A local building supplier will be reimbursed by an ex-employee who cooked the books at the business to the tune of over $12,000.
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The former employee, who The Courier has chosen not to name as she avoided conviction, began working in accounts at the Sebastopol business on May 2, 2022.
By July 5, the business' commercial manager began to notice irregularities in the accounts.
The audit which followed found between May 20 and July 4, the business made $90,908.77 and only $78,091.35 was deposited into the its bank account - a discrepancy of $12,817.42.
The funds were last handled by the 26-year-old accused.
The Ballarat Magistrates' Court on Wednesday heard the Ballarat East woman began altering the business' finances to cover up an initial $5000 cash loss which she alleged went missing from her car over a lunch break.
"The accused stated approximately $5000 went missing when she went out for lunch with a friend, whose details she did not disclose, at Stockland Wendouree," Sergeant Mitch Prewett told the court.
"The money was located in a banking bag inside her vehicle. When the accused returned from lunch the banking bag was still in her vehicle.
"The accused dropped her friend off at their home address before she went to the bank to deposit the money. While at the bank the accused noticed the money was not inside the banking bag.
"The accused stated her friend returned to the vehicle at some point during lunch and was unsupervised at the time. The accused's vehicle had no signs of forced entry and automatically locks."
The accused told authorities after the money when missing, she began putting the business money earned on the day, the overs and unders money, and her own money into the business bank account, banking a day late to cover up the discrepancy.
The woman's defence counsel told the court after the initial $5000 loss, the accused panicked.
"She didn't want to report it to her employer ... it was a long term plan to keep these accounts moving without any alarms being raised by her employer," the defence said.
"She does very much acknowledge what she's done is wrong, but it not come from anywhere else but panic."
At the time she was fired, the woman said she believed there was between $2000 to $3000 still outstanding.
Magistrate Michelle Mykytowycz didn't buy the explanation.
"There's an initial $5000 but the sum is over $12,000. That's what she's pleading guilty to," Ms Mykytowycz said.
"If you haven't taken [the money] of course you can go to your boss and say, 'oh my god, this is what's happened'.
"I'm not sure I fully accept the [explanation] because we are dealing with a far greater amount.
"It's a breach of trust.
"It's an aggravating feature that she's been employed to deal with the accounts.
"When I heard the summary I was thinking is there a gambling problem? Is there a drug problem? Does she owe money to others?"
The woman's defence said none of those scenarios applied in this case.
Ms Mykytowycz said that the woman had otherwise good character, no prior criminal history, and was a youthful offender indicated good prospects of rehabilitation, and, the "life long" impact of a recorded conviction may impact her further job prospects.
The accused was ordered to repay her former employer and complete 70 hours of community work across a 12 month community corrections order.
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