Forensic accountants are called upon to help in many situations:
- Shareholder and partnership disputes
- Divorce Cases – assessing assets and liabilities
- Professional Negligence claims
- Personal Injury Claims
- Insurance Claims – Business interruption and loss of profit
- Fraud Investigations
- Criminal Investigations
Often Solicitors will appoint Forensic Accountants and obtain quotes from several accountants before making a recommendation to their client.
CIMA Accountants are well suited to Forensic Accounting because of their business experience and analytical skills.
Divorce is a growth area for Forensic Accounting as its common for both parties to value assets and liabilities in different ways, to resolve this in some cases accountants will be jointly appointed by both parties.
The process is normally as follows:
- The Solicitor issues instructions to the Accountant
- The Accountant reads the brief, investigates the information supplied and searches for undisclosed information (for example Land Registry, Companies House, Internet etc)
- The Accountant requests further information via the solicitor
- Appropriate calculations are carried out
- A report is prepared which can be presented to the Court
steve@bicknells.net
Business Accountant 
dont you need qualifications to do forensic work
CIMA members in practice PI insurance normally covers forensic work but you should only take on projects that you feel competent to undertake. You could start by working along side other members or have agreements in place for others to do the work you can’t.