"It was the bookkeeper, I tell ya...the bookkeeper did this to me!"  So claims the attorney and former state senator Charles D. Jones of Monroe, Louisiana convicted of tax evasion.  Our friends at KTBS.com have provided us with the whole story.

"A federal court jury in Shreveport on Monday convicted former state senator Charles D. Jones of tax evasion.

The jury deliberated much of the afternoon before finding Jones, of Monroe, guilty on all three counts against him. Sentencing is set for Dec. 6. Jones, 60, will remain free pending sentencing.

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Many businesses know that when it comes to "doing the books", they hire a bookkeeper to take care of this side of the business.  They entrust someone to be there to make sure the ledger is up to date, the paychecks are written, and the payments from customers hit the bank.  A bookkeeper holds an extremely valuable position in a company, and with it, great responsibility.

That is why it's tough to hear of stories about bookkeepers who do wrong against their trusting employers, even, in this particular case, when it was done for the good of others at the expense of the company.

Take a look at this story.  It is about a Florida bookkeeper who stole more than $250,000 from her employer to give to the "poor."  She has dubbed herself as a modern Robin Hood.

Click for the story after the jump!

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Today is the official end to tax season, but that doesn't stop businesses from filing extensions, therefore buying themselves more time to prepare their taxes.  Our friends over at FinWeb have provided some helpful tips for small businesses when it comes to taxes, which we completely agree with!  Read below to see what they have to say:

Tax help will be necessary the first few times you file your small business returns. Unless you are an accountant, you will need to learn the ins and outs of business taxes which are subject to wholly different laws than private income tax returns. One of the key areas you may find difficulties with is simple bookkeeping. This challenge will not likely go away with experience since it is common to make unintentional errors no matter how experienced you are. Try these tips to avoid mistakes in your bookkeeping.

Take an Accounting Class

You may have gone to business school in which case you likely took accounting classes. However, you may also be one of the tens of thousands of small business owners who simply had an idea and started a company without business management education or experience. If this describes your situation, it is time for you to go back and learn the basics before moving forward. Take a business accounting class at a local community college. You may also contact the Small Business Administration to inquire about tax accounting seminars and resources. Many of these seminars will be provided free of charge in your local area.

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People ask us all the time about bookkeeping and accounting.  The problem is, they interchange the words as if they are the same thing.  In fact, they are not.  Bookkeeping is one facet of accounting.  Today we thought we would go through the differences between bookkeeping and accounting, and how they complement each other.

Bookkeeping, by definition, is quite literally the work or skill of keeping account books or systematic records of money transactions.*  A bookkeeper is in charge of managing all of the financial records of a company, whether that be manual bookkeeping or through a software program such as Quickbooks.  They must input all of the financial information for that company, including but not limited to: sales receipts, bills, payments, payroll, and income.  Dependant on the amount of financial information coming through the company's doors, the bookkeeper can be working monthly, weekly, even daily on the records.

The most important part of the bookkeeper's job is to stay on top of the information and make sure it is all inputted correctly.  The last thing any company wants to have is someone working on their financial records who does not know or understand what they are doing.  Unfortunately, this has been the reality of quite a few businesses, and many have gone under on the account of bad bookkeeping.

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