What Is The Role Of The Investigative Accountant In Financial Crime?

Fraud affects more and more businesses every year. It seems that the cons get more complex and cunning and the amounts stolen get bigger. As corporate entities become larger and more global, the opportunity for fraud on a massive scale increases. This is why fraudsters target growing companies on the basis that their fraud defences may not have caught up with their development.

Any business that is successefully getting bigger is most likely managed by some very capable people who have extensive and diverse business skills. If they have adequate resources they are able to pool their skills and grow the business rapidly. They grow by acquisition and develop into a world wide entity. Frequently some attention is given to extra business risk, even of fraud, faced as size increases and control becomes spread over a larger area of business.

However, it is impossible to protect a business one hundred percent from the fraudster, and a growing business will present numerous opportunities for theft. There are high odds that one or more of these opportunities will be overlooked by the management as the business develops. They will not be overlooked by the white collar criminal that is ever vigilant for the chink in the armour that is all he needs to extract huge sums.

Like the fraudster, the forensic accountant specialising in fraud spends all his time thinking about the mechanics of fraud and the different ways money can be taken from a business without the business being aware, at least for as long as it takes to steal a substantial sum. This is why forensic accountancy is a key resource for a global business wishing to either improve its defences or to deal with a fraud once it has occurred.

The forensic accountant is able to examine the whole business, regardless of whether it is situated in one country or in dozens of locations, and quickly obtain a feel for its vulnerability. Then the skilled fraud investigator can focus on these areas, proposing ways of improving defences. This can often cost relatively little and sometimes be carried out substantially by the existing workforce.

Regardless of the efforts made to prevent against fraud, the fraudster will strike where he is least expected, always finding new ways to ply his trade. Here the expert fraud practitioner will get a grip on understanding the mind of the criminal, to understand how he or she was able to find chinks in the fraud defences. It is then possible to plug the leaks and have a better chance of tracing the losses to improve the chances of recovery through the courts.

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Mark Jenner is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, a Certified Fraud Examiner and has a Masters Degree in Fraud Management. He runs his own business as a forensic accountant specialising in fraud matters. His web site can be found at =>
http://www.mark-jenner.com

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