Jacqueline Louise McGowan, 40, was the ACT manager of Bacardi Lion Pty Ltd, an alcohol supplier, when she committed a systematic and lengthy fraud worth $129,432.

McGowan used her corporate credit card to buy things for her and her family, coming up with often bizarre explanations to tie the purchases to her employment.

A $135 haircut, for example, was disguised as a "gift basket" for a client of the company, the ACT Racing Club.

She used the card to pay for things like swimming lessons for her children, DVDs, vet bills, caravan site fees at a NSW resort, tickets to the circus, and school fees.

In all, she committed 197 fraudulent transactions to obtain a financial advantage of $59,517. There were another six acts of dishonestly obtaining property by deception, worth roughly $55,000, and 12 acts of forgery to a value of $46,775.

Acting Justice David Robinson on Thursday sentenced McGowan to six months weekend detention and 200 hours community service.

He described the conduct as a "breach of trust", that used a degree of planning and false documents to cover up the crimes.

But he said the expenses system employed by Bacardi Lion did little to prevent a dishonest employee from pursuing such crimes.

"The offender was able to learn the system in place and circumvent it," he said.

"Supervisors would generally only be able to view the amount of expenditure, date and the reason given by the employee for that expense.

"Copies of receipts were rarely checked and it was also possible to circumvent these checks by further dishonesty.

"The offender simply exploited weaknesses as she perceived them."

The court heard that McGowan and her husband had offered to sell their joint property to raise money for reparations.

It also heard she is suffering serious health problems and requires a major surgical procedure, although the clinical director of the ACT Justice Health Service gave evidence that she could be adequately cared for either in full-time or weekend detention.

McGowan is also said to have experienced a difficult childhood, suffering physical and mental abuse and growing up in an environment of "financial stringency".

Justice Robinson found a custodial sentence would "undoubtedly" have a significantly greater burden on McGowan than others without her physical and mental health difficulties.

He found her risk of re-offending to be low.

"The evidence overall persuades me that the offender is now truly ashamed of her behaviour and her situation in life and that she has an understanding of the seriousness of it," he said.

McGowan's six months of periodic detention will be followed by a good behaviour order, and she will be required to complete 200 hours of community service.