Investigation services

Financial Investigation Services

A financial investigation commonly includes the following steps:

• understanding the matter to be investigated and the potential outcome of the investigation
• an initial assessment of current information
• gathering information and analysis
• drawing conclusions, reporting and following up

Types Of Evidence

Financial investigation services aim to provide evidence through the analysis of documents, witness evidence, expert evidence, electronic evidence, and physical evidence.

The types of documentary evidence that we typically examine include general ledgers, electronic accounting records, bank statements, agreements,customer and supplier invoices and statements, and loan statements.

Analysis

The typical financial investigation evidence tools for data analysis include spreadsheets and databases.

A spreadsheet allows a large amount of data to be quickly sorted, for example by date, vendor, or amount, so that unusual transactions can be identified.

Unusual transactions might include many transactions taking place on a certain date, to a vendor or with rounded-number amounts.

Sorting through data also allows the detection of duplication. Duplicate transaction dates, amounts or invoice numbers can reveal questionable transactions.

Most accounting software systems maintain transaction audit logs. The logs provide details such as the date transactions were entered if transactions have been altered and by whom.

Financial Investigation Report

Financial investigation reports are free from opinion, objective, factual and unbiased. The reports are accurate, clear, and relevant. A report will typically include:

• executive summary
• introduction to the investigation, including the background to the investigation, the process undertaken and applied
• outline of the evidence that emerged
• outline of the analysis of the evidence relevant to each core factual issue
• outline of the findings of fact
• findings and recommendations based on the evidence generated and analysis

Examples of past engagements

Past financial investigation services provided include:

• Multi-million dollar building contract dispute. Investigation, review, and analysis of all payments made to and by the contractor, reconciliation of payments to the contracts and contract variations, invoices and quotes and identification of discrepancies.
• Expert witness report prepared based on an investigation and analysis of alleged unauthorised million-dollar payments, transfers, and withdrawals relating to the unlawful use of the power of attorney. Supreme Court of Queensland.
• Accounting fraud identification. Investigationinto suspicions a bookkeeper might be misappropriating funds from the business. Procedures carried out to detect possible fraud and control weaknesses.
• Ownership of asset dispute. Dispute over the ownership of related party assets. Investigation and analysis on the actual treatment of assets, what should have been the proper treatment and the implied ownership because of the transactions.
• E-discovery. Assisting in a dispute where over a million documents were discovered. Preparing those documents for an e-discovery platform and then searching for, analysing, and reviewing relevant documents for the legal team in relation to a large international Ponzi investment scheme.
• Financial records analysis. Analysis of thousands of financial documents and the preparation of an Expert Report substantiating a $500 million claim in relation to a large-scale construction project dispute.
• Consulting Expert and Investigation Services in family settlement. Reviewing the reasonableness of beneficiary loans, interpreting financial information, assessing the reasonableness of expenses, and identifying personal expenses relating to a property investment business and fashion business. For mediation.