Phoenix Business

Forensic Accounting

Forensic accounting is a rapidly growing area of accounting concerned with the detection and prevention of financial fraud and white-collar criminal activities. George A. Manning in his book “Financial Investigation and Forensic Accounting” defines Forensic Accounting as the science of gathering and presenting financial information in a form that will be accepted by a court of jurisprudence against perpetrators of economic crimes. The integration of accounting, auditing, and investigative skills yields the specialty known as Forensic Accounting which focuses very closely on detecting or preventing accounting fraud. “Forensic”, according to the Webster’s Dictionary means, “Belonging to, used in or suitable to courts of judicature or to public discussion and debate.” The word accounting is defined as “a system of recording and summarizing business and financial transactions and analyzing, verifying, and recording the results.” The term ‘forensic accounting’ refers to financial fraud investigation which includes the analysis of accounting records to prove or disprove financial fraud and serving as an expert witness in Court to prove or disprove the same. Thus, basically, the forensic accounting is the use of accounting for legal purposes.

The History of Forensic Accounting

This article is for beginners of accounting profession who just started their long way and already struggling to understand the basics. The starting point of almost any accounting course is an explanation of the double-entry bookkeeping system which then stands as a core of any further studies. If you did not clearly understand how it works in the beginning the effect of further education will be zero.

I’ll try to illustrate the basics of accounting in the simplest possible way, avoiding in the beginning the use of such confusing terms like assets, liabilities, debits and credits, etc.

Let’s start:

Assume we have some Company X, which was established a year ago and now we are at the year-end, trying to draft accounts of Company.

All we can guess from the ‘accounting’ word itself, that it is a bunch of accounts. Great! That would be a starting point for us. Let’s put down some accounts on a paper (if you’re reading this article on your PC, it’s advised to do the below manipulations in Excel spreadsheet):

Account A

Account B

Account C

Account D

Account E

Account F

Account G

Account H

Account I

What you see above is just a list until we put some values opposite every account. The only point to bear in mind is that overall total of listed values should eventually be equal to 0:

Account A         12

Contractor accountant specialists Danbro got off to a racing start with a “getting to know you” event for recruitment agencies.

Many of Danbro’s contractor – or freelance – clients work through recruitment agencies and the Blackpool-based company already has close links with a number of these companies.

On 2 September, Danbro took an innovative step to help it explore ways of working more closely with recruitment agencies, to further improve services to their mutual clients, by inviting agency representatives to the Donnington Park race track in Derbyshire.

The Donnington Park MSVR Blast in the Park Championships featured a packed programme of motor racing entertainment, including two rounds of the British T Car Championship for 14 to 17-year-olds.

Danbro was supporting 16-year-old Joe Hopkins, who stands equal second in the championship points table after the Donnington Park event.

Damian Broughton, from Danbro, said: “We were delighted to welcome around 35 representatives from 11 different recruitment agencies – both new and existing contacts – to Donnington Park.

“We had a very successful day, which has proved extremely useful in building bridges with recruitment agencies towards our shared aim of giving our contractor clients the best possible service. We are delighted to have achieved such a positive and productive result.”

For more information, please contact Danbro on 01253 600140 or visit our website Danbro – Accountants for Contractors