A forensic accountant provides order and clarity around financial facts that may not be seen by the untrained eye, often during litigation. As a critical member of your team throughout a dispute, they wear many hats and can deliver numerous advantages.
With diverse experience that spans industries and types of matters, forensic accountants bring specialized knowledge to provide context and input around fraud and misappropriation-related disputes, breach of contract matters, billing disputes, post-acquisition disputes and other types of cases.
Though forensic accountants do not act as advocates for clients — they must be objective in their work — there is a lot more to the story of how these experts can provide support through all stages of a dispute. If you’re a business leader or attorney, here are some of the ways a forensic accountant can contribute throughout disputes and why engaging one early gives you a better shot at success.
Many disputes are rooted in financial issues. Understanding, unraveling and providing order to the financial picture at the start of a dispute can give you more solid footing. It can also afford you an early advantage over the opposition while you’re developing a case strategy.
Similarly, forensic accountants often help assess and determine the value of assets, businesses and individual business interests. They can also build financial models to preliminarily calculate damages, which can ultimately help legal counsel plot an effective path forward.
If forensic accountants are involved before formal litigation begins, or in the early stages of the case, they may provide preliminary analyses and calculations that can help the parties reach a settlement and avoid the stressful, expensive and time-consuming litigation process. In extreme cases, they may uncover that the disputed issue is much clearer than expected, so the dispute is resolved before, or in the early stages of, litigation.
Having a foundational knowledge of the financial elements of a case at the onset can be extremely valuable. Forensic accountants know what information is required to fully understand the financial issues in a dispute.
As a result, forensic accountants are often asked to assist legal teams with document and information requests. This can help you obtain key documents and information that may otherwise not have been requested. Early involvement of a forensic team can help your initial and supplemental requests be more targeted and complete, which may result in a more comprehensive production of documents and information, ultimately saving you time and other valuable resources.
Forensic accountants may also be asked to assist with depositions, particularly around complex financial and accounting matters. Being involved early in the case positions them to provide useful context and help legal teams prepare thorough questions to ask and identify key topics to probe. This allows for more efficient and effective depositions in the discovery process.
Ultimately, the early involvement of a forensic accounting team can often improve the likelihood that your team will be able to obtain key information. Forensic accountants enhance your team’s ability to unwind and translate complex financial data into clear, understandable exhibits and demonstratives for presentation to the judge, jury or other relevant parties.
Want to clarify financial data to inform case strategy, assess the financial magnitude of assets, estimate damage values or gain a financial-minded voice in discovery and deposition prep? Don’t forgo the significant advantages forensic accountants can deliver for your case. Find out how Armanino’s forensic accounting experts can help you navigate the financial complexities of your dispute.
If you have any questions or just want to reach out to one of our experts, use the form and we'll get back to you promptly.
