AYB115: Governance, Fraud and Investigation

source Two of the expert opinion matters required of forensic accountants are location and quantification of hidden assets, as well as the general calculation of damages in civil cases (e.g. a personal injury lawsuit). Firstly, according to Catherine Schnaubelt, there are four main ways of hiding assets:         “Denying the asset exists         Transferring the asset to a third party         Claiming the asset was lost        Creating false debt” (2019). Their role is to identify the action taken to hide/deny an asset, investigate and quantify this, potentially changing the course of settlement or ruling.   A forensic accountant has extensive knowledge in analysis of financial documentation and auditing methodology which exposes hidden assets, and poses questions to clarify discrepancies at play (Emerson, 2016). The goal is to gain the clearest knowledge of a party’...

Corporations will generally act like corporations unless incentive is given to do otherwise. That is, corporations don’t really care for social responsibility in the way some believe they should and are more focussed on profit than people. The framework for corporate liability is laid out in the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth) pt 2.5 div 12. The Code itself defines corporate culture as “ an attitude, policy, rule, course of conduct or practice existing within the body corporate ” ( Criminal Code Act 1995 (Qld) s 12.3). I find this to be of particular interest that legislation would incorporate the values of a company into the finding of their negligence; in summary, the Code states that having a company culture that directed to non-compliance is the authorisation of an offence. In the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry , the ‘fee for no service’ scandal was reviewed, prompting discussion about the way financial servi...

Whilst it’s true that professions have their own specific responsibilities, there is certainly a lot of overlap between forensic accountants and lawyers. This isn’t to say that forensic accountants must start donning three-pieces and cross-examining lesser forensic accountants, but more that it is important to recognise how the roles can engage in a symbiotic relationship. A forensic accountant should primarily be qualified in investigation of fraud, but also knowledgeable about the law (Renzhou, 2011). However, their job as an expert witness particularly is beneficial to lawyers, because they support the legal system (Oyedokun, 2014). If a forensic accountant knew nothing about the law, there would be no use for them in a court case. Lawyers use evidence to prove or disprove facts/thoughts/ideas. Forensic accountants provide this evidence (Dolman Bateman, n.d.). The question is, what is “the law side of things”? The legal profession and system naturally pull ...

https://www.quickstart.com/blog/how-to-design-a-disaster-recovery-plan/ Where focus means their primary goal in mind to mitigate, I can’t agree with the statement that risk and InfoSec management should keep natural disaster as their focus. “…information security risks are always present” (ISO/IEC, 2013).  Natural disaster risk, whilst increasing due to environmental factors (the words ‘climate change’ come to mind), is a well-known and well-protected against risk. This is why we all have home insurance – we all do, right? – to pass the risk of a flood destroying our home to another company. Companies do the same – they insure to pass on the risk. Companies should worry about all risk – but focus on the newer, increasingly sophisticated issues. We live in a rapidly evolving world. So, whilst natural disasters have been a thing forever, digital information security risk hasn’t. The type of information security needed for corporations, big and small, is ...