Forensic Accounting

When a problem involves facts that require discovery and interpretation of commercial issues, a forensic accountant will cut through to the relevant issues to provide commercial options, recommendations and expert financial opinions.

Ferrier Hodgson MH is the forensic accounting arm of Baker Tilly Monteiro Heng. Ferrier Hodgson is the most widely recognised and highly respected provider of forensic accounting services in the Asia Pacific region. Clients choose Ferrier Hodgson MH because our pragmatic, outcome-driven approach gets results – often within a complex and confidential environment that requires perseverance, discretion and sensitivity.

Our strength is our people. We identify, attract and retain some of the best people in the industry, offering our clients exceptional skills and experience across a range of industries. This enables us to handpick and tailor an expert team to meet unique challenges. These expert teams are led by a hands-on principal who is involved in every stage of the project, from setting the strategy to ensuring quality results.

Ferrier Hodgson MH has extensive resources throughout Asia Pacific and our partnerships with leading firms in the United States and Europe allows us to combine global expertise with local knowledge. Ferrier Hodgson’s offices in Indonesia, Japan, Hong Kong, Philippines, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand enable us to combine our own experts with specialist industry and company experts from within the region.

Ferrier Hodgson MH has significant resources that can be seamlessly deployed locally and internationally to:

• Identify the financial issues and strategic objectives of a client
• Build confidence between stakeholders
• Recognise mutual concerns
• Provide assurance in the process
• Effectively implement an agreed strategy

A commitment to be the best in Forensics and Investigation means our clients receive the professional service and leadership crucial to achieving optimum financial outcomes.

Our Services

Ferrier Hodgson MH offers the resources and capability to tailor a solution around any client situation, from putting together a large team of forensic specialists at short notice to deploying a smaller, discreet team of fraud risk specialists adept at handling confidential assignments. Our work is always pragmatic, cost effective and client focused.

The Ferrier Hodgson MH Forensics team provides:

• Litigation support (as consultant and expert witness)
• Valuation of businesses and equity
• Due diligence
• Assessment of loss, damages and liability
• Financial and fraud investigations
• Accounting, financial and commercial analysis

Engaging a Forensic Accountant

Engaging a forensic accountant when a problem first arises saves time and money by:

• Reducing the volume of unnecessary information and bringing only relevant transactions to the client’s attention
• Collating the right evidence before it is lost or corrupted
• Assisting with the analysis of evidence, strategy, discovery and interrogatories
• Analysing the commercial aspects of the dispute

For a litigation support or consulting assignment, the right forensic accountant must have the skills, experience and resources to undertake an analysis of the information and produce the evidence required. This involves:

• A thorough understanding of the court system and the law relating to evidence
• Recognition of an expert’s obligations to the court (not submissions dressed up as expert evidence)
• Expertise in the assessment of loss and damages, business valuations, claims, liability, etc
• Report writing and top-level communication skills
• Independence
• A track record in giving evidence “in the box”

For a financial or fraud investigation assignment, the forensic accountant must have the skills, experience and resources to objectively (and discreetly if necessary):

• Quantify the extent and duration of the fraud
• Identify the parties involved
• Collate the evidence using the most up to date software and techniques, having regard to the rules of evidence and admissibility
• Trace and recover misappropriated assets
• Effectively report the results to stakeholders

Ferrier Hodgson MH has the expertise, resources and experience in all aspects of Forensic Accounting.

Litigation Support

This involves examination of relevant evidence in discovery, data analysis, research, application of industry knowledge, reporting and preparing critiques of opposing expert reports.

The roles can be as:

• Consultant – to provide financial and technical expertise to enable legal advice to be given
• Expert Witness – where the expert provides an independent opinion and report with the view to giving evidence at trial

Our experience, qualifications and training enable us to provide sound opinions and reports and be credible independent experts before the court.

We have in-depth knowledge of the legal system and laws relating to experts and evidence, having acted for defendants and plaintiffs in matters including:

• Economic loss quantification
• Claims for business costs
• Contract claims
• Business valuations
• Technical accounting issues – cost accounting, application of standards, etc
• Product liability claims
• Transaction tracing and analysis
• Claims for damages or insurance claims
• Negotiations and settlement discussions
• Critique opposing expert witness report
• Expert testimony at trial

Financial Investigation

Financial Investigation describes the role of investigating financial irregularities in a company, public sector body or other organisation and tracing misappropriated funds and/or assets. In our experience, these investigations must be tailored to the particular circumstance.

We integrate a number of steps in the investigative process including computer forensics, interview techniques, computer assisted data analysis, document management, relationship mapping and funds tracing.

Typical investigations include:

• Expert evidence in insolvent trading proceedings
• Accounts manipulation to inflate profits
• Under-reported income for royalty / licensing returns
• Shareholder and partnership disputes

Fraud Risk Services

Fraud Risk Services describes the preventative fraud initiatives we can assist a company with implementing, such as the drafting of a fraud policy and fraud control and response plans. With recent legislation such as Sarbanes-Oxley and the Basel II Accord, it also forms the basis to becoming compliant.

Utilising FraudInsight™, an innovative methodology for assessing fraud, we can provide senior management with a clear understanding of their specific fraud risks. FraudInsight™ enables controls to be implemented for specific methods of fraud.

Our services include:

• Fraud Risk Management
• Fraud Investigation
• Corporate Intelligence
• Employment Screening
• Anti money-laundering
• Fraud Awareness Training

Forensic IT

Forensic IT describes the application of specialist computer techniques to obtain evidence from computers and to recover data. In undertaking a computer forensic engagement we follow best practice principles and standards of electronic evidence handling as prescribed by the rules of evidence and admissibility.

Our computer forensic specialists possess the education, training and experience to meet legal expectations and challenges as to the credibility of our evidence. We understand that evidence production may occur many months or years in the future, which is why we use detailed record keeping combined with sound and consistent evidence processing practices.

Areas in which we have applied computer forensics include:

• Litigation support
• Law enforcement and regulatory body assistance
• Music piracy
• Intellectual property investigations
• Employee and manager frauds
• IT resource misuse, breach of policy
• Data recovery
• Identity theft
• Extortions where demands are transmitted electronically
• Network intrusions
• Industrial espionage
• Computer surveillance