Panama Papers investigation leading to further reviews
11 Nov 2016Following the disclosure earlier this year of the ‘Panama Papers’, Chancellor Philip Hammond has revealed this week that the financial affairs of a further 43 wealthy individuals are under review. When the details first came to light, then Prime Minister David Cameron announced the creation of a cross-agency taskforce to analyse all the information. This […]
Investigating higher earners
07 Nov 2016The National Audit Office (NAO) has published a report on enquiries by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) into ‘super-rich’ taxpayers and identified how these people are investigated. According to the NAO, one in three of the richest people in the UK are under “formal enquiry” at any one time by the taxman and there is […]
Stirring up a hornet’s nest
31 Oct 2016Watford FC has confirmed that the club has launched an internal investigation into an alleged fabricated financial document supplied to the English Football League (EFL) and that it is taking the matter “extremely seriously”. The Premier League side is alleged to have supplied a forged letter from HSBC bank to the footballing authorities and could […]
Date set for Tesco fraud trial
21 Oct 2016A date has been set for three former Tesco executives to appear in court to face charges of fraud and false accounting in relation to a scandal at the retail giant that left a ‘black hole’ of up to £326m in its accounts. All three men are charged with one count of fraud by abuse […]
SFO expected to make swift move in Airbus inquiry
18 Oct 2016The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is expected to ‘move quickly” in the criminal inquiry into Airbus’s use of third-party agents to win commercial jet sales. The case involves discrepancies over the amount of agents’ fees disclosed in applications for export support, or missing names of third parties – which in some cases date back several […]
Forensic Accountants don’t suffer from cold feet
10 Oct 2016Most people in the UK are aware that iconic TV series Cold Feet is back on our screens almost 20 years after it started and features the same characters, who are now older but not necessarily wiser. In fact, one of the gang, management consultant David, appears to have fallen foul of the bribery laws […]
Knowing where the bodies are buried
30 Sep 2016News emerged this week that notorious gangster, John ‘Goldfinger’ Palmer, who was once described as Britain’s richest criminal, had been under surveillance for 16 years, even while in prison. Never far from complex financial deals, Palmer was due to stand trial in Spain on charges of fraud, money laundering and firearm possession at the time […]
Whistleblower sparks forensic investigation
23 Sep 2016A whistleblower at supermarket giant Tesco sparked a criminal investigation into alleged false accounting after a new Chief Executive took over two years ago. This has led to three former directors being accused this week of acting dishonestly for personal gain. The former Finance Director and former Managing Director of Tesco UK and the former […]
Divorce and the complex webs of hidden assets
13 Sep 2016With London the acknowledged divorce capital of the world, a national newspaper has written a piece on the more inspired places spouses try and hide their assets. The list is long, however, the fact that they have been discovered shows just how vital a forensic accountant is when it comes to finding assets in a […]
Forensic investigations can clear as well as condemn
02 Sep 2016A forensic investigation lasting almost two years into former Tesco Chief Financial Officer, Laurie McIlwee, has resulted in it being closed. In December 2014, the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) launched an investigation into the action of Tesco’s financial team following the discovery of a ‘black hole’ in the company’s accounts that was eventually valued at […]
Businesses need to be on their guard
22 Aug 2016A recent report by Action Fraud, the UK’s national fraud and cybercrime reporting centre, has found that one in five businesses has been defrauded by an employee, although this figure is thought to be the tip of the iceberg. Worryingly, this risk increases during periods of instability or economic downturn, so business owners need to […]
Forensic investigation uncovers abuse of trust
14 Aug 2016A painstaking and lengthy forensic investigation into abuse of trust by a former senior member of the Royal Household has led to the conviction of four people this week. The jury at the trial of Ronald Harper, who was employed by the Royal Household from 1994 to 2013, found him and his accomplices guilty of […]
Companies House plans widely criticised
