With the increase in white collar crimes in securities fraud, banking and investment misappropriations, comes the increase demand for forensic accountants with strong knowledge of accounting procedures and financial experience coupled with strong analytic and investigative skills. According to U.S. World and News Report, forensic accounting is one of the most secured job opportunities for the future.
Forensic Accountants work in major accounting firms. Their skills and expertise are in high demand for investigating on mergers and acquisitions, tax investigations, economic crime investigations, civil litigation support, specialized audits, and terrorist investigations. Forensic Accountants work throughout the business world, in public accounting, and in government agencies such as FBI, Internal revenue, Local Law enforcement and others.
Opportunities for qualified Forensic Accounting professionals are abound in private companies, particularly with the essential need of the Sarbanes-Oxley act (SOX). Publicly held companies are inviting those with these skills and knowledge as a part of their strong internal control team, to comply with governmental and market demands for accurate reporting. Beyond SOX, forensic accountants help prevent and detect misuse of company resources in private companies.
Recent major corporate scandals have encouraged business owners to turn to Forensic Accountants for more proactive fraud audits and prevention. The frauds which these professionals are looking for is usually one of these two general types: financial statement fraud or theft of assets. To uncover financial statement fraud, detail analyzations are carried out on the financial statements by using ratio analysis and data-mining techniques such as Benford's Law. Other procedures performed include inspection of documents and records and conduct interviews with witnesses and suspects.
Divorce attorneys may call on forensic accountants to evaluate whether assets are being understated or liabilities are overstated. In addition, forensic accountants may be asked to determine the amount of the loss sustained by victims, testify in court as an expert witness and assist in the preparation of visual aids and written summaries for use in court. To be successful, these accountants needs knowledge of fraud schemes, investigation techniques, and the law to fulfill the expectations of his or her client or employer.
This profession can earn anything from $35,000 to $60,000 a year in an entry-level position. With experience, forensic accountants could fetch an annual salary of six figures. Forensic Accounting is one of the most interesting professions currently. It's very challenging and at the same time exciting to work with prosecutors and attorneys in court cases. Forensic Accounting opens the door for you to become a high-end forensic detective.
Forensic accounting is the practice of utilizing accounting auditing and investigative skills to assist in legal matters. Its objective is to obtain an accurate result to establish the accountability for administrative proceedings. There are two ways of looking at this field as it has its own share of pros and cons.
The upside of pursuing a forensic accounting career is that:
* Forensic accountants with accredited degrees are at high demand due to the increasing rates of frauds that take place these days. Hence, forensic work can be a good source of a solid income and high respect which can double up an individual's success of a job application.
* Accounting careers are never exciting. But forensic accounting is an exception, as it opens up to a new world of exciting and marketable great prospects for the coming generation.
* In this field of study, you would also be exposed to all the latest technology and modern equipment. Also, you would be one of the first to try out new computer software's and latest skills.
As all good things have got its downfall, so does this field of study. The cons of studying this subject are:
* Its costly price. The amount that is required to gain in degree alone in this sector could burn a hole in your pocket in an instant.
* Companies with big reputation wouldn't want the public to know of their fraud and theft activities, hence, you could sometimes be a victim of blackmail and such.
* Many forensic accountants appear as expert witnesses during trials in the Courts. To some extent, their lives maybe at risk. This is because the defendants, whom do not want the forensic accountant to expose their illegal act, may try to threaten.
In conclusion, the study of accounting in the forensics department holds its own shares of pros and cons. Whether or not you choose to pursue this study, depends on your outlook on the matter.
About the Author
With the increase in white collar crimes in securities fraud, banking and investment misappropriations, comes the increase demand for forensic accountants with strong knowledge of accounting procedures and financial experience coupled with strong analytic and investigative skills. According to U.S. World and News Report, Forensic
Accounting is one of the most secured job opportunities for the future.