Fraud Advisory Services

A forensic accountant is an expert accountantand business advisor that is asked by one party in a dispute to provide clarification and opinion concerning the issues being debated. There are a wide range of circumstances that can involve the need for forensic accountants. These can range from valuing assets for one or both parties in a matrimonial dispute in order that a division of wealth can be made, to establishing how much profit has been lost as a result of a factory stoppage that is being blamed on another party. Quantification of damages or losses is a big part of a forensic accountant’s work.

One of the main branches of forensic accounting involves fraud. Indeed the general public often associate one with the other. Fraud by its very nature involves some form of accounting annomoly or financial deceit. It is the manipulation of accounting records to hide the theft. As such, one of the most important persons needed to investigate and deal with fraud is the expert accountant.

It is the financial and business expert that is able to recognise the fraud, the reasons it was possible to commit and the route the losses have taken leaving the victim company. It is this forensic accountant who traces these losses and demonstrates the ultimate destination by analysing bank statements and other financial records when “following the money”. It is arguably the most important part of the fraud investigation because without it interviewing suspects or gathering evidence does not have a focus.

When confronted with a new case, the forensic accountant does not have a set procedure. Every fraud is different, it is the unusual and new loophole that every fraudster is seeking in order to surprise an organisation that thought it had covered all the bases. The money trail is the starting point and establishing how the losses occured and how much has been stolen is the first task.

The forensic accountant may enlist the help of competent accountants to analyse bank statements. He or she may even use an organisation’s own resources. Often accounting software is utilised to make the trepetitive tasks easier, such as IDEA for Windows or Altia statement analysis software.

It is the interpretation of results and provision of opinion wher the forensic skills are mostly brought into play. An opinion may have to be supported when under cross examination and the other party is not going to simply accept one persons say so. It can be very lonely in the witness box for a forensic accountant!