What Is Forensic Accounting All About?   by Matthew Kerridge

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

Forensic accounting is a specialized form of accounting. It is about the need to have financial records prepared for court testimony. The court needs to understand the accounting system of a company that is under suspicion. Forensic accounting is one of the most important part of the court room trial.
Any company involved in defrauding people out of their money like their life savings or their retirement accounts must have their accounts examined. These days you hear a lot about people being defrauded by companies acting outside the law.
This where the forensic accountant steps in. He and his team will not let the criminals get away with cheating people. But if you think about it this like a doctor performing an autopsy. The forensic accountant will go in find out what went wrong with the accounting records.
He will dissect the company records and determine what was the poison that killed the patient as it were. The poison is the illegal activity the suspects tried to pass through their financial records.
The problems will come out. And the evidence that the accountant team discovers will be the evidence to convict those who tried to manipulate their accounting system in order to defraud people.
This is a specialized area. The forensic accountant must have a lot training and a lot of experience. In a sense he has to think like a criminal in order to catch the criminal. And with the advent of the internet and new computer technology he must be on top of the latest methods to defraud people.
The forensic accounting field is always changing to meet the new challenges of the modern day. Those who think about defrauding others must know that sooner or later they will be caught and face the penalty for their criminal ways.