Week 4 - The Australian Legal System and Jurisdiction

AYB115 Week 4

The profession of forensic accounting involves activities of:

 Investigation of frauds - thorough investigation and calculation of the impact on the business and therefore suggesting the arrest of the culprit for a criminal suit. Today, in the IT environment, where users' profiles are very similar and access controls are somehow lacking, this becomes critical. A general problem in forensic identification arises when a suspect is observed to have a particular rare trait, or combination of traits, also known to be possessed by the criminal (Balding and Donnelly, 1995).

 Legal disputes and/or arbitration

 Preparation and submission of expert reports

 Supporting of Judges in subjects relating to accounting

 Verification of accounting records

 Supporting in due diligence.

In essence, I'd like to draw my experience of studying law that as an evolutionary field, what I have learnt is the profession requires infinite of changing. For example back in the 18th and 19th century there was no legislation in regards to binding electronic contracts. However, now in the 21st century we have electrical signatures that allows contracts to be binding, and for such act to be legalised, this required constant development in the field of law. 

As this is also required in a profession of forensic accounting. We live in a society where technology innovation is constantly occurring. As such a crucial profession that mainly investigates fraud, it is essential that the profession acts similarly to the Law and continues to develop and control fraudulent acts from individuals and large corporations. The constant development will help the profession to 'keep up' with our innovative society.

Reference:

Balding, D. J. and Donnelly, P. (1995), Inference in Forensic Identification. Journal of Royal Statistical Society, 158 Part1, pp. 21-53