A recent news story clearly shows why a bookkeeper should not be authorizing payments.

In the news is the case of Bonnie Sweeten, the Pennsylvania mother who faked her kidnapping 13 years ago. She was found on a plane on her way to Disney World with her daughter.

Sweeten is back in the news again. This time she is accused of stealing from her employer. Now 51, Sweeten was charged in the U.S Eastern District Court in Philadelphia with two counts of wire fraud for stealing from a Doylestown, Pennsylvania excavating company.

She had been hired as a bookkeeper, federal prosecutors say. Sweeten allegedly forged checks and made fraudulent purchases with a company credit card.

While Sweeten is innocent until proven guilty, the charges she faces shine a light on what a bookkeeper should, and in particular, not do. A bookkeeper should not be handling company funds, using credit cards, writing checks, or authorizing ACH payments. Preparing transactions is certainly within the realm, but the authorization to spend funds is not within the realm of how a bookkeeper should work.

The news story about the Sweeten case is here.