Recent employee theft statistics are increasing, and small business owners are more vulnerable to the problem. The most common embezzlement methods include billing fraud, cash on hand, and check tampering.

You may not know how employees can steal from you as a construction business owner. Some standard methods include:

• redirecting company checks to personal accounts and altering entries to cover up the theft
• undercounting change to customers and keeping the balance
• seeking reimbursement for non-business related expenses or 
• pocketing inventory or supplies.

Just as you can't be 100% secure all the time, there is no way to eliminate 100% of the embezzlement in your contracting company. However, you can limit your losses and avoid most of them with suitable preventative measures.

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Topics: Bookkeeper Embezzlement, Embezzlement, Contractor Bookkeeper Embezzlement, Construction Bookkeeper Embezzlement, bookkeeper theft, Employee Theft

Billing schemes. Skimming. Check-tampering. Employee fraud is a real risk for businesses with fewer than 100 employees. In fact, according to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, small businesses lose almost twice as much per scheme to occupational fraud.

If you Google Search "Construction Bookkeeper Embezzlement," you will see thousands of hits, and most of the problems construction companies suffered could have been avoided if the owner had known about and followed a few simple guidelines.

Unfortunately, until a contractor has gotten to know us, they tend to think of us as just another contractor's bookkeeping service. This means some contractors think we are crazy to suggest that any trusted employee, especially an in-house bookkeeper, would steal money from their company, and so they ignore us until it was too late.

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Topics: The Contractors Account, Bookkeeper Embezzlement, Embezzlement, Systems And Processes, Contractor Bookkeeper Embezzlement, Construction Bookkeeper Embezzlement, Contractor Tips, Employee Fraud

Bookkeeping embezzlement stems from a feeling of entitlement and the need to get even. Your bookkeeper or accountant will steal if they feel confident they can get away with it and if circumstances allow for it due to weak integrity and a sense of "Redistributing The Wealth, But Not The Work Or The Responsibility."

 

It is estimated that the number of bookkeepers caught embezzling from contractors is less than one percent of the total. In most cases, the ones that are caught are rarely convicted because all too often, it is the contractor who has to spend thousands of dollars on forensic accountants and attorneys to prove the theft occurred.

 

In most cases, it is near impossible to persuade the authorities to prosecute when a contractor bookkeeper embezzles because it is often viewed as a "Victimless Crime."

 

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Topics: New Contractors, Bookkeeper Embezzlement, Embezzlement, Construction Accounting, Contractor Bookkeeper Embezzlement, Construction Bookkeeper Embezzlement, Contractor Challenges, Contractor

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This article was written in late September 2016 in response to a trend we see all across the USA including Alaska and Hawaii. It is likely happening everywhere in the world.

When the world economy collapsed beginning in 2008, a lot of companies went out of business, and one of the hardest hit sectors was construction. Thousands of bookkeepers were suddenly out of a job, and many of them began to freelance taking on a few clients in order to pay rent and keep food on the table.

As the economy continues to improve a lot of them are finding jobs with contractors like you because of the security that comes with having a stable income. The problem is they have been accustomed to having lots of free time during office hours to chat on their cell phones, surf the web, spend time on Facebook and other social media sites; not buckling down and getting work done, right and on time.

In addition, most of them have not kept up with the advances in Construction Accounting Technology let alone keeping the construction bookkeeping skills updated.

What happens when he or she realizes they were earning $30 an hour as a freelance bookkeeper and now they are slaving away in your cramped office with no snacks, beverages, using outdated hardware and software for $10 an hour?

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Topics: Bad Bookkeepers, Bookkeeper Embezzlement, Construction Accounting, Contractor Bookkeeper Embezzlement

An Alarming Number Of Construction Company Owners Are

Being Ripped-Off And Driven Into Bankruptcy!

That sounds harsh but it is true! Whenever we see a contractor is heading toward a problem, issue or disaster we immediately raise an alarm. We are judicious about doing it so when we say there is a potential problem our clients know we are serious.

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Topics: Bookkeeper Embezzlement, Embezzlement, Contractor Bookkeeper Embezzlement, Construction Bookkeeper Embezzlement

“A recent study found that business school education not only fails to improve the moral character of the students, it weakens it. ..students were asked, if given a chance of being caught and sent to prison, they would attempt an illegal act that would net them a profit of more than $100,000; more than one-third responded ‘yes’.^"

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Topics: Bad Bookkeepers, Bookkeeper Embezzlement, Embezzlement, Bad Construction Bookkeepers

Bookkeeper Incompetence - No Question About It!

The Little Leaks Sink The Ship - Whenever a disaster hits your company, like Bookkeeper Theft it gets your attention real fast and you tend to jump on it with both feet and fix it! However it is the little leaks caused by bookkeeper incompetence or even worse Bad Bookkeepers that will destroy you company.

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Topics: Bookkeeper Embezzlement, Contractor Bookkeeper Embezzlement, bookkeeper theft

If This Has Happened To You Stop Reading And Click On Emergency Accounting or call Sharie 206-361-3950 or email her  Sharie@FastEasyAccounting.com

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Topics: Bad Bookkeepers, Bookkeeper Embezzlement, Bookkeeping Services, QuickBooks For Contractors, Professional bookkeeping, Construction Bookkeeping And Accounting, contractors bookkeeping and accounting