Forensic Accounting

Uncover the Truth with Precision and Expertise

White-collar crime and fraud are becoming quite common in today’s business environment and society. Fraud exists at all levels – employees embezzling their employers, spouses hiding income or assets from one another, financial advisors cheating their clients, and companies using fraudulent financial statements to attract investors or obtain financing. These are all commonplace scenarios these days.

The Innovative CPA Group’s forensic accounting team uses industry best practices and methodologies to obtain, analyze, document, and report on:

Fraud allegations
Misappropriations of funds
Inappropriate accounting practices
Financial statement fraud
Income and asset disclosure
Lifestyle analysis
Valuations of closely held businesses
Calculation of damages
Reconstruction of records and transactions
Tracing of funds and assets
Fraudulent conveyances

Key Areas of Expertise

Divorce Fraud Examination

Unfortunately, divorces are rarely friendly. Often, one spouse will try to cheat their spouse out of a fair property settlement. Day in and day out, vindictive spouses think of new ways to cheat their other half.

The Innovative CPA Group’s forensic accounting team helps attorneys obtain, analyze, document, and report on all financial information necessary to ensure that your client gets the fairest settlement or award possible.

We assist attorneys by providing the following divorce-related services:

Lifestyle analysis
Search for unreported income or assets for property division
Valuations of closely held businesses
Drafting of document requests
Review and interpretation of income tax returns
Reconstruction and tracing of bank and brokerage account activity
Review of financial records

Business Fraud Examination

It is not uncommon for companies in America to encounter some level of fraudulent activity. Even the most trusted employees may occasionally leverage their understanding of a company’s accounting and internal control vulnerabilities for personal advantage.

Unraveling fraud is a complex and time-consuming venture. The Innovative CPA Group’s forensic accounting team conducts fraud examinations for civil and criminal cases by:

Reconstructing books and records from incomplete data
Unraveling complex transactions and breaking them down into their component parts
Re-creating transactions in brokerage and investment accounts
Uncovering data that can be used as evidence in court
Tracing funds and assets
Identifying potential witnesses & suspects and interviewing them
Gathering and documenting evidence & preparing an expert report

We are a proactive firm that believes the best method to eradicate fraud is catching fraud before it occurs. Our team assists clients in preventing fraud by:

Reviewing the internal controls of a company’s accounting processes to identify the weaknesses that lead to fraud
Providing your company with due diligence procedures on business, real estate or investment purchases

Estate Fraud Examination

Probate court matters generally involve four types of relationships:

Estates
Trusts
Guardianships
Conservatorships

Within each of these relationships, there is a responsible person who has significant control over assets and a fiduciary duty to exercise care in performing that duty. Unfortunately, some people disregard their fiduciary duty and embezzle assets for their personal use.

ICG’s forensic accounting team works with attorneys and probate court judges by:

Reviewing filed inventories and accountings
Requesting and analyzing supporting documentation
Reconstructing accounts and transactions
Investigating the activities of a fiduciary

Innovative CPAs Forensic Accounting Group can assist attorneys in obtaining, analyzing, documenting, and reporting on all the financial information necessary to support or refute claims of misuse, theft, and embezzlement which can result in recovery of assets.

Economic Damage Calculations

Let’s be honest. People often experience economic losses due to the actions of others. The forensic accounting team at The Innovative CPA Group can calculate lost economic earnings resulting from potentially harmful events. Our calculations are based on three core components:

Financial Causation – the causal link between a specific event and alleged lost profits
But- For Profits – the profits that would have been achieved but for the specific event
Actual Profits – the profits that were actually achieved because of the specific event

We provide clients with an economic damage calculation that takes into account these three core components and is also thoroughly analyzed and documented.

Typical legal matters that require an economic damage calculation include:

business interruption/lost or diminished profit
breach of contract
wrongful termination
personal injury/wrongful death
loss of goodwill/business value
unjust enrichment
lost opportunities
intellectual property infringement

The Innovative CPA Group can also provide legal professionals with an evaluation of the merits of a claim for economic damages and provide an evaluation of calculations prepared by other professionals.

Tax Fraud

Our forensic accounting team can provide expert assistance with the resolution of civil and criminal tax matters. These types of tax cases are usually based upon the taxing authorities (either the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) or the State Department of Revenue Services) making complex assumptions regarding a taxpayer’s income and expenses, usually without a full analysis of all available data. These taxing authorities can estimate unreported income as high as possible to force action on the part of the taxpayer.

In these types of cases, the burden of proving the estimated amounts are incorrect falls on the taxpayer. That’s where The Innovative CPA Group’s forensic accounting team can help. We help the taxpayer analyze and prove their income and expenses to properly challenge the assumptions made by a tax auditor or investigator.

Our team has the experience required to effectively challenge the taxing authorities on their calculations and proof of income and expenses. We review calculations and assertions made by the taxing authorities, render an opinion, and, if necessary, provide evidence to challenge the government’s position.

ICG’s forensic accounting team uses the same financial analysis methods utilized by the IRS and the State Department of Revenue Services for both civil and criminal tax matters.

Our expertise includes:

Organization and analysis of accounting information
Reconstruction of financial documentation
Presentation of income and expenses
Analysis of calculation methods used by the government
Calculation of actual income and expense
Analysis of financial position for offers in compromise or installment agreements
Application of direct and indirect methods of calculating income, including lifestyle analysis, net worth analysis, bank deposit analysis, and source and application analysis

Litigation Consulting

The Innovative CPA Group’s forensic accounting team provides litigation clients with services that encompasses all phases of the litigation and forensic consulting process. From the initial development of strategy to discovery, analysis, and expert witness testimony, you can rely on the quality and integrity of our work from start to finish. Our menu of services includes:

Preliminary Fact Finding & Discovery Work
Identifying merits of potential cases
Evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of data
Outlining strategies for winning a case.
Pre-Trial Assistance
Performing background checks
Analyzing depositions, interrogations and claims
Consolidating all financial and economic data into concise evidence.
Expert Testimony
Providing professional, articulate, and credible expert testimony
Preparing clear demonstrative exhibits for use at trial
Assisting in cross-examination and rebuttal of the opposition’s financial evidence.

Our team thoroughly understands the complex and emotionally charged environment surrounding any legal matter. We serve and work closely with legal professionals to uncover, organize, analyze, and present essential documents and information that can add value to the outcome of a legal case.

In addition to testifying, our forensic accounting team assists in:

Preparing and utilizing appropriate exhibits to support and explain our position.
Development of deposition questions
Development of direct and cross examination lines
Rendering real-time trial assistance
Assist in settlement negotiations
Evaluating the credibility and accuracy of opposing expert testimony, reports and exhibits presented.

Our team strongly believes and strives to provide:

Thorough analysis
Defendable claims, positions and reports
Clear testimony

Other

At The Innovative CPA Group, our forensic accounting team offers specialized services that extend beyond traditional forensic accounting practices. These services are tailored to meet the unique needs of our clients and are designed to ensure a comprehensive approach to forensic accounting. Whatever your unique situation is, please contact us to start a conversation and see if we are the right fit for you.