Two clients paid money directly into Jonathan Green's bank accounts thinking they were settling bills with Graham Builders Merchants in Dundee.
The fraud was uncovered when the company noticed the discrepancies and challenged the 45-year-old.
A court was told that Green, from Letham, Angus had repaid the money in full from his pension fund.
Dundee Sheriff Court was told previously that Green worked for the firm as a sales manager for over a year.
Depute fiscal Saima Rasheed said the first client paid £7,763 into Green's bank account.
Miss Rasheed said: "When his employer chased the sum with the client, the accused told them he would 'fix it.'"
The court heard that a second client made three payments totalling £65,622 into Green's bank account.
After Green's employer noticed the discrepancy he wrote a letter of apology and said he had been in "financial difficulties."
Green admitted embezzling £73,386 from Graham Builders Merchants in Dundee between August 2011 and July 2012, while employed there as a contract sales manager.
Ross Bennett, defending, said Green had been sacked by the company when the fraud came to light and the money had been repaid in full.
He said that while £73,000 had been paid into Green's account, he had only kept £23,000 and forwarded the remainder to Graham Builders Merchants
Mr Bennett said: "This is very much a one-off. I would be surprised if Mr Green was ever in court again.
"If he is given a fine it will have to be a significant one."
Sheriff Lorna Drummond QC told Green: "You are well-thought-of, a family man, and a first-time offender.
"But I have to look at the amount embezzled, which was over a prolonged period of time.
"The sentence must deter others and a period of custody is inevitable."
A sales manager who embezzled more than £73,000 from his former employer has been jailed for a year.