NATURE OF FORENSIC ACCOUNTANCY WORK

Forensic accounting (or at least, accounting expert witnessing) can be traced as far back as 1817 to a court decision. According to the Accountant’s Handbook on Fraud and commercial crime, forensic accounting is defined as: the application of financial skills and an investigative mentality to unresolved issues, conducted within the context of the rules of evidence. Forensic Accounting broadly is a mixture of Accounting, Finance, Law, Computerization, Ethics and Criminology, with focus on prevention and detection of financial frauds and conduct of investigation to undertake and assist in litigation support to book the wrong doers. Forensic accounting is not limited to the correctness of accounts; it encompasses accounting, investigative accounting, investigative audit and litigation support. Forensic accounting focuses on detection of financial frauds by linking the data knowledge and insight together and prevention of fraud by establishment and placing the accounting system on right track, it also creates deterrence (as it promotes fear in the mind of wrong doers that there is likelihood of their being caught and punished).