Tesco breaches industry code of conduct
01 Feb 2016The Grocery Code Adjudicator found this week that Tesco “knowingly delayed paying money to suppliers in order to improve its own financial position”. Having analysed extensive evidence, Christine Tacon declared that the supermarket giant had “acted unreasonably” when delaying payments to suppliers. The ombudsman’s investigation began in February last year when a ‘black hole’ of […]
What the deuce?
22 Jan 2016Amid allegations of financial shenanigans in athletics, football and cricket, the ‘gentleman’s game’ of tennis is the latest sport to be tarnished by rumours of widespread match fixing. As the Australian Open got underway this week, news emerged of a core group of 16 top players, half of whom will be playing in this tournament, […]
Divorce software error hits thousands of couples
11 Jan 2016It was revealed just before Christmas that a software glitch with Ministry of Justice (MoJ) ‘Form E’ might have cause the financial settlement of thousands of divorced couples to be incorrect. Following the discovery, the MoJ has launched an investigation into the issue and will be writing to anyone affected as soon as possible. Those […]
The evidence will determine the outcome
18 Dec 2015Fifa president Sepp Blatter has presented his case to the governing body’s ethics committee against his suspension with, he says, evidence that the £1.3m payment he made to Michel Platigny was all above board. The payment is the subject of criminal proceedings against him too but Mr Blatter’s lawyer says that the evidence they presented […]
Finance workers ignoring cyber security threats
14 Dec 2015Recent research has found that finance workers are most likely to circumvent their company’s cyber security protection, with 35 per cent of those polled indicating they “don’t fully understand” what constitutes an online security risk. In fact, the finance industry is also the one most at risk from attacks, with one in four businesses becoming […]
Nowhere is far enough away
30 Nov 2015Duncan Bannatyne must certainly have a lot on his mind just now. Gruelling tests on I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here may be preferable to facing an investigation on his arrival in the UK. According to the Daily Mail, when the former Dragons’ Den star and health club entrepreneur returns from Australia, he […]
Fraud and cyber crime most prevalent crimes
29 Oct 2015For the first time in its history, the results of the British Crime Survey show that fraud and cyber crime are the most prevalent crimes committed against people in England and Wales. This statistic is even more worrying because crime in this area is hugely under-reported. In fact, according to Action Fraud, the National Fraud […]
Women win right to reopen divorce settlements
19 Oct 2015Two women who said that their ex-husbands had misled judges about how much they were worth have this week won the right to have their settlements re-examined. In a landmark ruling, which could have huge implications for similar claims, one lawyer claimed that the women had been the “victim of a fraudulent misrepresentation”. Alison Sharland […]
Less than beautiful allegations
15 Oct 2015Footballing body FIFA is back in the news as it has been announced this week that outgoing president Sepp Blatter and UEFA president Michel Platini, along with general secretary Jerome Valcke, who is already on leave amid allegations of black market ticket sales, have been suspended for 90 days. FIFA’s ethics committee has announced that […]
Where cyber crime goes, forensic accountants follow
02 Oct 2015A 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 […]
Calls for forensic wage audit
28 Sep 2015As 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 […]
Pensioners could benefit from forensic investigation
25 Sep 2015The 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 […]
Supporting evidence
11 Sep 2015Emails 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 […]
Forensic accountants’ report spurs Panorama investigation
08 Sep 2015In 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 […]
Accountant turns assassin
21 Aug 2015While 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, […]
Forensic investigation could clear postmistress’s name
18 Aug 2015A 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 […]
Forensic analysis illustrates poor fund management
18 Aug 2015A 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 […]
Deferred payment prosecution
31 Jul 2015A 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 […]
Independent investigation
27 Jul 2015An 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 […]
A costly business
20 Jul 2015The 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 […]
Problems at the Post Office
16 Jul 2015It 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 […]
Forensic accountants and food fraud
06 Jul 2015The 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, […]
The 24-hour divorce – not possible for many
26 Jun 2015British 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 […]
Forensic accountants – expert witnesses
23 Jun 2015As 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 […]
There is always a digital footprint
12 Jun 2015Some 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. […]