All Contractors will experience embezzlement at some point in their business life if they stay in it long enough. How much money will be lost is easy to predict.
Contractors who want someone to provide Contractor Bookkeeping Services and pay the bills are practically waving a Red Flag and holding a sign that says "I’m stupid pay my bills and embezzle as much of my money as you want!!
Small construction companies with annual sales volume under $5,000,000 cannot afford to put in place the proper checks and balances or hire the services of an in-house Chief Financial Officer (C.F.O.). Even when it is time to hire someone to "Pay The Bills" just expect sooner or later embezzlement will occur because you will try to get by without putting the best practices of money management in place until after you loose a small fortune.
Whenever you think it is a good idea to give your in-house bookkeeper or any Outsourced Contractor Bookkeeping Service full unrestricted access your online bank account, savings account, payroll account or credit card so they can save you time by paying your bills take two aspirin and lay down for a nap. When you wake up if you still feel it is a good idea, think again and review the list of the twenty one signs of bookkeeper embezzlement
A Google Search - Of Construction Bookkeeper Embezzlement will generate thousands of hits and most of it could have been avoided if the construction owner had known about and followed a few simple guidelines.
#01 - Don't Hire A Bad Bookkeeper Click Here For More...
#02 - Understand The Employee Theft 10-10-80 Rule - Discovered over many years of experience and first hand observation by auditors, accountants, fraud examiners, anyone involved in detecting employee theft.
Ten Percent - Of all employees including bookkeepers will steal in a variety of ways from office supplies, petty cash, graft, kickbacks and payoffs from your suppliers, vendors and sub-contractors and even hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars. They will do it regardless of how many security systems are in place because they lack integrity and have an "taker's" entitlement paradigm that states: "It Is Better To Take Than To Make". They cannot be stopped, only caught! And only then if you have systems in place and if you can convince the criminal justice system to take action, good luck with that!
Ten Percent - Of all employees including bookkeepers will never steal because they have integrity and a "Producer's" paradigm that states: "It Is Better To Make Than To Take". In the end these are the people who will add so much value to your company you cannot help but reward them with more money, benefits and recognition. Because if you do not they will be recruited by your competitors. This is another example of Leveling, click here to learn more.
Eighty Percent - Of all employees including bookkeepers will steal if they feel certain 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"
#03 - Your Bookkeeper - Asks for signature authority on your checking / savings / payroll accounts
#04 - Your Bookkeeper - Has a lifestyle that seems above what they are earning
#05 - Your Bookkeeper - Takes Records Home to work on or they want to work in the office when no one is around (Fraudulent activities are easier when nobody is around).
#06 - Your Bookkeeper - Refuses to take a vacation.
#07 - Your Bookkeeper - Gets defensive when you or your CPA asks questions.
#08 - Your Bookkeeper - Has access to your credit/debit cards.
#09 - Your Bookkeeper - Receives mail-order packages at work.
#10 - Your Bookkeeper - Has QuickBooks in a complete mess and you cannot understand any of it.
#11 - You Bookkeeper - Tries to explain away delinquency tax notices.
#12 - Your Bookkeeper - Insists on picking up the daily mail.
#13 - Your Bookkeeper - Is the primary contact for your company's banks, auditors, creditors, etc.
#14 - Your Bookkeeper - Misplaces payroll receipts, deposit records, supplier letters and estimates.
#15 - Your Bookkeeper - Makes the bank deposits and they seem to be too small.
#16 - Your Bookkeeper - Show signs of a drinking, drug, or gambling problem or family financial problems.
#17 - Your Bookkeeper - Suggested they could save money by getting rid of the outside accounting firm.
#18 - Your Bookkeeper - Gets angry when you ask for a QuickBooks report
#19 - Your Bookkeeper - Tries to blame the previous Bookkeeper or outside accounting firm for messy QuickBooks
#20 - Your Bookkeeper - Does not get along well with other employees and staff members.
#21 - Paying bills with Cashiers Checks - When you look it up on the internet it will only show as a withdrawal
There Are More Warning Signs - To be aware of and action steps you can take.
This Is One More Example of how Fast Easy Accounting is helping construction company owners just like you put more money in the bank to operate and grow your construction company. Construction accounting is not rocket science; it is a lot harder than that and a lot more valuable to people like you and me so stop missing out! Call Sharie 206-361-3950 or sharie@fasteasyaccounting.com and schedule your no charge one-hour consultation
Outsource To A Professional Contractors Bookkeeping Service - That has a Contractors Bookkeeping Services System in place:
They Do Not - Collect your money, make bank deposits or pay any bills or taxes.
They Do - The Bookkeeping including Payroll Processing, Quarterly Tax Reports, Invoicing, Pay Applications, and bank reconciliations and provide you with online access to your QuickBooks For Contractors and a separate 24/7 web based financial reporting tool so you can generate Job Costing and Financial reports anytime you want them.
For Construction Company Owners who do not need the full power of QuickBooks for contractors and want 24/7 online access we offer Xero Accounting Online and we have custom setup for construction companies. Click Here For More.
This Is One More Example of how Fast Easy Accounting is helping construction company owners all across the USA including Alaska and Hawaii put more money in the bank to operate and grow your construction company. Construction accounting is not rocket science; it is a lot harder than that and a lot more valuable to people like you so stop missing out! Call Sharie 206-361-3950 or sharie@fasteasyaccounting.com and schedule your no charge one-hour consultation.
Profitable Contractors and Construction Company owners have known about the value of outsourced bookkeeping services and contractor coaching services like ours for a long time and now you know about it too!
We Scan Your Receipts And Invoices link the appropriate transactions to QuickBooks or Xero Accounting Online depending on the construction accounting service you are using and provide ongoing Cloud Based Contractors Bookkeeping Services by accountants who understand construction.
About The Author:
Our Co-Founder Randal DeHart - Is a Certified PMP (Project Management Professional) with several years of construction project management experience. His expertise is construction accounting systems engineering and process development. His exhaustive study of several leading experts including the work of Dr. W. Edward Deming, Michael Gerber, Walter A. Shewhart, James Lewis and dozens of others was the foundation upon which our Construction Bookkeeping System is based and continues to evolve and improve. Check out our Contractor Success Map Podcast on iTunes and Follow Randal on Google+