along with the following measures.
I would also set up a web site, perhaps by out-of-town experts, (with password access only) with camera views of many places in the cinema, much the way day care places have such views on-line to view their children in real time. Some of your cameras would be obvious as in the lobby and auditoriums; others would be concealed as in the boxoffices, manager's office, above entrance/exit doors and cash areas, and rear areas. A hidden sequencer/switcher would give you a variety of views, or you could switch to any one camera as needed. A hard disk video recorder could be arranged to record all cameras for playback by remote control at your command. Peephole and infrared or night-vision options would be wise to consider, since it would not be long before employees discovered some cameras and simply turned off the lights while doing the dirty.
Is all of this cheap and easy? Hardly. But do you want to be played the fool after months and things are settled into a calm routine? The temptation to steal from an owner a thousand miles away would be enormous, and employees may well regard the place as a sexual playground for which YOU would be legally and financially liable, should something happen.
"When the cat's away, the mice will play" is a truism as old as people, so be ready. You may luck out and get great people, and if so, wonderful. But with most people these days having neither God nor consequent morals, I would go into this with my eyes open if I were you. Best Wishes. --Jim
[This message has been edited by jimor (edited December 15, 2006).]
Forums 
