As criminals and scammers adapt to a digital world, committing fraud has become far easier. According to the Global Fraud and Identity Report, 33% of businesses experienced more fraud losses than they did in the prior year. There seem to be several news stories revolving around fraudulent activity every week. Are you wondering what is forensic accounting and how it applies to detecting fraudulent activity? Below, we provide an overview of forensic accounting services and explore three scenarios that would call for you to hire a forensic accountant.
What is Forensic Accounting?
Forensic accounting is the process in which a forensic accountant investigates a case to determine whether fraud or embezzlement has occurred. For example, if you notice a discrepancy in your business paperwork, forensic accounting services examine the issue by auditing applicable financial records to ascertain why the numbers are incongruent.
Furthermore, upon finding the inconsistency, forensic accounting services then investigate who or what caused the suspicious financial activity. Oftentimes, businesses will use the reports of a forensic accountant as credible evidence in trials and/or recover losses from a scam.
What Does a Forensic Accountant Do?
Forensic accountants examine data and applicable financial records to determine where missing money has gone and how to recover it. Furthermore, they may help uncover if the misconstrued data was accidental or on purpose.
As a result, they may also present reports of their financial findings as evidence during hearings, where they often testify as expert witnesses. This work serves an important purpose at public accounting and consulting firms, law firms, law enforcement agencies, and insurance companies.
When Would I Need Forensic Accounting Services?
There are many different reasons why you would want to hire us for this bookkeeping service. For example, you could request the help of a forensic accountant for any of the following scenarios:
- If there is a legal dispute between partners
- When a court proceeding deems it necessary to get professional testimony on the activity
- After an IRS or State Agency audit sheds light on the impropriety and as a defense against malice calls for an independent review
- If after a divorce, you suspect your ex-spouse is being unfair in financial matters
- During the sale of a business and the buyer wants an outside opinion
Below, we explore the top three corporate scenarios that would call for forensic accounting services.
#1. Your Business is Behind on Taxes
If you and your business are behind on filing your taxes, there is no reason to worry. Forensic accounting services can help get you back on track. We promise you are not the only ones in this predicament. Forensic accountants can take care of everything from finding the missing information to submitting your final tax return and everything in between.
#2. You Suspect Theft or Embezzlement
Unfortunately, we cannot trust everyone, even if we run extensive background checks on them. Working with money seems to make some people forget basic morals, sometimes resulting in theft, fraud, or embezzlement. However, with the help of a forensic accounting team, we can determine if any financial incongruencies happened accidentally or on purpose.
#3. Your Accounting Procedure is Unorganized
Sometimes having an unorganized accounting procedure can hurt your business financially. If you fail to maintain accurate and timely records of where your money is going, then your reports will show up having too much or too little money when you file. Maintaining financial organization another great reason to invest in forensic accounting services.
Forensic Accounting Services with MyRQB
The key to business success is to focus on what you do best and delegate the rest. By outsourcing your forensic accounting tasks, your business can receive important and accurate financial reports in a timely manner, especially if you detect fraud or embezzlement.
We are the associates you have been looking for. At Remote Quality Bookkeeping, we are dedicated to helping you obtain the necessary information to make effective business and revenue decisions, especially during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Our team of specialists provides cost-effective, efficient, and accurate bookkeeping and accounting services for small businesses and franchises throughout the United States. At MyRQB, we take care of all the back-end work and provide you with instant access to financial statements so you can always know where your business stands.
We partner with countless industries, servicing fourteen Franchise Brands including UPS Stores, US Lawns, Shelf Genie, Elements Massage, and Edible Arrangements to name a few.
Are you ready to begin implementing your outsourced bookkeeping strategies today? Contact us today at (866) 567-4258 or via our online contact form with any questions or to learn more about our services!
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