Forensic accounting
Definition
The application of accounting, auditing, and investigative skills to matters likely to be disputed in a legal or regulatory forum. The word forensic comes from the Latin forensis (belonging to the forum or court).
Related terms
- Fraud examination
- The process of resolving an allegation of fraud, from initial fact-finding through evidence collection to a conclusion about what happened and who...
- Litigation support
- Work done by a forensic accountant to assist counsel in civil or commercial disputes: calculating damages, modelling lost profits, or reviewing opposing...
- Net-worth method
- An indirect method of proving unreported income. The investigator establishes opening and closing net worth, adds known expenditures, subtracts documented income, and...
- Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX)
- US federal legislation enacted in July 2002 in direct response to Enron and WorldCom. Its key provisions include CEO/CFO certification of financial...
- Treadway Commission (COSO)
- The Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission, whose 1992 Internal Control framework became the global baseline for evaluating internal controls...
Explained in
- Scope and History of Forensic AccountingThe application of accounting, auditing, and investigative skills to matters likely to be disputed in a legal or regulatory forum. The word forensic comes from...