Is it true that assets are not shown in single entry bookkeeping making theft from business by employees more likely? If so, how?

Single-entry accounting is much simpler to use, but also much less reliable than double-entry accounting. Single-entry is generally only allowed for small businesses that cannot afford to hire full-time accounting staff.Single-entry accounting basically only keeps track of two things: How much money comes in, and how much money goes out. This makes it very simple to use, but also prone to a number of different errors and distortions.First of all, double-entry accounting has...

Single-entry accounting is much simpler to use, but also much less reliable than double-entry accounting. Single-entry is generally only allowed for small businesses that cannot afford to hire full-time accounting staff.

Single-entry accounting basically only keeps track of two things: How much money comes in, and how much money goes out. This makes it very simple to use, but also prone to a number of different errors and distortions.

First of all, double-entry accounting has a built-in error-correction mechanism: Debits and credits must balance. Single-entry accounting has no such mechanism.

Second, as you correctly note, asset values are not recorded in single-entry accounting. You record what you paid for them, and if you sell them later what you sold them for; but you do not mark their value to market while you own them as you would in double-entry accounting.

I'm not sure it's necessarily true that it is easier to steal from a company that uses single-entry accounting, but it might be, simply because there is no error-correction mechanism. If you forge a few figures on one balance sheet, there is no other balance sheet to check it against, as there would be with double-entry accounting.

Double-entry accounting is by no means a complete solution to fraud, however: A number of corporations (famously Enron) have used fraudulent double-entry accounting to inflate their value and extract wealth for their owners. In fact, most fraud is probably committed under double-entry accounting systems, because most fraud is committed in large corporations and most large corporations are required to use double-entry accounting.