Oral Forensic Accounting
Forensic accountants need to be comfortable speaking in front of an audience
because they will communicate with clients regularly throughout an engagement. If the
customer insists on hearing the forensic data presented verbally, they will get that. This
may be necessary for confidentiality, improved clarity, or anything else. Ineffective
customer engagement and a shaky presentation due to a lack of preparation are potential
pitfalls of an oral presentation (Özcan, 2019). Very skilled workers are required to deal
with this threat. The information presenter should have adequate preparation. So, the
forensic accountant must have excellent public speaking skills and be able to explain
complex financial concerns to a board of directors, legal counsel, and financial regulators
at any time at the client's request.
Clients may want oral reports for various reasons, including privacy, competitive
advantage, or even cost savings. Forensic accountants benefit greatly from knowing their
client’s goals and expectations before beginning a partnership (Ozili, 2020). It will also
help the forensic accountant avoid trouble with the law, the bank, and elsewhere in the
business world. It is recommended that the forensic accountant sufficiently produces a
written outline and memo-to-file to support the material given during the oral report in
order to mitigate these potential future dangers (Afriyie et al., 2022). In addition, the client
engagement's assumptions, constraints, and outcomes should all be spelled out in writing.
A deposition is one type of oral report in which a forensic accountant may be
called either a fact witness or an expert witness. The court reporter will record all the
testimony during the deposition (Özcan, 2019). A lawyer who intends to hire a forensic
accountant can, for instance, ask the accountant for a rough valuation estimate of the
company.
Reference
Afriyie, S. O., Akomeah, M. O., Amoakohene, G., Ampimah, B. C., Ocloo, C. E., & Kyei,
M. O. (2022). Forensic accounting is a novel paradigm and relevant knowledge in
fraud detection and prevention. International Journal of Public Administration, 1-
10. https://doi.org/10.1080/01900692.2021.2009855
Özcan, A. (2019). Analyzing the impact of forensic accounting on the detection of
financial information manipulation. Manas Sosyal Araştırmalar Dergisi, 8(2),
1744-1760. https://doi.org/10.33206/mjss.486662
