How Can a Forensic Accountant Help With Your Debt Collection Duties?

 Posted on February 04, 2021 in Debt Collection

As a financial professional, be it as a representative from a credit union, bank, auto lender, truck lender, equipment lender, or other financial institution, it is important to work with an attorney who acts as an official litigator. Together, you might think you have everything taken care of when it comes time to investigate the finances of a debtor you suspect might be committing fraud or other wrongdoing. However, with regards to any number of debt collection activities, including such complicated legal processes as bankruptcy, you could also benefit from the assistance of a forensic accountant.

What Does a Forensic Accountant Do?

Most of the time people assume an accountant does your taxes and that is about it, but as with most fields, there are plenty of subsets. Forensic accountants study the numbers and figures in financial and legal documents, intensively reviewing them to find discrepancies within the recordkeeping as to draw conclusions about potential wrongdoing. They can also confirm if certain errors were made, or support arguments to the contrary.

Basically, a forensic accountant uses accounting and investigative skills to solve cases that are financial in nature. Think of a forensic accountant as a detective in charge of discovering the truth behind the numbers on the ledger. In other words, if there are financial crimes, he or she must discover them, document them, and then explain them clearly and plainly to the courts. In order to draw those conclusions, a forensic accountant’s responsibilities may include:

• Tracing funds

• Conducting due diligence reviews

• Identifying assets

• Recovering assets

Uncovering Important Information

As a financial professional who must recover funds from bankruptcies or other debt collection activities, you may find forensic accountants to be very helpful. They can uncover several issues about the debtor that you would not discover on your own or that would take you much longer to reveal. For instance, a forensic accountant could:

• Prove that the debtor can actually afford to pay you even if his or her legal team alleges that the debtor cannot.

• Build a stronger case to help recoup your funds by qualifying and quantifying your arguments with extensive documentation and other evidence.

• Draw the conclusions you might be missing that could be the difference between recovering assets or walking away with nothing.

• Provide evidence of the debtor committing fraudulent activities, such as making major financial decisions without the approval of the judge when under bankruptcy protection, creating offshore bank accounts in which to launder money, delivering fake invoices, or altering the payroll by using phony names.

Contact an Illinois Debt Collection Lawyer

Sometimes it takes a whole team to win a case. When it comes to collecting on debts, you may benefit from the assistance of a skilled Chicago creditor’s rights attorney as well as a forensic accountant to help you recover your losses. Contact the talented professionals at Dimand Walinski Law Offices, P.C., by calling 312-704-0771. With 40 years of experience, you can trust us with your debt collection case since we know just the right outside experts to bring onboard to further bolster your arguments.

Sources:

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/forensicaccounting.asp

https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/knowledge/accounting/forensic-accounting-litigation/

https://www.picpa.org/articles/cpa-now-blog/cpa-now/2020/02/05/what-do-forensic-accountants-do

https://www.cleverism.com/how-to-spot-fraud-using-forensic-accounting/