What Is Forensic Accounting About?   by Matthew Kerridge

in Finance / Accounting    (submitted 2010-02-18)

What Is Forensic Accounting all About? This is the accounting specialty that refers to the examination of records for the purpose of legal testimony. The specialty deals with trying to find out the truth about the accounting records that are in question in a court proceeding.
The court must know what has gone on in the accounting department of a company that is under suspicion for illegal activity. These days you hear a lot about companies cheating people out of their life savings or retirement plans. The court will need expert testimony so find out where the money went.
Think about how smart criminals could doctor their accounts and get away with their crime if no one could track their records. But the prosecution has a team of expert accountants to step in and dissect the records. This is like a doctor doing an autopsy of a dead person.
Like the doctor the accountant will find out what went wrong and why it wrong and who tried to make it go wrong. The forensic accountant will get down to the crime.
People involved in crime might think they can hide their records or manipulate them to appear as if they did no wrong. But the account team will dissect the financial records and track down all the illegal accounting activities.
This is a very specialized area of accounting. The accountant in this field needs a lot of experience and training. He needs also a sixth sense that will lead him to uncover the illegal practices of those who might otherwise get away with their financial crime.
In this modern day of the internet, online accounting, and other modern technology the forensic accounting people must be up to the challenge. They are however as they manage to stay one step ahead of those who would try to use their accounts to cheat people.