While traditional accountants are hired to simply look at the numbers, forensic accountants are hired to look beyond the numbers. For this reason, they must possess considerable knowledge of accounting, auditing, investigative, and legal practices. These professionals are indispensable in assessing whether or not financial statements and other accounting records reflect reality. They also play a key role in mitigating the risk of future fraudulent activities by recommending and implementing stringent system controls through various types of enterprise risk management and audit committee advisory services. They are typically offer their clients expert witness testimony and discovery assistance during trials as well.

They are often hired to work on corporate mergers and acquisitions, divorces, and personal injury claims. Other common assignments for them include investigating matters such as identity theft, employee theft, securities fraud, bankruptcy claims, and underwriting concerns. Forensic accounting is one of the fastest growing accounting fields, and it has generated an increased amount of public attention because of a proliferation in white-collar crimes like money laundering, fraud, and embezzlement. The accounting scandals at Enron in 2001 generated significant media coverage, and accountants have been actively involved in tracing global terrorist activities since the 9/11 terror attacks.

A bachelor’s degree in accounting is required for employment as a forensic accountant, and many in the field have earned CPA certification as well. There are even Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) and Certified Forensic Accountant (CrFA) certifications available for those wishing to pursue this career field. These accountants are employed in private corporations, police departments, banks, law firms, insurance companies, and government agencies such as the IRS, the FBI, and the CIA. The salary range in forensic accounting varies widely from $30,000 to $150,000 in annual compensation. They are also known as investigative accountants, fraud investigators, and forensic auditors.

Forensic accountants are people who specialize in looking at the specifics of a financial situation and breaking down just how much value is in one thing or another. Their services are valuable in all sorts of disputes and can save you a great deal of money or heartache.

Ultimately, forensic accounting is just something that is suitable for use in the courts. When it comes to presenting something in court, it absolutely has to be investigated to the fullest and it needs to be verified over and again. With a forensic accountant, that is what you are getting. They go through book work and decipher all sorts of things, and they are useful for a host of different situations. When might you use one of these people and their service? Any time that you have a dispute over funds would be a good place to start.

One of the most common purposes for using a forensic accountant is when you need to decide about funds from a divorce. In many cases, these people can be used to determine just how much a person’s lifestyle should cost, so that the court can assess a certain amount of money in support. In this case, they take a realistic look at how a person lives by breaking down all of their spending. Many times, this is the way that messy divorces end up getting settled, since the two parties cannot come to an accord on just what is needed. Forensic accountants are taken very seriously by the courts, and they can even be used to break down the money side of certain crimes.

A forensic accountant can be used in that case to dictate on fraud or something of the like. In cases where money is involved and there is some question over what has been spent, they bring in the experts. These individuals are not just regular accountants, either. They do much more than just look at numbers and spending on a spreadsheet. In addition to being able to count well, they also understand financial reporting systems and the latest investigative measures, too. All of that knowledge is mixed together in order to take action when the time comes and when there is a need to get to the bottom of a difficult situation.