As predicted, the case against former senior managers of Autonomy, the firm that was bought by Hewlett-Packard (HP) for $11bn (£6.7bn) in 2011 and then found to be heading for a ‘financial plane crash’, is hotting up. Now an email has come to light suggesting that Autonomy’s sales reps had ‘nothing to do’ as far […]
A payroll administrator has just been jailed for four years after a routine audit uncovered a ‘small accounting discrepancy’, which then led to the discovery that the man had defrauded his company of £2.9m over several years. The employee, who had access to the payment processes of all the workers on the recruitment firm’s books, […]
According to research carried out last year, the construction industry was deliberately targeted by criminals perpetrating invoice fraud and one firm lost a staggering £1.1m this way, although the losses on average ranged between £95,000 and £160,000. Evidently, incurring such losses is hugely damaging to businesses and may even lead to insolvency for some firms, […]
News that Hewlett Packard (HP) has finally accused the former officials of a firm it bought in 2011 of fraud should serve as a reminder to any organisation thinking of purchasing another one to get their financial investigations done thoroughly by forensic accountants before they sign on the dotted line. HP acquired UK software company […]
It is a measure of how much financial investigation is part of the current mind-set when references to ‘bank account anomalies’ appear in popular TV shows. In the first episode of the BBC’s New Tricks series, which regularly pulls in 7 million viewers, the detectives investigating the theft of stolen jewellery looked into a suspect’s […]
News that Terry Adams, former head of a north London criminal organisation, was turned down for a certificate of inadequacy to show he lacked the funds to meet his crime-linked debts, is evidence that forensic accountants do more than just number crunch when it comes to investigating suspected criminals’ hidden wealth. The Crown Prosecution Service […]
A judge in Spain has rejected a prosecutor’s request to drop charges of tax fraud against Lionel Messi and has ordered the investigation into three cases of suspected unpaid taxes to proceed. A court statement said that there was "sufficient evidence" to believe that the Barca player "could have known and consented" to the creation […]
These are the words of Michelle Young, ex-wife of former property tycoon Scot Young, who even went to jail rather than disclose the whereabouts of his assets during their long and bitter divorce. Speaking to the Daily Mail last month in her first interview since a High Court judge agreed that Scot had lied about […]
It was announced earlier this week that the National Employment Savings Trust (NEST) has written off the £1.1m losses it incurred when it was the victim of mandate fraud but that it is now setting up an in-house team to target financial crime prevention. Forensic accountants are generally thought of as being the experts that […]
With an increase in directors in England, Wales and Scotland being disqualified by the Insolvency Service this year, there may be more need for forensic accountants to investigate alleged fraudulent or wrongful trading. Figures from the Government body show that the number of directors being disqualified has increased by 25 per cent since last year, […]
Following encouragement by the Groceries Code Adjudicator (GCA), eight major grocers have made voluntary commitments to put a time limit on forensic investigations of suppliers' accounts that have sometimes seen questionable demands made of suppliers over historic rebates or payments. The move comes after the new Groceries Code Adjudicator, Christine Tacon, found that supermarkets and […]
According to a report from the EU’s statistical office, Eurostat, the UK has the highest divorce rate in the European Union, with 2.8 divorces per 1,000 marriages, compared with just 0.6 per 1,000 in Luxembourg. Since divorce settlements almost inevitably involve financial arrangements, this means that more people in the UK will probably need the […]
One of the proposed legal reforms announced in the Queen’s Speech last week was a crackdown on organised crime, involving the strengthening of the laws on recovering criminal assets. The Serious Crime Bill 2014, which is expected to come into effect next year, will, amongst other things, cover restraint orders, assets belonging to a person […]
A wealthy former model turned fashion director, who was awarded £32m when she divorced her first husband, has just had her second husband jailed for contempt of court. Following her divorce in 2004 from co-founder of French Connection, Stephen Marks, with whom she had three children, Alisa Thiry married Belgian businessman and property magnate Didier […]
The owner of Leeds United FC has called in a team of forensic accountants to get to the bottom of financial chaos at the club after being told that its finances were “the worst mess” his advisors had ever seen. Forensic accountants are often called in when a business’ finances are in a mess, as […]
Recent research has found that over a third of insurance intermediaries expect the problem of fraud facing the insurance industry to worsen over the next three to five years, with one of the biggest problems being the huge increase in data that firms have to manage. However, if a firm suspects fraud, the analysis of […]
Appeal Court judges have ruled that the ‘Cinderella’ daughter of farmers in Wales should receive a fair share in her parents’ £7m estate for the years of low-paid work she had put into it. Eirian Davies was repeatedly assured by her parents that she would ultimately take over the family’s thriving farm and pedigree milking […]
News that Balfour Beatty and National Grid are investigating allegations of fraud on a multi-million pound gas mains replacement contract is a reminder that any business owner suspecting malpractice within the firm should employ a team of forensic accountants to investigate it. According to recent reports, both organisations are investigating cash payments, backhanders and ‘sweeteners’ […]
The National Crime Agency has just published the most comprehensive public-facing analysis to date of the serious and organised crime threats affecting the UK, including the threat to the UK economy from money laundering. According to the report, serious and organised crime is costing the economy at least £24bn every year, which also damages communities, […]
The ongoing and increasingly bitter divorce between aviation tycoon Clive Joy and his wife Nichola has highlighted how forensic accountants can put offshore trust assets under the microscope. A court in London heard earlier this month that Clive Joy, whose fortune was once put at £69m, is now pleading poverty in defending a massive financial […]
The European Commission has just published plans to give the shareholders of publicly quoted companies greater involvement in executive pay policies but what happens in smaller firms when shareholders fall out amongst themselves? The best option for them would be to engage a firm of forensic accountants, as disputes can arise over matters such as […]
Once only spoken of in the business world or high profile divorce cases, forensic accountancy has now become so ‘mainstream’ that even scriptwriters on prime time TV can use the phrase, safe in the knowledge that the viewing public will know what the characters are talking about. Just this week on the BBC series Shetland, […]
News earlier this month that a company director was disqualified from holding such a position for eight years for failing to keep full and accurate books and records should be a warning that acting in this manner will always be uncovered through a financial investigation by forensic accountants. When a company fails, it is investigated […]
Earlier this year a wife won the first round in a bitter divorce after 43 years of marriage, claiming that her “old-fashioned” husband wanted to favour their son over their daughters when it came to sharing out the family business interests. Susan Shield won her £50m case in the High Court after a judge ruled […]
South Yorkshire Police and HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) are organising an auction next week of jewellery seized under the Proceeds of Crime Act, in a bid to claw back some of the £26m a man and his associates made through tax evasion. The jewellery, which was seized at the time of the man’s arrest, […]