Forensic Accounting

Forensic engagements start the same way: something does not add up, and it matters legally or financially who is right. A director suspects an employee; partners dispute what a business earned; money has left and nobody will say where; an insurer, court or liquidator needs a loss quantified. What these need is not an audit — it is investigation: following transactions wherever they lead, reconstructing what records were designed to obscure, and documenting every step so the conclusion holds up under challenge.

Acumon's forensic team does that work: investigating suspected fraud, tracing funds and assets through accounts and entities, quantifying losses and earnings for disputes, and presenting findings so lawyers, courts and insurers can use them.

Fraud Investigation

When fraud is suspected, the first hours matter: evidence preserved before it is deleted, access controlled without alerting the subject, and the investigation scoped so it neither misses the scheme nor burns the budget proving what is already known. We investigate employee and management fraud — false invoicing, payroll schemes, supplier collusion, expense abuse, unauthorised payments — establishing what happened, how long, how much, and who knew. Findings are documented to support whatever follows: dismissal, civil recovery, insurance claims or criminal referral, each of which has different evidential needs we plan for from the start.

Asset and Funds Tracing

Money that leaves improperly rarely sits still — it moves through accounts, entities, property and family members, each hop adding deniability. Tracing is reconstruction: following the flows through bank records, ledgers and public registers, mapping the entities and connected parties, and producing the schedules that let lawyers attach freezing orders and recovery claims to specific assets. We work to litigation timetables and alongside solicitors, including in support of insolvency practitioners pursuing antecedent transactions.

Disputes and Quantification

Commercial and shareholder disputes usually reduce to a number someone must establish credibly: lost profits from a breach, the true earnings behind a partnership split or matrimonial dispute, the value diverted through director misconduct, or a business interruption loss for insurers. We build quantifications from evidence with assumptions stated and defensible — the analysis that persuades precisely because it concedes what it cannot prove. Where formal expert evidence is required, our expert witness capability sits alongside; where our valuations team is needed, it is in the same building.

Discretion and What Happens Next

Forensic work is conducted quietly: investigations structured so businesses keep operating, confidentiality preserved, and communication through a small circle — often via solicitors so privilege attaches properly. And because Acumon is a full-service firm, the aftermath is handled too: controls rebuilt so the scheme cannot repeat (our anti-fraud specialists' territory), tax and VAT consequences of losses and recoveries resolved, and accounts corrected where the fraud distorted them.

What You Get With Acumon

• Fraud investigations scoped, evidenced and quantified discreetly
• Early evidence preservation before subjects are alerted
• Asset and funds tracing through accounts, entities and registers
• Schedules built for freezing orders and civil recovery claims
• Loss and earnings quantification for disputes and insurance claims
• Support for insolvency practitioners on antecedent transactions
• Work structured with solicitors so privilege attaches where possible
• Post-investigation controls rebuilt by in-house anti-fraud specialists

Why Acumon for Forensic Accounting?

• Team of 70 audit professionals, more than half from leading international accounting firms
• Anti-fraud, forensic audit and valuations specialists in the same firm
• Full-service firm: tax, VAT and accounting consequences of fraud handled in-house
• Partner-led and discreet, with engagements structured alongside solicitors

Get a Fixed-Fee Quote

Tell us what you need and we'll come back within one business day with a clear scope and a fixed price — no hourly-rate surprises. Call 020 8567 3451 or use the form and we'll be in touch.