What does a forensic accountant do?
One of our most frequently asked questions is ‘what does a forensic accountant do?’, so we thought we would pull all of our knowledge together into one big blog post, to help you better understand how you could use a forensic accountant.
Contact us if you require more information on forensic accounting and whether it will benefit your situation.
An introduction to forensic accounting
Forensic Accounting is a speciality area of accounting that has become increasingly popular over the years. Forensic accountant roles require a huge amount of skill to help uncover financial discrepancies that may indicate crime, fraud or falsehoods in a range of cases and industries.
These accounting techniques are usually applied to cases such as financial, matrimonial or criminal disputes. This includes any circumstance where an independent accounting opinion is required. In essence, forensic accountants will assist with the financial elements of court cases using documents and evidence found during their investigations.
These documents and evidence usually include complex data, which requires specialist analytical skills that are beyond the knowledge of a solicitor. A forensic accountant is able to provide these necessary skills and expertise.
Read on to find out more about this area of accounting and how a forensic accountant could help you.
What does forensic accounting mean?
The term ‘forensic’ means the application of scientific methods and techniques to the investigation of crime, although this is now commonly extended to civil proceedings. Therefore, forensic accountants are often asked to use their expertise to investigate business or personal finances to look for discrepancies in a case or evidence of a crime or lie.
Duties of a forensic accountant
Forensic accountants will often have to carry out detailed investigations to uncover information and identify those anomalies in financial reports and documents. They will then provide a report of the findings and offer insights into how the activities were carried out.
Get in touch with our head of forensic accounting
When are forensic accountants used?
People are often unsure as to when forensic accountants are needed. Forensic accountancy skills are used in a number of situations, including:
- Business negligence
- Fraud and other crime investigations
- Reviewing work of other accountants and financial professionals
- Large scale corporate issues
- Insurance claims
- Matrimonial cases
What services do forensic accountants provide?
In the above situations, forensic accountants can provide several different services, including:
- Courses of action after reviewing financial evidence
- Obtaining relevant documents/evidence to help reject a claim
- Examine the evidence of the opposite party and analyse its strengths and weaknesses
- Negotiations and settlements
- Court hearings – giving evidence in court and meeting with relevant parties
Forensic accountants at Alexander and Co
The role of forensic accountants is to present findings of their investigations in court cases. Their expert testimony can be used to help a judge or jury come to a conclusion, make sure settlements are fair, and evaluate whether the conclusions made by the opposition are fair, reasonable and correct. That’s why it’s important to find the best forensic accounts for you.
No matter whether you’re going through a divorce, or you or your company are involved in larger cases, our expert forensic accountants can help you. Make sure to also explore other business sectors that we specialise in.
Get in touch with our offices in Manchester and London for more information, or send us a message using the form below.
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