With regulations and legal procedures unique to New Jersey, clients often need extra help navigating state rules, especially when it comes to assessing or dividing finances. If you have the need for a professional who is an expert in both accounting principles and legal concepts, consider hiring a forensic accountant to analyze financial information, investigate claims of monetary fraud and present findings in court.
Hiring a forensic accountant in Essex County, NJ, will allow you to gain needed insight into the finances of a legal case. From divorces to criminal cases, a forensic accountant can handle a variety of cases that require an investigative eye. Compared to a traditional accountant, a forensic accountant has a knack for uncovering hidden assets and getting to the bottom of criminal matters.
Even when assets are concealed, a trained forensic accountant will follow a paper trail and analyze financial documents, including bank accounts, personal statements and business filings. A seasoned veteran in this field is also able to confidently interact with witnesses, clients and other people, which require a great deal of interpersonal communication.
Here are the steps to hiring a forensic accountant in Essex County:
1. How to know when you need forensic accounting services.
Whether you are undergoing a complex criminal investigation or suspect your spouse is concealing assets, you might need the aid of a forensic accountant to help you with your case. You might suspect a business partner or employee is committing fraud and need to have a financial analysis of your company documents. Forensic accountants are valuable partners when trying to uncover fraudulent business activity.
Investors tend to rely and act on information about a company to determine how they will engage in the securities and commodities market. However, when the information is inaccurate, missing or has not yet been made publicly available, investors can make the wrong decisions and lose money. Not only can businesses experience huge financial losses from employees or executives siphoning funds away from the company, the reputation of the business itself can be damaged once the fraud comes to light.
A forensic accountant might also be asked to perform financial analysis in order to determine the income and assets of a spouse before settling a divorce. An expert in accounting principles and the state laws of New Jersey is integral to verifying a spouse’s annual earnings using financial documents and developing reports to help spouses make a decision in splitting marital assets and move forward.
In all of these cases, you might need expert knowledge in accounting and legal procedures to have the best case to present in court.
2. How to search for a forensic accountant in Essex County.
Forensic accountants are often found in regular accounting firms or consulting companies. In looking for a forensic accountant, there are a variety of channels you can go through, from looking on the Internet to the more traditional method of paging through a phone book. A a simple search on the Internet is convenient in gathering more information, but you might need to do more research to find the right forensic accounting firm for you.
To find a forensic accountant in Essex County, you should consider the needs of your case. Accounting firms usually list the services they provide and types of cases they are experienced in. For example, some forensic accountants have years of experience in family law and helping couples going through a divorce while others are more adept at criminal investigations. Knowing what cases your forensic accountants are experts in will help you narrow down your choices.
You can also ask your family or others who might have hired a forensic accountant in Essex County of their experiences with other accounting firms and how they handled their cases and investigations.
3. What qualities to look for in a forensic accountant.
In addition to finding an accountant with years of experience in the type of case or investigation you require, you should determine whether they have a firm foundation in accounting, which is necessary to uncover any inconsistencies or inaccuracies in financial statements. They should also be able to decipher legal concepts that might be required to present findings in court and investigate claims.
Besides knowledge of accounting and legal principles, there are critical skills that forensic accountants have that other accountants do not. Fraud detection is one of the skills that separate forensic accountants from traditional accountants and is highly valued in order to perform financial analyses that concentrate on fraud and criminal matters. Companies might also have misappropriated assets or instances of insider trading. While stock activity on the market may seem hot, company balance sheets might actually tell a different story, which is important for forensic accountants to uncover.
4. How to make a financial decision.
When you are choosing an accountant, an important question you should ask is if you trust them. Whether you found a forensic accounting firm by searching on the Web or asking for references from people close to you, you should be able to trust and feel comfortable around the forensic accountant you hire. Finding a trustworthy forensic accountant is key to aiding you in your case as they will go through your financial statements, which contain personal details that you should only hand over if you know someone is reliable.
You should understand the skills and expertise a forensic accounting firm will bring to your case. In picking a forensic accountant in Essex County, you should make sure they have great analytical and communication skills and are willing to help you understand all financial documents.
Factoring in the cost of an accountant in your budget will also help you narrow down your choices. You should contact the forensic accounting firm directly to consider the costs of their services and how they can best help you with your case, especially if there are high financial stakes that are dependent on a court judgment.
Consider calling the accounting firm to talk to them specifically about the services they provide, what similar cases they have done and hear how they can help your case in particular.
