INTHEBLACK July/August 2023 - Magazine - Page 23
“Above all, forensic accountants need to have
a strong sense of integrity. That’s important
across everything we do, but in litigation, it’s
absolutely paramount.”
OWEN HAWKES FCPA, KPMG SINGAPORE
that’s available now allows us to look at
commercial transactions at a much finer
level of detail than ever before,” he says.
“If you’ve got a massive amount of data,
and you don’t have the data analysis
capability, you may need to appoint
someone else with appropriate credentials
to analyse all the relevant data. This
may include emails and internet use, as
well as reports and financial records.”
Newlan emphasises that accountants
should only take on matters they are
“competent to deliver on”.
“Many CPAs in public practice have found
that some of their traditional professional
service fees have declined in recent years,
due to the introduction of increasingly
easy‑to‑use cloud‑based accounting software.
“As a result, they may be looking to get
into other professional practice areas such
as forensic accounting, which is fine, if they
have the capability and credentials.
“If you have no experience in forensic
accounting and suddenly a forensic
opportunity comes up and you say, ‘Yes, I
can do that’, when, in fact you can’t, you
would be in breach of APES 215 and other
professional standards as well,” says Newlan.
For instance, it would breach the
fundamental principle of professional
competence and due care in APES 110 Code
of Ethics for Professional Accountants.
“In that situation, the only possible course,
if you wish to be involved in the matter, is to
bring in an expert who is equipped to deliver
this sort of work. Then, work closely with
them in the hope of transferring in some of
the necessary skills that you might be able to
use in future assignments of that type.”
A MATTER OF INTEGRITY
Owen Hawkes FCPA, partner, forensic
advisory at KPMG Singapore, provides
expert witness services and says the work
requires meticulous attention to detail.
“Above all, forensic accountants need to
have a strong sense of integrity,” he says.
“That’s important across everything we do,
but in litigation, it’s absolutely paramount.
“You don’t want to find yourself in a
position where you are arguing for something
that you don’t believe or you feel might
not be correct, or expressing a view that is
stronger than the view that you have.
“Once you’ve ‘crashed and burned’ on
integrity in a court, your career as an expert
witness is absolutely over,” Hawkes adds.
“Every time you go into the witness
box, the lawyer on the other side is going
to pull out the judgement where a judge
has said that clearly you didn’t really believe
your own evidence, or there’s no way any
sensible person could believe it, or they
caught you lying.”
Giust adds that the best expert witness
roles are often those that do not require
courtroom testimony. The expert witness will
be required to prepare their report, but there
is no need for them to experience the stress
and anxiety of a court case.
“I’ve seen cases where a senior counsel
ripped shreds off an expert witness and
really diminished their value, so that’s the
reason why people with deep expertise often
don’t want to put themselves through that
experience,” she says.
Hawkes adds that an expert witness must
“constantly be on guard that you are not
being pulled into a position that you are not
happy to stand behind and defend”.
“You are working with two sides of
opposing advocates, and they are trying to
persuade you to say the thing that makes
their case the best one.
“They are not necessarily there to get to an
absolute sense of truth,” Hawkes says.
“They have an interest in leading you astray
if your answer isn’t sufficiently favourable.
You need to be clear on where your opinion
begins and ends.”
READ
an INTHEBLACK
article on forensic
accounting as
a career
BORROW
Forensic Analytics:
Methods and
Techniques for
Forensic Accounting
Investigations from
the CPA Library
intheblack.cpaaustralia.com.au 23
