The process of investigation, detection, and prevention of fraud/theft in a company is forensic auditing. While ensuring that there are no material misstatements in financial statements and that these financial statements are an accurate representation of a company’s financial position is auditing. In other words, an auditor determines whether a company’s financial statements offer a fair assessment of its current position in accounting and forensic accountants are deployed to do the exact opposite of what they do using their sceptical attitude.

Forensic accountants must combine a diverse set of skills. They, by virtue of their skills, uncover and document fraud in financial transactions. Using their excellent analytical, perceptive, and deductive abilities they bend over backwards to accomplish the responsibilities they have been trusted for. Below we have described a forensic auditor’s role in four steps:

• Investigation: To figure out what type of fraud is going on as per the client’s suspicion. It includes figuring out who is/are doing it since when. And how have they been managing it to conceal it and what are the repercussions of their wrongdoings on the company.
• Evidence Generation: The appointed forensic auditor needs to present concrete evidence in support of their facts and findings. They try to elicit useful information by questioning suspected wrongdoers or witnesses. The techniques that are used in gathering evidence are – Interviews, Internal Controls, Software Programs, Analytical Procedures, Substantive Procedures.
• Reporting: The process ends with preparing a report explaining the findings, evidence summary, and other details such as how the fraud was carried out along with recommendations to prevent such kinds of fraud in the future. This report is good to be proffered as evidence in court if the client wants to file a case.
• Court Proceeding: The auditor has to be present during the court proceeding in order to explain in simple terms how they gathered the evidence and also how they spotted the suspect.

Without a doubt, a forensic auditor plays a pivotal role in the entire fraud investigation. You may easily find an experienced forensic auditor in Dubai from a well-established accounting or business consultancy firm.

Forensic accounting is no less than fraud investigation where the culprit (or victim) can be either an employee, a vendor, or even a customer who is against the business. Therefore, it can be initiated by anyone from stakeholders to the bank to the financial institution to the regulatory authority to the court of law with a motive to unveil or determine any illegal or fraudulent activities (with bona fide evidence) a business is suspected to undertake.

Our forensic audit specialists are au courant with forensic knowledge around laws, courts and dispute resolution, planning and preparation, information gathering and preserving, discovery, reporting and testimony to equip you to battle asset misuse, potential financial damages, shareholder disputes, family law, fraud through prevention, detection and response, bankruptcy & insolvency, electronic data insecurity and risk through feeble internal controls.

Corporate frauds have been divided into three major categories as below:

• Asset Misappropriation: Cash Thefts, Fraudulent Disbursements, Inventory Frauds & Misuse of Assets
• Corruption: Conflict of Interest, Bribery, Extortion
• Financial Statement Fraud