This course provides a high-level overview and introduction into the world of the forensic accountant. Most accountants have an understanding of the concept of fraud and how it impacts companies, but many individuals do not have a full comprehension of the variance in the work performed by a forensic accountant versus a typical management accountant.
Forensic accountants or auditors take a unique focus on performing their work. Typically, when a person with forensic experience is called in to examine financial records, it is due to suspicion of fraud, evaluation of assets, or even to track down fundamentally incorrect accounting – intentional or not.
As fraud continues to raise its head in business processes, forensic accountants are discovering new and unique ways to identify, examine, and support their hypotheses and investigative techniques. The work performed by a forensic specialist can be interesting and full of potential potholes if evidence isn’t examined according to proper protocols and standards.
In this course, we examine the many processes and roles of the forensic accountant. We discuss rules of evidence and the accountant’s potential need to testify in a court of law. Learners will come away with an understanding of the world of forensic accounting and the many ways in which it may differ from the typical accountant’s role.
Publication Date: June 2022
Designed For
Accountants and Finance professionals, Auditors, Executive management/Board members and Audit Committee members, and Legal and Compliance professionals.
Topics Covered
- Many processes and roles of the forensic accountant
- Rules of evidence
- Accountant's potential need to testify in a court of law
- Concepts in forensic accounting
- The role of forensic accountants
- Differences between litigation and investigative support
- Types of engagements completed by forensic accountants
- Process utilized by forensic accountants
- Specific skill areas that are utilized by forensic accountants
Learning Objectives
- Describe the world of forensic accounting
- Identify distinguishing concepts in forensic accounting
- Differentiate between litigation and investigative support
- Identify the types of engagements completed by forensic accountants
- Recognize the process utilized by forensic accountants
- Describe the practice of concealing a message within another message or a physical object
- Recognize a subset of digital forensics based on the unique approach to investigating cloud environments
- Identify steps in the forensic process after meeting with a client
Level
Basic
Instructional Method
Self-Study
NASBA Field of Study
Accounting (2 hours)
Program Prerequisites
None
Advance Preparation
None
Instructor
Lynn Fountain
Lynn Fountain has over 38 years of experience spanning public accounting, corporate accounting and consulting. 20 years of her experience has been working in the areas of internal and external auditing and risk management. She is a subject matter expert in multiple fields including internal audit, ethics, fraud evaluations, Sarbanes-Oxley, enterprise risk management, governance, financial management and compliance. Lynn has held two Chief Audit Executive (CAE) positions for international companies. In one of her roles as CAE, she assisted in the investigation of a multi-million-dollar fraud scheme perpetrated by a vendor that spanned 7 years and implicated 20 employees. The fraud was formally investigation by the FBI and resulted in 5 indictments estimating a $13M fraud loss.
Ms. Fountain is currently engaged in her own consulting and training practice. She is a highly sought-after trainer and international speaker. In addition, Ms. Fountain has assisted numerous companies with enterprise risk management frameworks, internal audit processes and financial accounting. She also serves as a discussion leader for the AICPA for numerous classes finance, accounting and risk management topics.
Ms. Fountain is the author of three separate technical books. Her first book released in 2015 by the Institute of Internal Auditors Foundation is entitled “Raise the Red Flag – The Internal Auditors Guide to Fraud Evaluations”. Her second book “Leading the Internal Audit Function” was released in October 2015 by Taylor & Francis Publications. This book serves as the initial launch for a series of leading practice internal audit and information technology publications. Her third book “Ethics and the Internal Auditor’s Dilemma” was released in December 2016.
Ms. Fountain obtained her BSBA from Pittsburg State University and her MBA from Washburn University in Kansas. She has her CPA, CGMA, CRMA credentials.