Lessons · Accounting · taking money before it is ever recorded
Taking money before it is ever recorded
Skimming is taking receipts before they enter the records at all. Because the money was never recorded, the books balance perfectly afterwards, which is what makes it the hardest scheme to find in the accounts.
Hone is a place to practise a career, one idea a day. This is one of its lessons, written out in full and free to read without an account.
In beta. This lesson was written for Hone and has not yet been checked by a qualified accountant. Practice material, not professional advice. What that means.
What it is for
It defeats the instinct to look for an imbalance. There is nothing missing from the records, because the transaction never joined them. It is found by comparing the records against something outside them: what was ordered, what stock moved, what a till counted, what the pattern used to be.
How to think about it
Never look for it inside the ledger. Compare the recorded takings with an independent measure of activity, and investigate the gap rather than the balance.
Worked example
Money taken before it is recordedIt never enters the books.
The books balance afterwardsBecause nothing was removed from them.
Compare against something outside the recordsStock moved, covers served, till readings.
The gap is the findingNot an imbalance.
Your turn
Name why skimming leaves the books balanced.
The money was taken before it was ever
Solve one, graded on the server
The trap
Looking for the missing money in the accounts. It is not there and never was, and an investigation that stays inside the ledger will conclude everything is fine, correctly and uselessly.