Clear reports, robust analysis and credible evidence delivered by an expert witness.
As a solicitor acting for parties in litigation, or as the party seeking help directly, you will know that clearly presented evidence from a forensic accountant expert can be key to the outcome of your case. It’s also vital that, beyond financial investigation and creating reports, your forensic accountant is skilled at giving evidence in court before a judge or jury.
Chris is an experienced forensic accountant and expert witness, acting frequently for claimants, defendants and as Single Joint Expert across a multitude of cases.
Helping you or your clients reach a satisfactory outcome at a reasonable cost
Navigating sensitive divorce disputes to support informed decisions by the court
Providing financial investigation and reporting for PI and loss of dependency claims
Expert witness testimony to help your court case run smoothly
That’s easy. It has nothing to do with deerstalker hats or meerschaum pipes. “Forensic” comes from Forum, the place in ancient Rome where justice was dispensed. Now the courtroom is our forum. So “forensic” means for the forum, or court, so a forensic accountant provides expert evidence to the court. Put briefly, the forensic accountant deals with anything – civil, family or criminal – to do with the law and finance.
The work falls into three broad categories: civil & commercial, family and criminal. It can involve the quantification of a commercial claim, the valuation of the family business, or investigation of financial discrepancies and inaccuracies such as fraud and financial misrepresentation or misconduct. It combines knowledge of accounting, auditing and investigating skills to provide analysis that can be used in legal proceedings. Forensic accountants need to have a good understanding of business.
Charges for providing a forensic report can vary. Depending on the size of the case, they could be “fixed-fee,” or an estimate may be provided if it is a large or complex case. Chris is always happy to look at a possible case without obligation, and without charge if not appointed. Find out more on the fees page.
Forensic accountants use their accounting and business skills to investigate the finances of individuals and businesses, to determine any financial irregularities, value a business or quantify a loss. Forensic accountants provide an expert witness report to the court based on their analysis.
They are trained to look beyond the numbers and look at the true business situation.
Any old chartered accountant will not do, since the forensic accountant must be a member of two professions: a very competent qualified accountant but also one trained in evidence gathering, expert report writing, helping solicitors and barristers, holding expert meetings, and ultimately giving evidence at court and surviving cross-examination. Oh! And they must also know about the hot tub and about ADR such as Part 36 offers, mediation and expert determination.
In many scenarios. The obvious scenario would be in investigating criminal activity and financial crime, such as fraud, but they can also be helpful in other cases. In civil cases a forensic accountant can assist in determining the outcome of disputes, insurance claims and personal injury, as well as disputes arising from divorce and other matrimonial cases.
Chris does a little criminal defence work to assist solicitors, but since the legal aid rates for experts are stingy. He spends most of his time on commercial and personal injury cases, valuing the family business in divorce, and on ADR: mediation and expert determination.
Why not ask Chris to review the case. He offers a free, no-obligation case review, in which he will tell you if he can add value to you case. If not, he will tell you and go away without charge – and he doesn’t even sulk!
Or just ring him for a chat on 07887 660072.
An experienced forensic accountant can make sense of complex (or nonsensical!) financial information and sort through it efficiently, minimising time and costs. They can also provide a detailed report making sense of the information they have analysed.
As early as possible to get the maximum benefit. Their involvement early in the process can have a significant impact on time and cost savings. Forensic accountants can be useful in identifying required documents and help in preparing witness statements.
Importantly, a forensic accountant can identify the case where liability is really interesting but quantum is likely to be negligible, thus helping to weed out Pyrrhic victories.
Litigators should develop friendly relations with their forensic accountant, who can look at a case early on.
It’s important to consider:
In a variety of ways:
A forensic accountant can perform assignments on a range of topics including:
Forensic accountants can investigate and provide reports for cases on any of the above topics, or appear as Expert Witness for your case.
The earlier the better. You don’t want to wait until the last minute only to find your expert has been retained by the opposing party. A forensic accountant is valuable in deciphering complex financial information, identifying required documents and helping to prepare you to question a witness or opposing expert.
Chris has supported many legal cases during his career with his vast forensic accounting experience; each is completely unique and he approaches every case individually. That’s why Chris offers an initial review with no obligation to instruct him, to find out more about the value that he can add to your case.
