Literature Review
Concept of Forensic Accounting
Forensic accounting is the integration of accounting, auditing and investigative skills (Zysman, 2004). Dhar and
Sarkar (2010) define forensic accounting as the application of accounting concepts and techniques to legal
problems. It demands reporting, where accountability of the fraud is established and the report is considered as
evidence in the court of law or in administrative proceedings.
Degboro and Olofinsola (2007) note that forensic investigation is about the determination and establishment of
fact in support of legal case. That is, to use forensic techniques to detect and investigate a crime is to expose all its
attending features and identify the culprits. In the view of Howard and Sheetz (2006), forensic accounting is the
process of interpreting, summarizing and presenting complex financial issues clearly, succinctly and factually
often in a court of law as an expert. It is concerned with the use of accounting discipline to help determine issues
of facts in business litigation (Okunbor and Obaretin, 2010).
Forensic accounting is a discipline that has its own models and methodologies of investigative procedures that
search for assurance, attestation and advisory perspective to produce legal evidence. It is concerned with the
evidentiary nature of accounting data, and as a practical field concerned with accounting fraud and forensic
auditing; compliance, due diligence and risk assessment; detection of financial misrepresentation and financial
statement fraud (Skousen and Wright, 2008); tax evasion; bankruptcy and valuation studies; violation of
accounting regulation (Dhar and Sarkar, 2010).
Curtis (2008) argues that fraud can be subjected to forensic accounting, since fraud encompasses the acquisition
of property or economic advantage by means of deception, through either a misrepresentation or concealment.
Bhasin (2007) notes that the objectives of forensic accounting include: assessment of damages caused by an
auditor’s negligence, fact finding to see whether an embezzlement has taken place, in what amount, and whether
criminal proceedings are to be initiated; collection of evidence in a criminal proceedings; and computation of
asset values in a divorce proceedings.