BUSINESSES are being warned to keep a careful eye on their accounts, as the number of bookkeepers caught defrauding their employers continues to rise.
Vincents Chartered Accountants forensic technology director Daniel Hains said demand for his firm's forensic services had increased more than 15 per cent in the wake of the financial downturn.
"As cash-strapped businesses cast a closer eye than usual over their books, they are discovering holes in their accounts that should not be there," he said.
Mr Hains said the amounts being stolen were sizeable, often running into tens of thousands of dollars.
"These payments are disguised as normal business transactions but may actually go towards holidays, cars, jewellery and in one case, private school fees," he said.
Mr Hains said his firm last year helped catch a bookkeeper who had misappropriated more than $90,000 from one company to pay back a former employer.
He said many bookkeepers caught cooking the books were part-time workers who had not had a proper background check.
Forensic accountant and fraud specialist Brett Warfield said his firm, Warfield and Associates, had recently investigated a case of an employee defrauding a company of about $65,000 over almost four years, before being discovered.
Mr Warfield said the company had only noticed the missing funds when it looked to save money during the recent downturn.
He said the impact on businesses was devastating, as money often could not be recovered.
Mr Warfield urged employers to ensure they had the final say on all of their company's financial transactions.
"If I could say one thing to any boss of a small to medium-size business, it is that they should always monitor bank accounts themselves," he said.
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