Forensic Specialists

Forensic Accounting and Investigations
Expert Witness and Litigation Support
Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)
Contentious Valuations

Forensic Accounting and Investigations

Owner managers of smaller managed entities often rely upon the trust of their employees and on informal controls to safeguard business assets. But a weak control environment presents the greatest opportunity for ‘insider fraud’. Our specialists have expertise in undertaking controls reviews specifically with a view to making recommendations aimed at mitigating the risk of fraud.

If you or your business becomes a victim of fraud, we can help investigate the causes by reviewing accounting records and interviewing people with knowledge of the transactions concerned. We have considerable expertise at reconstructing accounting records to show an accurate picture of an entity’s financial affairs, including analysing bank and asset records and tracing the flow of funds. Our reports will help identify evidence for you to present to solicitors and the courts and can help in estimating amounts lost for recovery purposes.

We can provide support as you manage the effect on staff morale and the external publicity, and we can work with you and your lawyers as prosecutions and recovery actions progress.

Expert Witness and Litigation Support

Financial disputes between parties are rare. Rarer still are those which come to trial, or before a tribunal. But helping to resolve such disputes, whether as an expert or through litigation support, requires a rigorous approach from finance people used to court and tribunal processes.

If you or your legal advisers are seeking expert assistance or support from an accountancy, quantum or financial expert, we have an experienced team of advisers who can help. Members of our team have been appointed as experts in cases, have produced expert reports and have given oral evidence. Our people have undertaken a large range of UK and international work, from personal injury and matrimonial cases to contract disputes and contentious valuation matters.

We are used to working with clients, lawyers and other experts to help resolve disputes. We handle cases both large and small, and whether we are acting in a support role or as expert your principal adviser will stay closely involved throughout the case. Good reputations built over many years can be lost due to an expert’s performance on a single case. That is why we stay within our area of expertise and will keep you appraised of both the strengths and the weaknesses of the accountancy and financial aspects of your case.

Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)

Increasingly parties to a dispute are choosing to resolve their differences outside formal court processes. Many contracts now include an arbitration clause. Sale and purchase agreements frequently make provision for an expert accountant to be appointed to determine disputed items in completion accounts. Even in respect of cases before the courts, judges often require parties to go through mediation first.

Harwood Hutton can help you resolve your dispute whether you wish to mediate, arbitrate or use an expert to determine a dispute. Our people have helped clients prepare for mediation, worked on cases before arbitral tribunals, helped clients investigate disputed amounts in completion accounts and undertaken expert determination work. One of our partners is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.

ADR is an evolving area. Our flexible approach means we can adapt our expertise to the specific requirements of your ADR case.

Contentious Valuations

The use of valuation techniques to help resolve disputes is becoming increasingly important. It may be that you simply cannot agree on the price at which you are going to buy or sell your business. Alternatively, matters may be more acrimonious and you need an expert report covering value to present before a court or a tribunal.

Whatever the circumstances, Harwood Hutton has extensive experience of providing clients and their advisors with business valuations. We ensure the advice given is proportionate to the circumstances of the case. We will consider your business’ future prospects at the time of the dispute and, where available, we will make use of contemporaneous budgets and cash flow forecasts. We will access comparable company data when considering price/earnings multiples that might have applied.

Care in researching data from your business and from comparable businesses at the appropriate time is an important element of our contentious valuation work and underpins the expert reports we produce.