For many years, the saw blades have been running strong and stable in Morten Larsen's carpentry company, ML Byg Måløv, based in Ballerup.

The ten or so employees have been there for many years, and the master carpenter considers many of them his own family.

Here, people trust each other and everyone does exactly what they do best. Just like you stay an arm's length away from tasks you're not good at.

Owner Morten Larsen is dyslexic. He has long since realized that it is best for the company to have the tax and VAT jungle and payroll payments tamed by an external accountant - an accountant he was recommended by word-of-mouth by several other entrepreneurs from the local area in Ballerup.

As required by law, ML Byg also paid a state-authorized public accountant to do the annual checks of the company's finances. Everything was in place to run a healthy construction company, and the focus should be on delivering good products to customers.

But after a change of accountant, it quickly became apparent that the company had crossed paths with an impostor.

- Something is wrong. You need to come down to us, and it's just right now, the new accountant explained on the phone.

The external bookkeeper had withdrawn over 2.7 million kroner from the carpentry company to his own private bank account over the past three years, the auditor found.

ML Byg and Morten Larsen are far from alone among private companies that have been defrauded. In more than 100 companies, the accountant has described how the individual companies have been exposed to fraud or deception. This is shown by a data extract from the CVR register, which the analysis company Septima has made for DR.

Case history:

2009: The now fraud-convicted accountant is hired as an external accountant for ML Byg.

April 2013 - June 2016: The bookkeeper defrauds ML Byg of DKK 2.7 million.

June 2016: ML Byg reports the accountant to the police. Earlier this year, ML Byg has switched to an accountant who discovers the fraud.

February 2019: The bookkeeper is convicted of data fraud of a particularly serious nature by the Court in Glostrup.

Fraudulent for over three years

Thoughts flew around in Morten Larsen's head as he sat with his new accountant shortly afterwards.

- It's a lot of money. It's a lot of money. And I wondered if we're going to survive this. That was the first thing that came to mind. What are the consequences for the rest of my life," he says.

Prior to the sad news, the new accounting firm had spent over six months extracting all relevant material from the bookkeeper that would be used to prepare an annual report.

When the auditor finally got hold of the material, he quickly realized that the bookkeeper had drained the company over a three-year period from April 2013 through June 2016.

The tip of the iceberg

ML Byg is far from the only company that has been the victim of scams. At least 103 different companies declare in their annual reports that they have been victims of either deception or fraud.

This is the result of a random sample conducted by the analysis company Septima for DR. All of the country's approximately 310,000 companies‘ annual reports were searched for keywords such as ’fraud‘, ’deception‘ and ’police report' in the period 2012 through 2019.

It is rare for companies to write about fraud in their financial statements. But it's only the tip of the iceberg that is mentioned in the accounts.

Christian Pejtersen, Director of The security company yourCompany, which helps private companies investigate fraud or other irregularities.

- There are plenty of fraud cases that never find their way into the accounts because the cases are handled at a completely different level, explains the director, who has a background in the police, including eight years with PET.

According to the private investigator, documented fraud or deception often does not result in a police report either.

The employers' organization Dansk Erhverv also meets companies that have been defrauded by employees.

- We know there are cases that are not reported to the police. If you can get a reasonable agreement with the employee in question, companies choose to do so to a certain extent," says Lars Borke, Process Director at Dansk Erhverv.

But this approach can be problematic, says Christian Pejtersen.

- This means that many of these people can go straight across the street and be employed by a similar company. Many times it's a personal relationship that prevents people from reporting the case, and I think that's actually wrong. You should get beyond that," he says.

It is often trusted employees who are behind the fraud.

Watch Christian Pejtersen from yourCompany talk about how fraud often takes companies by surprise.

Read the full article about “Deceived by the accountant: How Morten was scammed for 2.7 million kroner” here: https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/penge/bedraget-af-bogholderen-saadan-blev-morten-svindlet-27-millioner-kroner

Source: DR.dk