Nearly every lawsuit has a financial component to it. In many cases, the issues surrounding the numbers have high stakes. Cases involving securities fraud, money laundering, tax fraud, investment fraud, and Ponzi schemes rely on an accurate tabulation and evaluation […]

We’ve all seen it before: A spouse owns and operates one or more businesses. Divorce is filed, and the “out” spouse is told that the businesses have little or no value. Further, there is no income available to pay support, […]

When a divorce is pending, it is not uncommon for one of the parties to manipulate the finances. Tracy discusses some common items that can be manipulated such as salary, selling assets to related parties, and more.

Tracy Coenen talks about the lifestyle analysis in divorce cases: what it is, and the basic uses for it.

It’s fun to talk about myths related to fraud investigations and forensic accounting. People get wrong ideas about what I do for a living, so let’s set the record straight on a few of the myths: Any accountant can do […]

Forensic accountants and Certified Divorce Financial Analysts often use Quicken personal financial software to complete the lifestyle analysis in divorce cases. Unfortunately, Quicken is not the best option for accurately and thoroughly analyzing a couple’s finances before and during divorce. […]

Attorney Miles Mason talks about qualifying someone as an expert witness. How does he demonstrate an accountant’s training, experience, and credentials so that the court will permit him or her to testify as an expert?

One of the common defenses of multi-level marketing is that it is a legitimate business method that has been around for a long time. I’ve also been told that if it was illegal, it would have been shut down. Some […]

In divorce cases, forensic accountants can use the “net worth method of proof” to calculate income. This is used to search for hidden or unreported income. Rather than simply taking a spouse’s word for it that his or her income […]

Closely-held businesses often create problems in divorces, as they need to be valued for the property division and the income needs to be evaluated for support purposes. It can be difficult to examine the income of a business that transacts […]