Corporate forensic investigation

Do you have any long-standing financial disputes. Do you understand what forensic accounting means?

Corporate forensic investigation is a complicated term for describing a simple financial analysis going back over time.

The word “forensic” implies detective work however the simple fact is that a forensic review involves examining transactions and supporting evidence to arrive at a financial result that can be used to resolve disputes and claims of fraud often between business partners.

The forensic review and supporting conclusions and evidence are often used by lawyers representing parties in disputes to establish liability and damages. Each party may hire their own forensic accountants so whoever gets the accountant who puts together the best financial argument supported by the best evidence is likely to impress the judge and win the case.

It is very important therefore to ensure that your forensic accountant is properly qualified and experienced especially in basic accounting and bookkeeping.

It is also important to make sure that your forensic accountant is aware that his report needs to be clear enough and jargon free to convince a non-accounting judge of the conclusions raised.

Exception based reporting

It is also very important to make sure that wherever possible all conclusions are based on original documents. However, where the originals are not available it is important to be able to work on an exception-based reporting basis so that you can convince the lawyers and judges of what they are expecting to see based on normal practice.

Occasionally we might have to recreate an entire financial scenario based on logic and industry norms. Again, being able to convince a judge of what normal practice is and where there have been deviations from normal practice needs to be clear and as easily understood as possible.

I would be interested to hear if you have this kind of requirement. As a pre computer qualified accountant I have specific experience in account reconstruction and investigation. I also have experience of several successful cases particularly in the construction industry where disputes are sadly common.