Category Archives: Fighting Fraud

BOOKKEEPING MONEY SAVER TIP # 8: Dumb Down Your Filing Cabinet

  By E.T. Barton | May 9, 2012 - 2:07 am | Internal Controls, Money Saving Tips
11 Comments

In my last BOOKKEEPING MONEY-SAVING TIP # 7: Ditch the Office Filing Cabinets I suggested that you ditch the filing cabinet all together and make your filing go completely digital. However, I am now going to be more realistic about this advice. While it is absolutely 100% possible to ditch your filing cabinet and index every receipt, invoice, bill, eBill and statement that ever crosses a bookkeeper’s desk, I am not so foolish as to actually believe that everyone will embrace this advice wholeheartedly. In fact, I fully acknowledge that ditching the filing cabinet is the one piece of advice … Continue reading →

One SBO’s Tale of Bookkeeper Theft

  By Kenneth Reid | April 25, 2012 - 1:45 am | Fighting Fraud, Internal Controls, Spotlights
15 Comments

Kenneth Reid is an accountant with over 25 years experience. His blog – http://mastertype.blogspot.com – contains mostly income tax tips, but also contains some accounting and/or bookkeeping tips. During “tax season”, his blog will contain more tax tips than anything else. The rest of the year, his blog contains a combination of tax tips, accounting and bookkeeping tips, including some tips related to . _______________________________________________________________________________________ I had a client who went through a very difficult period of time a number of years ago due to a bookkeeper (and a few other employees) who were literally robbing the business blind. The … Continue reading →

Diary of a Bad, Bad Bookkeeper (Day 30) – The Double Payday Scam

  By "Betty Bookkeeper" | April 4, 2012 - 12:43 am | Diary of a Bad Bookkeeper, Fighting Fraud
4 Comments

Dear Diary, Today was payday – the second since I’ve been here.  I figured it was about time to test the Double Payday Scam – to see if my boss would actually catch me. So, I started the day by doing the .  Just like two weeks ago, I created and took all of the paychecks to the boss to sign.  He signed them, with only the occasional request to see a corresponding timecard…then he signed mine without question. I took the back to my office and set mine aside.  Then, I printed up another paycheck that I took back … Continue reading →

Why do Employees Steal?

  By Robin E. Davis | March 21, 2012 - 12:18 am | Fighting Fraud
15 Comments

Why Do Employees Steal From Their Employers? There are as many reasons as there are ways.  Here are just a few: People sometimes steal because they need the money to cover extraordinary expenses (such as medical or legal bills) Because they need extra money they don’t have (to pay debts or support a gambling ‘addiction’). Some employees steal because they are dissatisfied with their job or their  boss and they believe they ‘deserve’ more than  they’re getting – more pay, more time off, better treatment – whatever.  Stealing is a way for dissatisfied employees to ‘even the score’. Some embezzlers … Continue reading →

Lessons Learned from an Email Hacker

  By E.T. Barton | January 17, 2012 - 10:11 pm | Fighting Fraud, Internal Controls, Money Saving Tips
37 Comments

Last week, I was the victim of an Email Hacker.  For the first time in 12 years of having my Yahoo , someone managed to get in and change my email password.  As I tried frantically for days to get control of my account back, I realized that I had made several small mistakes that – if I had known better – could have prevented the nightmare it quickly became.  You see, not only do I have a Yahoo email account, but I also have Yahoo Messenger, a Yahoo Website, a secondary Yahoo email, the customized Yahoo Page, but I … Continue reading →