Business consultant and full-charge bookkeeper Charlie Montgomery has released a three-book series aimed at helping small and mid-sized business owners protect themselves from what she calls one of the most underreported threats to their companies: theft by their own bookkeeper. The series includes 36 Ways Your Bookkeeper Steals From You, How To Hire And Manage A Bookkeeper, and Blueprint for a Successful Pickpocket Bookkeeper, all available now.
Montgomery has spent 45 years consulting with small businesses, often brought in after a company's books became too inaccurate or incomplete for a CPA to handle. Over the course of that work, she kept encountering the same problem: trusted bookkeepers quietly draining cash from the businesses that depended on them, sometimes for years before anyone noticed. That experience forms the foundation of the series, which is designed to be a plain-spoken guide rather than an academic text.
The first book, 36 Ways Your Bookkeeper Steals From You, lays out the specific methods Montgomery has uncovered firsthand, from skimming cash to manipulating company financial systems, and explains why this kind of theft so often goes undetected. How To Hire And Manage A Bookkeeper follows with practical guidance for owners on vetting candidates, structuring interviews, writing job descriptions, and managing a bookkeeper once they're hired, so the problem never starts in the first place. The series closes with Blueprint for a Successful Pickpocket Bookkeeper, which breaks down how theft schemes are typically set up and escalated, the warning signs owners should watch for, and what to do once theft is suspected or confirmed, illustrated throughout with real case studies, including several drawn from IRS cases.
"Theft by a bookkeeper is a really tough subject to discuss, yet it's much more prevalent than most business owners realize or care to admit," said Montgomery. "This is an underreported crime that is very costly to businesses, and can be especially devastating to small businesses."
The importance of Montgomery's series lies in its potential to fill a gap in business education. Small and mid-sized businesses often lack the resources for robust internal controls, making them vulnerable to financial fraud that can go unnoticed for years. By providing concrete warning signs and prevention strategies, the books aim to empower owners to safeguard their assets and avoid the devastating consequences of embezzlement. Montgomery's background goes well beyond bookkeeping. She has consulted with more than 100 clients across industries including real estate, construction, retail, and manufacturing, managed large residential and warehouse operations, and helped small business owners navigate PPP loan compliance during the pandemic. That experience shapes all three books into plain-spoken guides rather than academic texts. All three books are available now for purchase on Amazon.
