When a forensic accountant is hired to provide a valuation, it is important for them to remain
objective, demonstrate professional care, and maintain integrity in performance of the
engagement. As forensic accountants give their expert evidence on the day or days of the trial,
They must utilize their investigative, accounting, and auditing skills to ascertain the truth of
events as detailed in the financial statements. They calculate and quantify the loss, they
examine the disagreements in company acquisitions, and they study the business violations
that have occurred due to such losses and disagreements.
a a a a a a a a a a a A Forensic accountant must provide professional care to their clients. According to the
AICPA’s Code of professional conduct, “The quest for excellence is the essence of due care.
Due care requires a member to discharge professional responsibilities with competence and
diligence. It imposes the obligation to perform professional services to the best of a member's
ability with concern for the best interest of those for whom the services are performed and
consistent with the profession's responsibility to the public” (AICPA, 2013, ET Section
56.01). Integrity is vital for a forensic accountant. For one to have integrity, they must possess
the “quality from which the public trust derives and the benchmark against which a member
must ultimately test all decisions. Integrity requires a member to be, among other things,
honest and candid within the constraints of client confidentiality. Service and the public trust
should not be subordinated to personal gain and advantage. Integrity can accommodate the
inadvertent error and the honest difference of opinion; it cannot accommodate deceit or
subordination of principle” (AICPA, 2013, ET Section 54.01/.02). Objectivity has similar
traits in which the professional has the obligation to be impartial, intellectually honest, and
free of conflicts of interest. Should he or she be in violation of those 3 principles, then there is
no way to maintain true objectivity.
a a a a a a a a a a a It is no surprise that the forensic accountant’s expert witness testimony will carry
significant weight in the coming trial. While they were hired by the firm, they have a duty to
remain objective and behave with integrity and independence. This means that all data will be
factually based, backed up with significant data, and be as unimpeded by bias as possible. For
the expert witness, it doesn’t matter what the end result of the trial is, only that they are
operating under good faith and accurate information.
References
• https://us.aicpa.org/content/dam/aicpa/research/standards/codeofconduct/downloadabl
edocuments/2013june1codeofprofessionalconduct.pdf
• Federal Evidence Review. Federal Rules Of Evidence (2015) | Federal Evidence
Review. (n.d.). Retrieved February 6, 2023, from
https://web.archive.org/web/20180831001530/http://federalevidence.com/rules-of-
evidence
