forensic auditing
A professional accountant could be engaged in a number of different contexts to perform
forensic work, the following practical situations could all feature in the exam.
The forensic accountant could be engaged to investigate fraud. For example, a business
that has fallen victim to fraud may engage the accountant to quantify the extent of the
losses. Alternatively, a forensic accountant may be called in to investigate and/or quantify
financial statement fraud (e.g. overstatement of revenue).
In a case where an auditor or accountant is being sued for negligence both parties may
wish to employ forensic accountants either to investigate the standard of work performed or
to establish the losses suffered by the plaintiff.
Insurance companies often engage forensic accountants to verify and report on the
amounts of losses suffered by a claimant where there is a dispute between the claimant and
the company.
Due to the nature of this work forensic accountants will very often be called as expert
witnesses in civil or criminal cases. This is a very important function and some jurisdictions
have specific rules governing their duties
For example, in England & Wales experts have a duty to exercise reasonable skill and care
to those instructing them, and to comply with any relevant professional code of ethics.
However, when they are instructed to give or prepare evidence for the purpose of civil
proceedings they have an overriding duty to help the court on matters within their expertise.
This duty overrides any obligation to the person instructing or paying them. Experts must not
serve the exclusive interest of those who retain them.
Corporate Governance varies around the World, largely due to different history and cultures. In the UK and US, the model is aimed primarily at the rights of shareholders. In Germany and much of continental Europe, and also in Japan, In Japan, many major company structures were traditionally based around banks. Large groups of companies from many industries would all be financed, and part-owned by a major bank, which would create a strong financial alliance. Cross-shareholdings between companies were common, and in many cases the companies in the "group" would all supply each other. In South America, Italy, Spain, and large parts of East Asia (e.g. Indonesia) the focus is more on banks play a more prominent role, often holding shares and having Board members. Such governance models tend to be more inclusive, ensuring that the rights of workers, customers and suppliers (and maybe the community) are represented at Board level. family ownership , with a large % of the bigges...
Comments
Post a Comment