I own a condo at a large older building in TO, and another at a small 24 unit building in Calgary. I've served on the board at the Calgary building on and off for at least a decade. The Calgary property has always had seemingly high fees per square foot.  Drilling down the fees,  24 units were supporting an elevator, central AC, stairwell lighting etc etc.  No economies of scale. 
Never in my experience was there a whiff of board skimming. 

Think about it: If someone is a contractor of unsavory character, what's the easier and juicier target: a board of typically 5-9 acting on a single project, or a lone manager  that might have several projects ? 

In Calgary, we fired an established  property mgmt firm with plenty of solid evidence that their new manager assigned to us colluded with a mechanical firm to our detriment and considerable expense.