Fraud & Forensic Accounting – From Investigation to Expert Testimony

A forensic accountant investigates financial records to quantify losses, trace transactions, or identify irregularities. Assignments commonly involve suspected fraud, employee theft, insurance claims, commercial disputes and litigation matters, where objective financial analysis is needed to understand what occurred and quantify the resulting impact.

The work differs from a routine audit. An audit tests whether financial statements are fairly presented overall. Forensic accountants start with one specific concern — such as missing inventory or an unexplained pattern of payments — and follow the evidence from there. Our lead partners pair the CPA designation with forensic credentials: Certified in Financial Forensics (CFF), Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE), and the Diploma in Investigative and Forensic Accounting (DIFA).

Yes. A forensic accountant may prepare expert reports and provide independent testimony relating to financial losses, damage quantification, fraud investigations, insurance claims and other accounting matters. This work starts well before the witness stand: building a report clear enough that a judge, jury or arbitrator without an accounting background can follow the analysis, and thorough enough that it holds up when the opposing side's own expert reviews it.

Davis Martindale's accounting expert witnesses provide independent, evidence-based financial analysis and testimony in negotiation, arbitration or court proceedings. Being cross-examined on a report is part of the job, so our findings are built from the start to survive that scrutiny rather than assembled after the fact. The earlier a forensic accountant is involved in a matter headed toward testimony, the stronger the report tends to be.

Picture a commercial dispute heading to trial, where both sides disagree sharply on what a loss is worth. An accounting expert witness is the person who steps in to provide independent, evidence-based financial analysis and testimony in negotiation, arbitration or court proceedings. This work often includes quantifying economic damages, analyzing financial records, preparing expert reports and responding to opposing expert opinions to help decision-makers evaluate the financial issues in dispute.

Before any testimony happens, most of the work is in the report itself: gathering the relevant records, building a defensible calculation, and writing the analysis so a judge, jury or arbitrator without a financial background can follow it. Davis Martindale's accounting expert witnesses work across insurance claims, personal injury litigation, commercial disputes and fraud matters.

A financial motivation or arson investigation examines a business's financial position, records and history to find indicators that a loss — most often a fire — may have been financially motivated rather than accidental, alongside quantifying the extra expense and losses associated with it. This typically involves reviewing the business's financial statements, cash flow and profitability trends leading up to the loss, along with insurance history and any other financial pressures that could point toward a motive.

Financial indicators alone do not prove intent, but they can support or undercut what the physical evidence suggests. A business showing declining revenue, mounting debt or a recent spike in its insurance coverage just before a loss is the kind of pattern this analysis is built to surface. Davis Martindale's forensic accounting team conducts these investigations independently for insurers and legal counsel, delivering a finding either way rather than one shaped by what anyone expected going in.

A forensic investigation typically starts with scoping the concern: understanding what's suspected, which records and time periods are relevant, and what the client needs from the outcome. From there, our forensic accounting team examines the financial records, transactions and other evidence relevant to the matter, tracing transactions and testing whether what's recorded matches what happened. Where irregularities are found, the next step is quantifying the potential loss and documenting how we arrived at that figure, so the analysis can withstand scrutiny if the matter proceeds further.

A suspected employee dishonesty case that starts as a commercial insurance claim often ends up here for exactly this reason — see our Commercial Insurance Claims page for how that claim typically begins. Throughout the process, we work independently of the outcome either party is hoping for.