Accounting and Audit Techniques

The forensic accountant must identify what accounting techniques and audit programs to use and when to use them. The criminal elements will use whatever means to cover up their acts. Criminal organizations use teams of lawyers and accountants to legitimatize their illegal income. Such use of professionals requires sophisticated accounting techniques to uncover their schemes. This, in turn, requires more time, funding, and personnel. Individuals can also develop fraudulent schemes of a high degree of sophistication. This chapter identifies the more common accounting techniques and audit programs that the forensic accountant can use to uncover the fraudulent schemes used by criminals.