The Role of Forensic Accountant within a Courtroom Environment - Coursework Example

?Introduction The assignment will discuss the important skills necessary for the accountant to possess as well as evaluate the requirement of each skill. The assignment will also include discussion regarding the type of relationship existing between skills and the application in the operation of business management. The assignment will consider the role of the foreign accountants within the environment of courtroom and the responsibility the forensic accountant shares in the business process. The last section will consider the two research cases where the role of the forensic accountants has been very important. The determination of the five important skills that the forensic accountants must posses It is important to know that the field of forensic accounting is a special arena of accountancy that deals with engagements with the outcomes from real as well as anticipated disputes. The word forensic means suitable for use in law court and it is referred to that standard that the potential result that the forensic accountants’ personnel have to work. The forensic accountants are also known as forensic auditors and they often have to engage themselves in providing expert advice at the eventual trial. The accountants require some type of skills in order to perform effectively in the market. The most important skills that the accountant requires are analytical characteristics, ethical, investigative, auditing skills, communication, interpersonal as well as specific credential requirements. The forensic services contribute an important part in the client services list and with the view to become a productive accountant it may not gets transformed into productive accountant. The effective forensic accountant should have some professionalism to define the broad spectrum comprising of knowledge and skills. The services of forensic accounting comprises of the following: The application and the implementation of the knowledge as well as investigative skills acquired by the certified public accountant Collecting, analyzing as well as evaluating the evidential matter Interpretation and the outcomes in the courtroom or some other administrative venues The next tabulation will show the forensic knowledge required in the process The professional responsibilities and the practice in management Resolution to dispute, laws and courts Preparation and planning of the business process Collection of information and documentation of important information Invention of new techniques Reporting, experts and testimony The core skills of the CPA comprises of forensic accountants knowledge and some special forensic knowledge. The core skills in the arena of education, training and the accounting principles along with some attested services conclude the skills from the traditional accounting perspectives. However on the ideas of forensic accountant the same set of skills may not be adhered to these basic skills. Some of the areas explored and relevant to the forensic account and accounting are mentioned below. The characteristics and the traits The niche skills The advanced skills The specialties required and the certifications The arenas for advancement It should be noted that there must be some gap between conceiving the skills and the requisite knowledge along with the ability to transfer the skills into implementation of forensic accounting practices. The skills and the traits point out to the necessity for the accountant to search for the related information and the implementation of the information in the process to solve the problem accrued in the business (Rick, 2010). Then necessity to use analytical practices in forensic accounting engagement may be in the initial processes but it is the most important overall characteristics. The analytical proficiencies are important are important attributes for the forensic accountant (Charles, Ramona & Suzanne, n.d.). The results of different studies show that analytical characteristics are very important in forensic accountant’s ability to opt for the value added services and calls for more than auditing and problem solving skills. The core skills indicate that the communication skills are the important part of the better forensic accountant. In cases of investigations the attorneys often ask for the forensic accountants and in more cases than not the analysis involves financial statements analysis. The use of computer technology reflects the relative newness of the requirement for this kind of specialization in the field of forensic accounting (Bonnie, 2012). The CPAs often share close relation with the ones proficient in using technologies. The skills of interpersonal as well as auditing related skills are important but the inclination towards problem solving may surpass the other requisite skills in terms of importance. The forced choice of selecting only five important skills may affect the rankings. Further studies dealing with separating the ranking of more technical people blessed with interpersonal as well as auditing skills could be useful. The ethical skills are also important for the success of the forensic accountant. The accounting professionals have to perform much more important tasks than just preparing financial statements. They often help the managers in making a comparative analysis with other competitors and compare the performance of the firm in course of time. In order to measure the liquidity of a firm the ratio analysis is a very important tool (Pwc. n.d.). The role of forensic accountant within a courtroom environment The corporate scandals are encircling the large nations particularly in the field of forensic accountant. The forensic accountants are called not only by the enforcement forces as well as the corporate organizations (Bonnie, 2012). The forensic accountant have the knowledge in the application of skills of a chartered accountant which they can utilize in handling disputes and some other reviews which may end up in the court of law. The system of fraud is usually hidden from the accounting system and it is the responsibility of the forensic accountants to dig out the actual scenario or what the case actually is. The forensic accountant is usually called upon to analyze the loss incurred by the company or individual and quantify them. The lost funds are traced from the accounts withheld in the banks where the money is resting before working with a legal team to secure the recovery of the funds as well as assets. In cases of financial frauds it is not the case that cash is being stolen but the fact is the company incurs a loss due to false information recorded regarding transactions and the role of the forensic accountants is to understand the accounting records and find out the true nature of the record. The role of the forensic accountants is central in investigation of the shareholders or director disputes. In all cases the main role of these personnel is in communicating multifaceted financial transactions in a succinct manner with the help of graphs, pictures so that it can readily understandable to the non accountants and for persons engaged in legal practices, and in judiciaries. The legal responsibility of forensic accountant The forensic accountants are responsible to prevent, investigate and detect the white collar crime, terrorist funding and computer scams. The forensic accountants not only ensure economic security and also contribute the law enforcement forces to create a safe environment. Firstly they detect the losses made by the company and help to save huge funds of money and this serves as a security measure to the stock investors about the funds they are investing in. The Two cases where forensic accountants played a vital role Case 1: Divorce In a certain case a family man had some hidden assets that his wife was unaware of for many years. The wife realized it and found the protected financial assets. The marriage relationship led to divorce. In this case the attorney made good utilization of forensic accountants who they played the part in providing the wife some part of the hidden financial assets. The forensic accountants were hired to discover the assets and the funds were transferred in the name of the family after the documentation was cleared in the court of law. Case 2: Criminal Tax Fraud A businessman provided false information to the government in order to save taxes. The man provided large funds to a person who assisted him in the criminal tax fraud. The Internal Revenue Service failed engaged in surveillance but filed to discover any related information that supports the claim of criminal tax fraud for one year. Ultimately they found that the accused parties lacked to withhold the payroll taxes on few employees for which the wages was paid in cash. They also reported that the accused hold large amounts of unreported cash receipts. The forensic accountants were entrusted with the responsibility of calculation and providing the evidence of unreported income of the businessman. The IRS investigators lacked the potential to assume the income and the spending of the person in adequate fashion. They demonstrated why the calculations made by IRS were not adequate enough and lacked high degree of reliability. The explanation was accepted by the government and time was saved before the prosecution. References Pwc. (n.d.).Forensic accounting, Retrieved from http://www.pwc.co.nz/forensic-services/forensic-accounting/. Rick, R. (2010). Accountants who focus on fraud. Retrieved from http://www.jsonline.com/business/82560417.html. Bonnie, K. (2012). contemporary business, 14e. Financial Ratio Analysis, Retrieved from https://blackboard.strayer.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_168_1&url=/webapps/blackboard/execute/launcher?type=Course&id=_74816_1&url=. Bonnie, K. (2012). Chapter 15. understanding accounting and financial statements. Forensic Accountants: Fraud Busters, Retrieved from https://blackboard.strayer.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_168_1&url=/webapps/blackboard/execute/launcher?type=Course&id=_74816_1&url=. Charles, D., Ramona, F., & Suzanne, O. (n.d.). Characteristics and skills of the forensic accountant. 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