Fraud & Forensic Investigations
Misappropriation of funds. Misstatement of accounts. Employee dishonesty. Losses arising from director and officer misrepresentations.
Regardless of the circumstances, the reputational risk associated with fraud can be more impactful than the actual financial loss. Baker Tilly’s highly credentialed forensic investigators help clients uncover issues, determine the root cause, and strengthen internal controls.
Overview
Organizations and counsels facing suspected fraud or other financial misconduct need the same thing: a complete understanding of the facts. When companies find themselves in an overt or potentially adversarial situation, Baker Tilly’s Fraud & Forensic Investigations team is the comprehensive partner they turn to for guidance.
Our team of highly skilled forensic accountants and investigators has broad experience reviewing and then triaging allegations of fraud and then developing a thorough work plan. We are supported by forensic technologists who are adept at extracting and examining large amounts of data. Our multidisciplinary team includes former government professionals with significant experience in forensic accounting investigations. Collectively, we integrate information and data from multiple sources to create a picture of what’s transpired.
Location, size, and scale are on our side, but we’re also nimble enough to mobilize quickly. We have experience appropriately preserving and then following electronic evidence trails and the practical knowledge to distill the salient facts into effective presentations of findings to the board, senior management, government regulators, and other stakeholders. Our team’s complementary perspectives allow us to provide the full suite of investigatory services, from analyzing whistleblower allegations to witness interviews, to testifying in court or in front of a regulator. We also offer tremendous breadth through our:
- Geographic reach – through our firms global network, we have members in 147 territories providing highly skilled abilities, with centers of excellence in strategic locations
- Industry experience – leveraging Baker Tilly’s knowledge of a diverse set of industries, including but not limited to manufacturing, healthcare, life sciences, high-tech, real estate, utilities, and financial services
- Service offerings include FCPA investigatory and compliance assessment services, anti-money laundering matters, court-appointed monitorships, assistance with restatement issues, and economic damages calculations.
Global investigation services
Baker Tilly provides fraud and forensic investigative and compliance services for all types of organizations with alleged or suspected fraud, misconduct, or other improprieties.
Our credentialed engagement teams combine deep industry experience with fraud and forensic accounting expertise to help clients mitigate the risks, costs and effects of fraud, abuse and corruption.
- Audit committee or special committee investigations, including Section 10A
- Asset tracing
- Board advisory services
- Corporate internal investigations, including cross-border investigations
- Compliance program assessments, design and validation
- Continuous monitoring and auditing
- Customized training
- Data analytic services, including continuous audit and monitoring using robotic process automation (RPA) and machine learning, when possible
- Development of crisis management plans that includes response and management of the event
- e-Discovery services - we are able to extract and then analyze data from around the globe)
- Economic damage and lost profit calculations
- Expert witness and litigation services
- Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and UK Bribery Act (UKBA) or anti-bribery investigations, program reviews, and audits
- Forensic accounting
- Fraud risk management, fraud risk assessments and other anti-fraud services
- Independent monitoring services
- Internal control evaluation, design, and remediation
- Mediation and arbitration
- Merger and acquisition due diligence
- Monitoring, deferred prosecution agreement support, and assistance with other regulatory matters
- Policy reviews, design and harmonization
- Regulatory assistance (SEC, DOJ, FINRA, OCC, etc.)
- Root cause analysis
- Third-party risk management and audits
- Whistleblower and Qui Tam investigations
Solving clients’ unique problems and navigating uncertainty
Our clients face threats daily that come from global corruption, fraud committed from within their organizations, and fraud perpetrated by external parties. As a leader in forensic investigations, we understand the risks of operating in a global business environment. We help our clients address allegations of financial fraud, respond to and investigate whistleblower complaints, respond to requests from government regulators, and present the facts of our investigations – we’re there to provide support until complete resolution of the issue.
The magnitude and outcome of a forensic investigation are always uncertain at the start. Our team knows what to ask for, we understand systems and processes, and we are skilled at devising strategy to gather and evaluate data from multiple sources and synthesizing our learnings to establish a clear point of view. We pride ourselves on taking complex concepts and boiling them down to something very approachable. Clients appreciate our ability to clearly communicate what, how, and why it happened.
Preventing and detecting fraud
Companies look to us to design anti-fraud programs and controls, perform anti-bribery and anti-corruption compliance assessments, and perform proactive fraud examinations to identify possible red flags or indicators of fraudulent activity. In addition, our experience conducting fraud investigations allows us to advise on measures to prevent fraud from occurring and detect issues before they expand.
Correcting deficiencies, addressing gaps in controls, and remediation of specific issues is vital at the end of every investigation to prevent the same or similar frauds from reoccurring. We address these essential client needs at the end of our investigations and can implement remedial actions.
Trusted advisors
Organizations want advisors they can trust to assist them through their most sensitive business issues. Clients count on us because we combine our deep financial acumen with a collaborative approach to addressing their most urgent needs. We are present at the table with our clients alongside government regulators in high-stakes “bet-the-company” matters to provide objective, fact-based findings on very sensitive investigation matters. We have built a strong reputation for supporting our clients from identifying their issues through resolution.
Learn how Baker Tilly helped a government agency discreetly perform inquiries and testing of the CFO’s financial transactions to explore for potentially fraudulent or imprudent transactions.