A search on the internet for cyber crime returns almost 6.5 million results, which serves to illustrate how prevalent and dangerous this activity has become. However, for every article on the crime, there is another one detailing how experts are tackling this scourge and at the heart of every investigation is forensic accountancy. Recent research […]
As the Government’s consultation on the implementation of the new National Minimum Wage comes to an end, a story has erupted in the North East about contractor’s pay rates. It appears that two subcontractors have had their contracts cancelled following an investigation into wage undercutting and another subcontractor is still under investigation. The site’s main […]
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has announced that it is to carry out a “forensic analysis” on thousands of annuities sold on a non-advised basis since 2008 to see if they were unsuitable for savers. Hundreds of thousands of pensioners may benefit from the investigation, as it is believed that more than 600,000 of them […]
Emails and other documentation have featured heavily in evidence in the investigation of several cases of fraud or alleged financial misconduct lately. In fact, one woman perpetrated her whole scam using emails she altered so that it appeared that her firm was receiving demands for payment from Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC). The payments […]
In the latest twist in the Post Office versus former employees saga, a Panorama programme aired this month has found no evidence of theft by a sub-postmaster. This is a long-running story, which came to public attention in 2012 after a number of former sub-postmasters wrote to their MPs to say they had been unfairly […]
While this might appear to be a somewhat far-fetched title it refers to a new Ben Affleck film which many a forensic accountant is hoping will glamorise the profession. In this instance, the accountant in question is a ‘mild-mannered, socially weird government accountant who moonlights as a highly trained assassin’. Described as an action thriller, […]
A forensic analysis of the accounts of beleaguered charity Kids Company shows that it was the Trustees’ failure to build up a reserve that contributed to its downfall. In fact, two Finance Directors left in less than three years because no one heeded their warnings that there had to be a financial cushion in place […]
A postmistress who was jailed after the investigation by the Post Office into financial irregularities at post offices across the country has been boosted by the intervention of a firm of forensic accountants. Rubbina Shaheen, who kept a post office in Shrewsbury was jailed for 12 months in 2010 for false accounting after being accused […]
A small firm in Rotherham could be about to make legal history by becoming the first business to strike a deferred prosecution agreement with the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), as a way of avoiding prosecution on bribery charges. If agreed, the deal would also mark the first settlement of an SFO investigation into breaches of […]
An independent report has found that technology giant Toshiba overstated profits over a period of six years and that senior executives were complicit in the scandal. This could result in up to 400 billion Yen in charges and the resignation of most senior personnel. In fact, Chief Executive Hisao Tanaka has already resigned over the […]
The sale of personal shares in a house building firm has made the news, as the Director involved has said he sold them to fund his divorce settlement. Joint Managing Director of Telford Homes plc, John Fitzgerald, sold 275,000 shares earlier this week, raising around £1.2m before expenses. He still retains 107,718 shares in the […]
It has widely been reported by the BBC that a confidential report, commissioned by the Post Office, has bolstered the cases of dozens of Subpostmasters and Subpostmistresses who claim to have been unfairly accused of and, in some cases, prosecuted for theft from their post offices. Having successfully acted for solicitors representing a number of […]
The Danes have been employing forensic accountants to investigate food fraud for years, under the premise that a fraudster will always leave evidence in the books. To that end, in 2006, they set up the Danish Food Flying Squad, which includes inspectors with forensic accounting skills. According to the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration department, […]
British couples are to be allowed to get divorced in as little as 24 hours from now on, as they can attend a regional ‘divorce centre’ to work on their marriage under a court shake-up. Currently, an uncontested divorce can take up to 33 weeks to finalise and costs (on average) in the region of […]
As the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) puts it, forensic accountants are the ‘detectives of the finance world’ and, like their sleuth counterparts in other sectors, they investigate allegations and seek to get to the truth of the matter. In addition, also like their peers in other criminal cases, they are […]
Some people seem to think that if they don’t do something in the ‘real’ world, they leave no trace but this isn’t true; anything anyone does in the digital world leaves a trail and in the case of alleged fraudsters, it is the forensic accountant who will pick up on that scent and follow it. […]
That’s what the old saying would lead us to believe but it’s not always the case, of course. It’s what Greg Dyke is saying about Sepp Blatter’s resignation as President of FIFA this week and it’s often said when circumstances point to a particular conclusion. However, circumstantial evidence is not enough to convict someone of […]
Reports of the various scandals in the news at the moment, from FIFA to the Keydata ‘death bonds’ saga, are the culmination of, in some cases, years of painstaking investigation into the financial dealings of the various bodies involved. All of these cases started with allegations, rumours and beliefs that something was wrong until enough […]
A statement from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) revealed this week that its Washington Field Office, in collaboration with partners abroad, particularly the UK’s regulatory law enforcement authorities, uncovered manipulation of the foreign exchange market on a massive scale. The investigation took 19 months, during which time the FBI and its partners reconstructed the […]
As the general population ages and dementia and general sickness become more prevalent amongst the elderly, it is unfortunately likely that there will be more cases such as the one concerning the man who defrauded his dying grandfather out of his life savings. In this sad case, a Doncaster man, who had power of attorney […]
The long-running saga of the acquisition of UK firm Autonomy by technology giant Hewlett-Packard (HP) has taken a new turn this week after new details of HP’s $5.1bn (£3.6bn) lawsuit have emerged in a court filing. In the documents, HP accuses two former Autonomy executives of artificially boosting the company’s revenue in a deliberate bid […]
The shocking news from Nepal and the extent of the devastation and loss of life the earthquake has served is a stark reminder that human beings are at the mercy of ‘acts of god’ such as this. We are lucky in this country that we don’t suffer from such extremes but businesses and individuals are […]
Forensic accountants engaged to investigate the treatment of sub-postmasters by the Post Office have found that the Post Office failed to properly investigate the cause of cash shortfalls in post offices around the country before launching proceedings for false accounting, theft and fraud. The firm also said that the Post Office had withheld vital documents […]
As news comes of the “extremely severe” sentence handed to Nina Ricci perfume heir, Arlette Ricci by a Paris court for tax fraud, the French authorities have announced that they are opening criminal investigations into HSBC following the so-called Swissleaks scandal. Ms Ricci was sentenced to a year in prison and ordered to pay a […]
The battle between IT giant Hewlett-Packard (HP) and the former directors of Autonomy, the company it bought in 2011 on the basis that the business was thriving, has taken another turn after HP has signed an agreement with Autonomy’s auditors to avoid a court case. The ‘standstill’ agreement is seen as a signal that […]