Corporate Investigations – What Inside and Outside Counsel Need to Know

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Nov. 18, 2013 - PRLog -- (Charlotte, N.C.) – In today’s complex world of business finances, the adage “follow the money“ is not always a simple process, especially when an organization suspects corporate or employee fraud. It requires not just knowledgeable and experienced CPAs and seasoned, savvy attorneys, but a strong and collaborative relationship between them.

To help provide attorneys with the skills and facts to facilitate such a collaboration in order to better serve their clients, the Charlotte-based certified public accounting firm of GreerWalker sponsored an invitation-only seminar on Monday, November 18, at The Ritz-Carlton Charlotte.

“Corporate Investigations – What Inside and Outside Counsel Need to Know” was presented by Andy Barbee, CPA/ABV/CFF, CIRA, director of litigation and forensic services with GreerWalker and Darryl S. Neier, CFE, a partner with New Jersey-based Sobel &Co., LLC. Each has more than 20 years of experience working with attorneys in the areas of detecting, investigating and preventing fraud. Their firms are both members of PKF International, a global network of independent firms providing quality accounting and business advisory services around the world.

In their presentation, the two experts advised attorneys what to do when their clients identify or become aware of potential fraud and explained the impact of U.S. Department of Justice guidelines, plus discussed how to conduct internal interviews and investigations, the type of business records to request, and steps to take to explore other avenues of discovery. “Although fraud assignments are complex and diverse, forensic accounting techniques may be used to establish causation of loss or fraud, uncover hidden assets or fraudulent conveyances, detect fraud or embezzlement, or located documentary evidence,“ says Barbee.

According to the Association of Certified Forensic Examiners, losses to American businesses from corporate and employee fraud run into hundreds of billions of dollars each year. As a result, companies are increasingly turning to forensic accountants for help identifying fraud and determining its extent. These examinations are complicated and require a variety of approaches, but forensic accounting techniques can help establish the causation of loss or fraud, uncover hidden assets or fraudulent conveyances, detect fraud or embezzlement, and locate documentary evidence.

Barbee has spent more than two decades in litigation, business valuation, forensic accounting, fraud investigation, bankruptcy and restructuring. He has a wide array of experience working with counsel and has prepared expert reports on a wide range of issues, including damage calculations, business valuation, shareholder disputes, solvency analysis, fraud investigations, preferential/fraudulent conveyances and viability analysis. He has a bachelor's degree in Business Administration from Florida Atlantic University and a master's of Accounting from Florida International University.

Neier is in charge of Sobel's Forensic Accounting/Litigation Services Group. He has spent 20 years with the Morris County New Jersey Prosecutor’s Office, where he worked on cases involving white-collar crime investigation, money laundering, insurance fraud and computer forensic investigation. At Sobel, he works on domestic and international engagements involving criminal and civil fraud investigations, banks and shareholder disputes, computer forensics, business valuation, fraud vulnerability studies, loss profits calculation, asset recovery, due diligence review and expert witness testimony. He is a faculty member at New York University and Utica College and is a certified instructor with the National White Collar Crime Center. After earning a B.S. in Accounting from William Paterson University, he earned his M.S. in Economic Crime Management from Utica College of Syracuse University.

About GreerWalker

Founded in Charlotte in 1984, GreerWalker provides assurance, accounting, tax and business advisory services to a diversified client base of privately held middle-market companies doing business throughout the Carolinas and around the world. Affiliates include GreerWalker Wealth Management and GreerWalker Corporate Finance. For more information about the firm, call 704-377-0239 or visit http://www.greerwalker.com.