FORENSIC ACCOUNTING IN PRACTICE
AYESHA KAPOOR
DR. MARGARET BUCKMAN
BUS-508-CONTEMPORARY BUSINESS
18TH AUGUST 2013

The most important five skills that a forensic accountant needs to possess and the need for each skill. Forensic accountants are a breed of accountants who play a role of accountants, auditors and investigators of possible fraudulent cases in a company. Forensic accountants work towards looking into the financial statements of the company and helping them prevent fraudulent cases by straightening their accounts. They work in the investigations and at times appear in the court as a witness in the fraud cases. Forensic accountants play a vital role in identifying malpractices by the managers in the company. (James, …show more content…

A forensic accountant is considered as a source of a better technical and accounting knowledge as compared to the understandings of legal counsels or other courtroom delegates. (Smith. B.). As a legal responsibility a forensic accountant is often employed for the purpose of coming up with data and the documentations which are admissible in the court. As such forensic accountants usually go through the financial records of the company as well as assist in the auditing process. Since the forensic accountants are authorized to produce documentation that are legally accepted sometimes they are required to be present in the court proceedings to give verbal testimonies and explanations on their findings. As a service to a business it is the legal responsibility of a forensic accountant to be accurate and detailed in their work. Their job requires a great capacity of analytical thinking and good communication skills to enable effective communication of findings.
There are a number of scenarios where forensic accountants are useful. Most importantly, forensic accountants are used to calculate the economic damages and post-acquisition disputes. Similarly, a forensic accountant serves the business in calculating the business economic losses. A forensic accountant is an expertise in