With a virtual media cottage industry blooming on the corpse of bankrupt Enron and its complicated array of alleged financial shenanigans, could it be just a matter of time before some television executive plots a new drama starring … forensic accountants?

You can almost hear the pitch now: “It’s like Quincy, only with balance sheets instead of cadavers!”

OK, maybe you won’t see droves of shows portraying financial detectives wooing beautiful women aboard a boat à la the opening montage from the ’70s NBC hit about a medical examiner named Quincy, starring Jack Klugman.

But forensic accountants are becoming the rising stars of their profession as more and more companies seek to avoid becoming the next Enron.

Like detectives in green eye shades, forensic accountants bring a healthy dose of suspicion to their jobs, along with a willingness to look beyond normal channels to get to the bottom of a situation. Forensic accountants might have to do everything from sorting through computer files to detecting falsified records. In short, anything that can help detect financial wrongdoing.

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Allegedly of course! Despite our best wishes for a forensic accountants to be fraud-busting crusaders that pursue truth, justice and all that crap, this corner of the profession is not immune from shiesty characters.

Lewis Freeman, “Miami’s go-to forensic accountant”, has been charged with embezzling $2.6 million from his clients. The Miami Herald is reporting that Lew has pleaded not guilty but is planning to change his plea to guilty “within a few weeks” while his attorneys try to negotiate a lighter sentence. The Herald also reports that two other employees of his firm, including the CFO, will be charged as co-conspirators in the case.

When you think about it, this really exposes Freeman as not being a very smart guy, just smarter than the people he was ripping off. As criminal mastermind Sam Antar told us in an email, “Lewis Freeman may have been considered ‘Miami’s go-to forensic accountant’ but he was not a very bright guy. He simply took old money from his client’s trust accounts and replenished it with new money. As a forensic accountant, he should have known that ultimately such Ponzi schemes end up collapsing over time.”

Despite this, Freeman was able to carry on the scheme for approximately a decade, swindling up to 250 victims.

Wondering what this latest development meant in terms of fraud involving forensic accountants, Sam told us, “Forensic accountants turned white collar criminals present a real challenge for law enforcement, since they (excluding Lewis Freeman) are far more sophisticated in their knowledge of anti-fraud measures and are more innovative in exploiting weaknesses in internal controls than the common white collar criminal.”

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What is a Forensic Accountant?

Forensic accounting encompasses three main areas: litigation support, investigation, and dispute resolution. Litigation support represents the factual presentation of economic issues related to existing or pending litigation. In this capacity, the forensic accounting professional quantifies damages sustained by parties involved in legal disputes and can assist in resolving disputes, even before they reach the courtroom. If a dispute reaches the courtroom, the forensic accountant may testify as an expert witness.

Investigation is the act of determining whether criminal matters such as employee theft, securities fraud (including falsification of financial statements), identity theft, and insurance fraud have occurred. As part of the forensic accountant’s work, he or she may recommend actions that can be taken to minimize future risk of loss. Investigation may also occur in civil matters. For example, the forensic accountant may search for hidden assets in divorce cases.

Forensic accounting involves looking beyond the numbers and grasping the substance of situations. It’s more than simple accounting, and more than basic detective work. Because of its unique elements, it is a combination that will be in demand for as long as human nature exists. Who wouldn’t want a career that offers such stability, excitement, and financial rewards?

Becoming a Forensic Accountant

The first step toward becoming a Forensic Accountant is taken by earning a Bachelor’s degree in accounting. This is a standard four-year degree available at most colleges and universities, and many now offer this degree as a distance learning option online.

Next, you must prepare for and sit for the Certified Public Accountant exam to become a CPA. There are also online prep courses available to help you easily pass your CPA exam.

