How Forensic Accountants Help Lawyers

When lawyers are preparing a case pertaining to fraud or other illegal financial activity, forensic accountants are an invaluable asset to their team. By working together, forensic accountants and lawyers can clear the name of an innocent employee or help convict a criminal.

When lawyers are building a case for or against a client being accused of fraudulent activity, one of the most important pieces of evidence is the actual financial activity of the person or business they have allegedly swindled. Before determining who has committed fraud, it must be confirmed that fraud was committed at all. This evidence, thought taken from the accusing side's records, must be obtained by a nonbiased third party that both knows what to look for and where to look. This third party is the forensic accountant.

A forensic accountant approaches these financial records as an investigator approaches a crime scene. If any illegal activity has occurred, the forensic accountant must dig through the records to find the evidence. To do this, the forensic accountant will go through every piece of financial information and detect flaws in the documentation by using his or her knowledge of how a business works and how to use financial reporting systems.

If the forensic accountants find any flaws in the documentation, be it the process or the content, he or she will further investigate the report in question. Forensic accountants help lawyers in that they are highly educated in the laws surrounding financial documentation. This being said, they can detect inconsistencies that a lawyer may night notice, such as false reports, incorrect information, missing reports, or reports that were not properly drafted.

Every error found in these financial documents are tracked, and the forensic accountant writes a report detailing his or her findings. It is this report that is used as evidence in court. While forensic accountants are generally not asked to provide testimony for or against a defendant, their work clearly shows whether or not illegal activity has taken place. This evidence is indispensable, and often verdicts are based upon the findings of a forensic accountant.

Forensic accountants help lawyers by providing them with the evidence they need to build their cases. While it is the lawyer's job to determine how best to introduce the work of the forensic accountant, there would be no case without the report that the accountant compiles.