Forensic Accounting

In many ways the world of forensic accounting will seem familiar to finance professionals but it asks much more of an accountant than an ordinary job. Forensic accountants’ day to day work involves fraud investigations, damages assessments, valuations of businesses or curious entities and frequently involves legal proceedings. The forensic accountant could spend a week as the expert witness in a matrimonial dispute involving millions of pounds of marital assets, before spending the next valuing a football club.

This course allows learners to work through activities, share their learning with peers, and get the knowledge and skills that will enable them to operate in the world of the forensic accountant.

• Understand the role of the forensic accountant
• Identify misconduct including fraud and money laundering
• Gain an understanding of how to prevent fraud
• Plan and conduct fraud investigations
• Develop an understanding of non-fraud work such valuations and asset tracing
• Understand the role of a forensic accountant as an expert witness

Introduction and background
• What is forensic accounting?
• What is corporate fraud?
• What are some famous examples of fraud?
• What is corporate culture?
• How can you safeguard against misconduct?
• How important are codes of conduct?
• How can you decide if a crime has been committed?
• How is money laundering defined?

Fraud background 
• What is the psychology of fraud?
• What are some indicators of management fraud?
• How can individual perpetrators be spotted?
• How does classic criminology view fraud?
• What approaches can you take to prevent fraud?
• What systems based risk factors are there?

Fraud investigations
• What are the general principles of fraud investigations?
• What are the first steps of fraud investigations?
• What is the purpose of the fraud investigation?
• What are some possible problems?
• How should you investigate management fraud?
• What is the importance of analytical review?
• How should you investigate employee fraud?
• What are IT approaches to fraud investigation?
• In what situations are IT approaches most useful?

Non-fraud work 
• How are unlisted entities valued?
• What types of valuation are there?
• How can you deal with matrimonial disputes?
• What is “asset tracing”?
• How is asset tracing relevant to fraud?

The forensic accountant as expert 
• What are “consequential losses”?
• What are “liquidated losses”?
• What is the role of the forensic accountant as an expert?
• What is the process of giving evidence in a civil case?
• What is the process of giving evidence in a criminal case?
• How should the final report be prepared?
• What other issues are there of which to be aware?

This course is aimed at accountants with an interest in the field of forensic accounting and forensic accountants who wish to refresh their knowledge on the basics of the topic.

John Taylor specialises in teaching auditing on ACCA professional courses and Forensic Accounting at Masters Level at Leeds Metropolitan University. He has a book published on the topic entitled Forensic Accounting and is a Chartered Accountant who spent many years advising small and medium sized businesses across the North of England.