Expert forensic accountants can help prevent fraud
21 Jul 2014It 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 […]
Director Ban Increase Could Lead To Forensic Accountancy Need
14 Jul 2014With 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, […]
Agreement Comes About Through Forensic Accounting
30 Jun 2014Following 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 […]
A Need For Forensic Accountants
20 Jun 2014According 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 […]
Forensic Accountants Will Act Quickly
13 Jun 2014One 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 […]
Forensic Accountants Unravel The Knots
10 Jun 2014A 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 […]
Forensic Accountants Give Football Club A Sporting Chance
02 Jun 2014The 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 […]
Fighting Fraud With Forensic Accountants
23 May 2014Recent 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 […]
Winning A Fair Share
16 May 2014Appeal 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 […]
Digging Into The Figures
09 May 2014News 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’ […]
Effect of money laundering on UK economy
02 May 2014The 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, […]
Forensic Accountants can investigate offshore trust assets
25 Apr 2014The 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 […]
Shareholders In The News – 14 April 2014
14 Apr 2014The 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 […]
Forensic Accountancy Made Famous
04 Apr 2014Once 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, […]
Directors Who Fail To Keep Accurate Financial Records Face Bans
01 Apr 2014News 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 […]
When Marriages And Businesses Collide
24 Mar 2014Earlier 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 […]
Proceeds Of Crime Auctioned Off
14 Mar 2014South 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, […]
Pre-Nups Could Protect Women From ‘Predatory’ Men In Divorce
04 Mar 2014As proposals from the Law Commission on the implementation of binding pre-nuptial agreements are put before the Government, a Peer has called for a law to allow couples to settle the terms of their divorce, in a bid to stop men marrying wealthy women and then running off with a large share of their wealth. […]
Delighted Defence – 25 Feb 2014
25 Feb 2014Forensic accountants working on behalf of property tycoons Vincent and Robert Tchenguiz will no doubt be delighted following a Court of Appeal ruling that liquidators working for the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) must disclose documents relating to a record £300m claim brought by the brothers against the SFO. The brothers’ defence team have alleged for […]
Witnesses For The Defence – 17 Feb 2014
17 Feb 2014If ever anyone needed expert witnesses on their side, it must be the Infanta Cristina, daughter of King Juan Carlos of Spain, who appeared in court last weekend to face questions over an alleged financial scandal involving her husband, the Duke of Palma. Inaki Urdangarin has already been charged with fraud, tax evasion, falsifying documents […]
Experts at finding evidence – 10 Feb 2014
10 Feb 2014Forensic accountants have been in the news recently, as their expert services have been used by supermarkets which fear that they have overpaid suppliers in the past and need proof of transactions going back as far as six years. However, when describing the supermarkets’ policy, the Groceries Code Adjudicator seems to see it as a […]
More Money Needed To Combat Defence’s Forensic Accountants – 3 Feb 2014
03 Feb 2014The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has this week asked the Government for more money to help it press on with its cases against people and firms it suspects of serious financial misconduct. The SFO’s budget has fallen from £52m to £28m this year but it has the power to ask for extra ‘blockbuster’ funding when […]
Fraud Down Last Year – 24 Jan 2014
24 Jan 2014The analysis of fraud trends during 2013 by the UK's Fraud Prevention Service (CIFAS) reveals that, overall, fraud levels decreased in 2013 by 11 per cent from the levels recorded in 2012, the first year on year drop since 2010, but they remain at a much higher rate than in pre-recessionary times. The decrease, however, suggests […]
Ecclestone To Face Trial In Germany – 20 January 2014
20 Jan 2014The fact that Bernie Ecclestone is back in the news over the sale of part of his F1 empire is a reminder that company valuations must be transparent. In addition to now facing a trial in Germany in April, the 83-year-old is currently awaiting a High Court judge’s ruling in a separate £90m civil claim […]
Forensic Accountants Aid Settlement – 9 January 2014
09 Jan 2014Forensic accountants often only make the headlines when they uncover vast amounts of hidden money, such as when they pulled £45m of assets out of bankrupt former tycoon Scot Younger’s ‘hat’ in his bitter divorce hearing. However, when two parties fail to reach an agreement in a commercial dispute, which could be anything from a […]