The economy continues to face the ever growing burden of fraud. It is estimated to cost us many billions every year. Most people believe that the police are there to protect us from the problem but if the truth is known they have nowhere near enough resources for this job on their own.
Many believe that the first line of defence against a fraud is the police. The police do have a responsibility for investigating fraud and bringing prosecutions to court, as do other agencies such as HM Revenue and Customs, the Serious Fraud Office and the Department for Business Innovation and Skills.
All police force web sites will advertise themselves as the first port of call if you suffer any crime, and therefore this should be the place to go to report fraud. The various police forces around the country will have a fraud squad or Economic Crime Unit of some description, but these have been dwindling in size over recent years. The economic down turn and harsh cuts on public sector spending means that this picture will only become worse.
This is why when you report a fraud to the police they may try to refer you to one of the other agencies or even ask you to consult with a specialist forensic accountant in order to investigate the fraud. They simply do not have the resources to investigate every fraud that is brought to their attention and will often only pick the larger losses or where the public interest is great.
So is it possible for a forensic accountant to investigate fraud as well as a trained police office? It is important to compare like with like in this case and two issues must be considered first:
1. Many frauds are investigated by police constables who do not have any financial training.
2. Most forensic accountants offer a range of services and are not specialist fraud practitioners.
However, when you compare a police officer who has undertaken financial investigation training with a forensic accountant who specialises in fraud, it becomes harder to distinguish who is better placed to investigate fraud.
One definition of fraud is stealing using deception. The deception is usually carried out within accounting records within some business or financial activity. Therefore, substantial accounting competence is needed to unpick a fraud. Then again, it is not just a matter of analysing records when conducting a fraud enquiry. It includes interviewing suspects and witnesses and managing large volumes of data. It requires a working knowledge of relevant laws and legal procedures. It requires precision and an enquiring mind, together with a robust approach.
In short, a good fraud investigator requires the skills of both the police officer and the forensic accountant, which is why fraud investigation skills are very valuable to have in the current economic climate.
Mark Jenner is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, a Certified Fraud Examiner and has a Masters Degree in Fraud Management. He works as a full time forensic accountant and fraud investigator.
Orignal From: Who Are the Best Fraud Investigators?
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