FAQ

• A retail store that fell behind in their bookkeeping asked me to help them catch up, then convert to QuickBooks.
• A landscaping company asked me to review their QuickBooks data for the past year, make corrections, improve their set-up to provide more meaningful results, and teach them how to process their data more efficiently.
• A dentist has me review her bookkeeper's work and reconcile the monthly bank statements.
• An attorney asked me to train her new employee after the previous office manager quit unexpectedly.

On two occasions I reconstructed accounting records for corporations whose primary manager had embezzled funds and doctored the books. One was a manufacturing company and the other was a medical facility. In each case nearly $100,000 was siphoned out of the company over a period of one to two years. I reviewed historical transactions for accuracy and validity, comparing computerized records to bank account statements and paper trails. Each company invested in having me create new, accurate records. I showed them simple techniques to avoid being victimized again.

A franchise distributor hired me to visit each of their franchises in three states to ensure all were using QuickBooks correctly. Look at my testimonial page to read a letter expressing her appreciation.

• Deposits that never appear on the bank statement.
• Missing checks or duplicate check numbers.
• Bogus names on the vendor, employee, customer or other names lists.
• Vendors complaining they never received your check or customers complaining you never posted their payment. Both can mean the check was stolen.
• Strange accounts receivable or payable balances, especially on a cash basis balance sheet.

You can take the following steps to reduce the opportunity for employee fraud:

• In QuickBooks®, assign appropriate user access rights and use passwords for each employee.
• In Point of Sale, require sales personnel to login using their own user name and password to record each sale. Set the preferences to automatically log out the user after completing every sale. This creates true monetary tracking by user name and prevents anyone from recording transactions under someone else's name.
• Track where every check goes including voided checks. Use the Missing Checks report.
• Bank statements should not be sent to the company address unless the owner always picks up the mail. Any employee who picks up the mail, opens the mail, pays the bills, records customer payments, or makes bank deposits should not be the person who reconciles the bank statements.
• Know personally how each employee's job tasks should be done and review their work regularly to verify their performance and accuracy.