Join the Forensic Legion
Accountants working in the field of forensic accountancy are sometimes called upon to be expert witnesses for court cases, but what does this role actually involve?
The courts often have to make judgements upon technical areas that they are not familiar with and when this happens they use the expertise of people who specialise in the relevant area. The expert receives his instructions, reviews the evidence, and produces a report on the case. In this report he expresses his professional and independent opinion on the relevant matters on which he has been instructed.
His examination of the facts is based on the information supplied by the instructing party and his own technical knowledge. He can refer to textbooks and technical publications and ask additional questions of the parties instructing him but he does not have any automatic access to the other side in the case.
In Ikarian Reefer ([1993] Lloyds rep 68) Mr Justice Cresswell laid down a now-classic statement of the duties and responsibilities of expert witnesses. They are as follows:
- It is the duty of an expert to help the Court on the matters within his expertise. This duty is paramount and overrides any obligation to the person from whom the expert has received instructions or by whom he is paid.
- Expert evidence presented to the Court should be, and should be seen to be, the independent product of the expert uninfluenced by the exigencies of litigation.
- An expert witness should provide independent assistance to the Court by way of objective unbiased opinion in relation to matters within his expertise. An expert witness should never assume the role of an advocate.
- An expert witness should not omit to consider material facts that could detract from his concluded opinion.
- An expert witness should make it clear when a particular question or issue falls outside his expertise.
- If an expert's opinion is not properly researched because he considers that insufficient data is available, then this must be stated with an indication that the opinion is no more than a provisional one.
- In a case where an expert witness who has prepared a report could not assert that the report contained the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth without some qualification, that qualification should be stated in the report.
- If, after exchange of reports, an expert witness changes his view on a material matter having read another expert's report or for any other reason, such change of view should be communicated in writing (through legal representatives) to the other side without delay, and when appropriate to the Court.
So what type of cases can forensic accountants expect to work on? One of the most famous cases in recent years involved experts for a number of international firms. The Volcker Commission was created to investigate funds of victims of Nazi persecution deposited in Swiss bank accounts. The case concluded last year and involved more than 400 accountants studying thousands of pieces of documentation, some of which dated back to wartime.
