Forensic Accounting

SSMENT # 5

1. Give short answers for the following questions: (12)

i.

ii.

iii.

iv.

v.

vi.

What is the difference between proactive and reactive investigations?

How would you differentiate between the weighted and unweighted solvability factors. Goal - setting and planning is very important for the soundness of an investigative process. Why?

Outline the major goals of an investigative plan.

Briefly describe the stages involved in planning an investigative plan.

Describe the three main areas of intelligence gathering process.

2. Write short notes on the followings:

a. Private databases

(5)

b. Public data bases

3. Financial crime investigations generally result in higher volumes of evidence and more complicated theories of evidence than non-financial crime. Discuss this. (5)

Case Study

(8)

In March 2005, Byron was offered a job as manager of a public house in Hampshire. He had many years experience in the pub trade, but had never managed an entire pub before. He explained to the pub owner that he would need some help with book-keeping. The owner explained a system of record keeping and banking which he had himself devised. When the quarterly VAT return was due in July, the owner checked the records and found that there appeared to be a discrepancy in the banking. He complained to the police and Byron was charged with theft of the shortfall and false accounting.

The forensic expert was instructed to review the accounting records and banking on behalf of the defence. The expert gave his opinion of the elements required in a properly designed accounting system for a pub and

highlighted the many serious deficiencies in the system devised by the pub owner and the difficulties that Byron would have experienced in attempting to operate it. He also pointed to a number of possible causes of the cash discrepancy, other than theft by Byron. When the case came to court, many of the points in this report were put to the prosecution witnesses in cross-examination. At the close of the prosecution, based on the evidence, the judge agreed that Byron had no case to answer and he was released.

Consider the above case while answering the following questions:

i. What do you think could be lacking in the Owner s self-devised accounting system?

ii. Give some possible causes of shortfall other than theft by Byron.

Requirements:

1. Use Havard format for citations and references

1.

1. Marking Criteria: We expect the learners to write minimum one well expressed point in three lines

against each allocated mark. This means one needs to write 15 lines with 5 well expressed points to get high grades for a 5 marks question. This implies that 5 complete sentences for each in questions 1, 2 and 3 and the case study is unlimited with complete in-text citations and referencing