05 Aug 2016There has been severe criticism of the proposal by Companies House to erase the accounts of dissolved firms after six years in an attempt to reform the storage and public access of data. According to forensic accountants, this would disrupt investigations into corruption and fraud and reverse the UK’s push to be a global leader […]
Forensic Accountant uncovers fraudster
04 Jul 2016Although it tends to be the big money stories that hit the headlines, forensic accountants are key in ‘ordinary’ situations where people suspect fraud, as a recent story that made the local press underlines. A carer in Preston, Lancashire, was jailed for six years last month for defrauding £100,000 from an elderly man in her […]
Russian oligarch divorce case highlights need for close forensic investigation
24 Jun 2016The former wife of a Russian oligarch has engaged forensic accountants to prove that she is owed the £5bn she claims is half her former husband’s wealth, which she alleges is hidden behind complex corporate structures. Although initially in denial about the fact that her husband wanted a divorce, Natalia Potanina is now trying to […]
Money trail nails guilty party
20 Jun 2016In the latest of the prolific references to financial forensic investigations to hit our screens recently, a suspect pharmacist-turned-businessman is put in the frame after financial investigators find he is linked with a series of payments to a man damaged by drugs testing. This is just one of the story’s strands in the BBC series […]
FORENSIC ACCOUNTING HITS THE BIG SCREEN
13 Jun 2016The sheer number of forensic investigations into potential financial wrongdoing in the media has brought the work of forensic accountants into the public domain. Therefore, it is of little surprise that forensic investigators will be key in a forthcoming US film called The Accountant. In the movie, actor Ben Affleck plays an accountant who combines […]
Forensic Accountants Ahoy
06 Jun 2016Actress Amber Heard, Johnny Depp’s wife of 15 months, who is filing for divorce, has apparently asked him to cover her forensic accountant’s fees to the tune of $25,000, as well as $50,000 a month in temporary ‘spousal support’. She has engaged a forensic accountant, as she wants to be certain just how much the […]
Maintaining an audit trail
31 May 2016The Bank of England has ordered UK banks to detail steps taken to secure computers connected to the SWIFT bank-messaging network after a still-unidentified group used the system to steal £56m from Bank Bangladesh. This previously unreported action marks the earliest known case of a central bank in a major economy ordering its member banks […]
RBS bosses will not face criminal charges following complex forensic investigation
25 May 2016Prosecutors from the Crown Office have announced that former Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) bosses will not face criminal charges in connection with the sale of shares in the bank in the months leading up to its collapse. They had been investigating the bank’s decision to carry out a rights issue in 2008, which was […]
VAT frauds investigated
16 May 2016Two separate VAT frauds have been uncovered this week by forensic investigators and, ironically, both were carried out by men with claims to be on first-name terms with celebrities here and in America. One, who described himself as a “designer to the stars”, pretended that he was running a multi-million pound clothing empire. However, investigators […]
Importance of Forensic Investigators
09 May 2016Finding out ‘where the money went’ has been in the news this week, including the story of a Sunday Times investigation and complaints from the National Police Chiefs’ Council. The stories are from two opposite ends of the spectrum, with the Times story featuring a 16-year-old boy with an unexplained £16,000 overdraft and the Council […]
Footballer welcomes forensic investigation
29 Apr 2016Former Chelsea striker, Didier Drogba, has reacted angrily to claims by the Daily Mail that only £14,115 of the £1.7m donated to his charity, the Didier Drogba Foundation, has gone to help causes in Africa. Threatening legal action against the “false and defamatory” claims, the Ivorian said he welcomed a forensic investigation that would show […]
Unexplained Wealth
22 Apr 2016As the ‘Panama Papers’ scandal rumbles on, the Government is announcing a series of moves to crack down on corruption. One proposal is for a register of beneficial ownership, which will force offshore firms buying UK property to reveal their ultimate owners. Another is the unveiling of a series of aggressive powers aimed at tackling […]
Every available tool
15 Apr 2016People who carry out fraud will always leave a trace of their wrongdoing, however clever they think they have been. Some think that if they use a complex network of bank accounts or set up shell companies, for example, no one will be able to work out what they have done but they have reckoned […]