forensic audit
Legal accounting examination
A forensic audit is a detailed examination of financial records to detect fraud, embezzlement, or other irregularities, typically for use in legal proceedings.
Unlike routine audits that verify accuracy, forensic audits dig for evidence of wrongdoing: The forensic audit uncovered years of falsified expense reports.
The findings often support litigation or criminal prosecution.
- Ponzi schemeFraudulent returns from newcomers
- shell companiesLegally registered but inactive businesses
- white collar crimeNonviolent financial wrongdoing
- follow the moneyInvestigate by tracking payments
- risk assessmentEvaluating likelihood of harm
subpoena · internal controls · expert witness · whistleblower · kickbacks · chain of custody · data mining · digital forensics · smoking gun · criminal prosecution · collusion · deposition · fraud detection · skimming · litigation · due diligence · paper trail · evidence
- investigationsinvestigation report, investigation, review, FBI investigation, probe
- audits
- auditingauditor, auditors, internal control, materiality, internal controls
- due diligencedue diligence, legal review, vetting, legal analysis, data room
- fraud investigationfraud detection, financial fraud, fraudulent schemes, embezzler, evidence collection
- Security Auditspenetration test, code review, policy review, gap analysis, checklist
forensic auditcover-up
Hiding wrongdoing from public
concealment · financial fraud · cooking the books · money laundering · embezzlement