It happens eventually to almost every company. An anonymous letter, a phone call or perhaps an audit tips the company off to serious employee wrongdoing. Sometimes the wrongdoing exposes the company to civil or criminal liability. More frequently, the wrongdoing involves theft of company assets, including proprietary or confidential information critical to the company’s financial well being. In either event, the company must investigate the allegations.[i]
Nobody instructs you on conducting corporate criminal investigations when you go to school to become an accountant. Yet corporate clients routinely turn to accountants for guidance when these situations arise. This chapter discusses the issues that face an accountant when allegations arise of misconduct by or against the corporate client.
Table of Contents
- Chapter 1: Accountants Role in the Investigation
- Chapter 2: Planning Phase: Assembling the Investigative and Legal Team
- Chapter 3: Investigation Scope: Legality of Investigative Techniques
- Chapter 4: Investigation Scope: Business Implications
- Chapter 5: Covert Phase: Forensic Accounting Investigation Techniques
- Chapter 6: Transition Phase: Confronting Investigation Subjects
- Chapter 7: Overt Phase: Advising Employees & Gathering Evidence
- Chapter 8: Remedial Phase & Investigative Conclusions
[i] See generally, W. Schmidt and J. Frank, Uh-oh, Now What: Responding to Allegations of Corporate Misconduct, Directorship, April 1997.
