As seen above, forensic auditing involves a wide spectrum of engagements that particularly revolve around investigative work. The investigation includes financial malpractices and fraud investigation. Yet further, forensic accountants are invited as expert witness in the event the investigated fraud is subjected to judicial proceedings. Forensic accounting on the other hand refers to specific progressive procedures carried out to produce evidence (Gerson, J., Brolly and Skalak, 2011). It is a procedure that involves auditing techniques to identify and gather evidence to prove the nature of the fraud and develop the context of the fraudulent activity.
Forensic accounting is a difficult field to work in but it assures financial security and priceless experience while serving the nation. Job Description Forensic accountants analyze and investigate financial reports to look for signs of inconsistencies which indicate fraud. In such cases, forensic accountants will restructure the process and activities related to financial abuse in an organization. These experts will show presentations with supporting legal documents and real company data as proof that fraud actually took place. The court may ask them to testify about their investigation results.
But other aspects may be involved in the acquisition of evidence. some forensic investigators believe in gathering evidence before shutting down the suspect.s computer; this is a source of arguments within the forensics community whether to shutdown the computer immediately and preserve the exact state that it was found, or to gather evidence before shutting down in order to gain any volatile data that might be destroyed on shutdown. And the second step is the authentication of the evidence is the process of ensuring that the evidence has not been altered during the acquisition process. Investigators authenticate the hard drive evidence by generating a checksum of the contents of the hard drive. This checksum is like an electronic fingerprint in that it is almost impossible for two hard drives with different data.
Three Interesting Topic of Forensic Accounting Financial forensic accounting is the use of knowledge and skills to investigate fraud and to analyze financial information for the use in legal proceedings (Kranacher, 2011, P.5). The three most interesting topics are criminology, fraud examination, and categories of fraud. Criminology is the sociological study of crime and criminals. Few questions to consider while studying this topic is “why do people commit such crime,” “what can we do to prevent crime,” and “what knowledge and skill need to identify such criminals?”. Various types of crimes include occupational crime, white-collar crime, organizational crime, and tort, breach of duty, civil litigation which can destroy company’s success and
Sometimes a criminal investigation may not produce any further leads causing the case to be set aside. This is why the investigator utilizes twelve essential questions to guide the investigation and determine the solvability of the case. This is also why the investigator works closely with prosecutors to determine the solidity of a case and whether to bring the suspect to
They’ll show him or her collecting evidence, doing the investigation and detective work, and they’ll show them working in the lab. Each of these roles are different jobs. The one to be working in the lab is where forensic science comes in. Crime scene investigators typically don’t step into the lab at all. They are mostly out on the field collecting evidence for the lab technicians.
Overall, forensic scientists are able to collect information and use it to help solve or further investigations. How to Become One
When we look at the Federal Criminal Process we can see that the first step in the process is Investigation, an investigators duty is to investigate crime, obtain evidence and help prosecutors understand the details of a case. These investigators can be from several different agencies which include the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigations, DHS/HIS (Homeland Security Investigation, USSS (United States Secret Service,
Getting a job in forensics takes the ability to incorporate all of the scientific strengths learned and the love for solving crimes. Giving expertise on legal activities also plays a major role in investigating and solving misdemeanors(“Discover Careers in Forensic Science”). Many occupations in forensics can be sometimes labeled as morbid or gruesome. Some of these careers may include, forensic crime scene investigators, coroners, anthropologists, and pathologists(forensic medical examiners)(Palmer). These professions salaries can range anywhere from 50,000 to over 200,000 a year(Kaelin).
Checks and balances must be in place to defend against improper expert testimony and junk science practices. Misconduct and negligence in forensic laboratories have led to wrongful convictions in several states. To help combat this scientist must continue to increase the trustworthiness of their work. It has also been suggested that a government regulated forensic oversight commission be adopted as a necessity in laboratory and field environments to help reduce