A 54-year-old bookkeeper has admitted to stealing close to $750,000 from two employers, including the post office, over more than a decade.
Bunbury woman Kathleen Margaret Griffiths used several tactics to embezzle money from her employers between 2005 and 2018.
In total, Griffiths stole $683,800 from Busselton business Globe Signs and about $54,000 from the Dunsborough Post Office.
The court heard the offending started as early as 2005 when she took $1,700 from Globe Signs.
The smallest amount of money she stole was $1,700, between 2005 and 2006.
She took increasing amounts of money from Globe Signs, peaking when she took $137,562 in 2015–16.
Between 2015 and 2018, she stole about $55,000 from the Dunsborough post office.
She pleaded guilty to 16 charges of stealing as a servant in Bunbury Magistrates Court on Monday.
Ms Griffiths did not speak in court, other than to enter her plea.
Magistrate Benjamin Tyers has requested a pre-sentence and psychological report.
Businesses were under 'financial pressure'
When Griffiths was arrested, WA Police's Financial Crimes Squad said she used several tactics to conceal her offending including falsely recording transactions as a payment to the owner.
She also falsely inflated the amount of an invoice and paid the inflated amount to herself, and paid herself numerous times during a weekly pay cycle.
Detective Sergeant Jamie Hutcheson said affected business owners were struggling to understand why their financials were not adding up.
"During the time the funds were being stolen the business owners were unable to work out why they were under such financial pressure," he said.
"It wasn't until independent audits of their finances were conducted after the accused had moved interstate in 2018 that the fraudulent transactions were identified.
"One business owner had found themselves working additional hours over several years to keep their business afloat, this created unnecessary stress and has resulted in them both being left with a significant gap that may take years to recover from."
Griffiths is due to be sentenced in the district court later this year.