Once you’ve earned your Bachelors in Accounting and passed the CPA exam, you can begin practicing as a Forensic Accountant. However, to have the best foothold in the field (as well as the best salary) you might also consider graduate school. A Masters Degree in Forensic Accounting is now available, both as a traditional Masters degree and also as a Masters of Business Administration with a focus in Forensic Accounting. Earning a graduate degree serves dual purposes-it further trains you for work in the field, and also helps to fulfill the continuing education requirements that are needed to maintain your CPA status.

You will find that additional coursework in areas like law enforcement and criminal justice is usually required, and some legal training is helpful. Additionally, you may want to pursue an accreditation as a certified fraud examiner (CFE) from the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners. This is a nationally recognized accreditation similar to the CPA designation.

Last but not least, you also may want to pursue the Certified Forensic Accountant (CrFA) accreditation. While this may seem on the surface like a slam-dunk, in actuality this is a fairly new certification and not every Forensic Accountant has it. As the industry continues to evolve, however, it may well become the standard.

Forensic Accountant Career Outlook and Salary

Forensic Accountants work in most major accounting firms and are needed for investigating mergers and acquisitions, and in tax investigations, economic crime investigations, all kinds of civil litigation support, specialized audits, and even in terrorist investigations. Forensic Accountants work throughout the business world, in public accounting, corporations, and in all branches of government. Forensic Accounting firms are everywhere.

If you do an Internet search, you’ll find article after article worrying that the demand for Forensic Accountants far outstrips the current supply. This translates into an anticipated growth in this field of nearly 25% over the next ten years! You would be hard pressed to find a more stable and in-demand career.

You will most likely start out earning between $30,000 and $40,000 a year, according the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But after just a few years of experience in the field, you can easily earn $70,000 to $80,000 a year. At the highest levels, particularly in the private sector, forensic accountants can command $125,000 to $150,000 annually.

Forensic accountants are professionals who use a unique blend of education and experience to apply accounting, auditing, and investigative skills to uncover truth, form legal opinions, and assist in investigations. If this sounds like you, consider a career in Forensic Accounting-you won’t regret it!

One of the most common purposes for using a forensic accountant is when you need to decide about funds from a divorce. In many cases, these people can be used to determine just how much a person’s lifestyle should cost, so that the court can assess a certain amount of money in support. In this case, they take a realistic look at how a person lives by breaking down all of their spending. Many times, this is the way that messy divorces end up getting settled, since the two parties cannot come to an accord on just what is needed. Forensic accountants are taken very seriously by the courts, and they can even be used to break down the money side of certain crimes.

A forensic accountant can be used in that case to dictate on fraud or something of the like. In cases where money is involved and there is some question over what has been spent, they bring in the experts. These individuals are not just regular accountants, either. They do much more than just look at numbers and spending on a spreadsheet. In addition to being able to count well, they also understand financial reporting systems and the latest investigative measures, too. All of that knowledge is mixed together in order to take action when the time comes and when there is a need to get to the bottom of a difficult situation.

Using a forensic accountant can be a really good way to make sure that things get handled professionally and quickly. By choosing the service right out of the gate, you can save a lot of time that might have been wasted by fighting over the financial details of a certain situation.

At BTG Forensic , a member of the Begbies Traynor Group. They specialise in forensic accounting, financial investigation and valuation expertise, providing skilled, timely and cost-effective input into dispute issues for businesses and individuals. Forensic accountants at BTG Forensic work closely with lawyers, insurers, regulatory authorities and corporate entities, including the Recovery and Turnaround clients of their insolvency practice, Begbies Traynor. BTG Forensic team operates from offices in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, London, Manchester and Plymouth, with back-up support provided by Begbies Traynor Group offices throughout the United Kingdom.

Veriti Consulting offers an extensive range of expertise and more than 35 years combined experience in the profession. The staff includes Certified Public Accountants, Certified Fraud Examiners, and individuals credentialed in every major designation in the business valuation field. The professionals have testified in court as expert witnesses and have acted as consulting experts on a large number of litigation cases. Industry experience includes all major industry segments, from retail, wholesale, manufacturing, distribution, casino/gaming, professional services and others.