| By :
Mark Jenner
Fraud threatens the economy more and more each day. It is hard to estimate its true cost as it is a hidden crime, bubbling away beneath the surface. The measures we need to defend ourselves never seem to be enough. Many believe that the first line of defence against a fraud is the police. The police do have a responsibility for investigating fraud and bringing prosecutions to court, as do other agencies such as HM Revenue and Customs, the Serious Fraud Office and the Department for Business Innovation and Skills. Crimes need to be reported to the police, and fraud is a crime. The various police forces around the country will have a fraud squad or Economic Crime Unit of some description, but these have been dwindling in size over recent years. With the economic slump and pressure on the public sector to slash costs, this situation will not get any better. As a result sometimes when a victim does report a fraud to the police they may be sent to some other agency or even asked to investigate the loss themselves, by using a forensic accountant. They don't have enough available officers to pursue every fraud reported, which is why they often ignore the smaller ones. So is it possible for a forensic accountant to investigate fraud as well as a trained police office? It is important to compare like with like in this case and two issues must be considered first: 1. Many frauds are investigated by police constables who do not have any financial training. 2. Many forensic accountants are general practitioners and do not have any specific fraud training. But if you look at a forensic accountant specialising in fraud and a trained police financial investigator, the better person to investigate fraud is not obvious. Fraud can be described as criminal theft carried out by using deception. The fraudulent activity is often carried out within business records. Therefore, substantial accounting competence is needed to unpick a fraud. Then again, it is not just a matter of analysing records when conducting a fraud enquiry. It includes interviewing suspects and witnesses and managing large volumes of data. It requires a working knowledge of relevant laws and legal procedures. It requires precision and an enquiring mind, together with a robust approach. Put simply, the best fraud investigators need to have the skills of the police and the abilities of the accountant - and anybody who does will be in great demand over the coming few years.
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