When your company is facing legal challenges involving white-collar crimes, our forensic accounting lawyer is ready to help. We understand how to investigate and discover the truth when you suspect an employee of embezzlement or another type of fraud. We know that fraud can cost companies significant money, especially when it takes place over a long period of time, which is often the case when it comes to employee embezzlement.
Employee theft against employers happens more often than most business owners would like to believe. At Birk Law Firm, we take these situations very seriously. Our forensic accounting lawyer has the legal and financial experience required to help your company navigate this difficult situation as successfully as possible.
We do not back down when facing tough situations while representing you. Contact our forensic accounting attorney to discuss your case. Call us at 573-332-8585 to learn how we can help you.
How Our Forensic Accounting Attorney in Cape Girardeau Can Assist Your Business
Embezzlement and other fraud committed by employees is a sensitive issue. Here you have trusted an employee with your accounting books and company funds only to suspect that the individual has been skimming off the top, falsifying checks, altering vendor documents or even making up vendors to pay themselves.
However, suspecting embezzlement or fraud is happening and proving it are two different things.
Unless the employee you suspect confesses, which probably is not likely, or you catch them in the act, you will have to carefully examine all of your accounting documents to identify the fraud. This is a complex task that requires strong investigative and accounting skills to be successful.
Our forensic accounting attorney in Cape Girardeau focuses in helping companies investigate and prove employee fraud to hold guilty parties accountable. Our attorney can perform an audit of your business’s financial records to discover when and how the fraud occurred and how much money was involved. This evidence can be used in a civil action and/or criminal case against the guilty party.
Why You Should Select Birk Law Firm as Your Embezzlement Audit Lawyer
When your company needs a forensic accounting audit and investigation performed because you suspect fraud, turn to Kelvin Birk of Birk Law Firm for help. With more than five decades of combined experience as both a lawyer and a Certified Public Accountant, he has in-depth understanding of the law and the business and financial acumen necessary to decipher embezzlement or other fraud in the accounting books.
If you suspect fraud or other white-collar crimes are occurring at your business, do not wait to get help. The sooner the investigation begins, the sooner we can discover whether and how fraud is occurring, how much money your business has lost, and stop it from continuing and potentially help you recover your money. To discuss your situation, contact us today at 573-332-8585.
Understanding a Forensic Accounting Audit and Investigation in Missouri
Employee fraud and embezzlement cost businesses a lot of money and have even driven some small businesses into bankruptcy. In addition to the financial impacts, financial fraud and embezzlement are serious crimes. State law treats the crime of embezzlement similarly to how it treats offenses of stealing, as defined in Missouri statute 570.030. If the embezzlement involves forgery, Missouri statute 570.090 may also apply. People who commit these crimes may be guilty of misdemeanors, felonies, or multiple counts involving both types of charges.
The evidence that our forensic accounting audit and investigation gathers can help you in a lawsuit against the employee who stole from you, as well as assisting in a possible criminal prosecution.
Ultimately, to prove any type of embezzlement or fraud, your company, or a prosecutor if criminal charges are brought, will need to be able to show through accounting records that theft occurred. Our forensic accounting lawyer can carefully examine all the documentation involved as well as carry out interviews with the suspect and any possible witnesses to discover the facts. In some cases, interviews between forensic accountants performing audits and suspects even result in confessions.
Once the forensic accounting audit is complete, we will walk you through the facts of the forensic accounting audit so that you clearly understand what happened. We can even recommend solutions that may help you stop possible employee fraud in the future.
A Forensic Accounting Audit and Investigation May Also Unearth Business Partner Fraud
It is not only employees of businesses who may commit fraud and embezzlement. Sometimes the illicit activities of company owners may come to light through forensic accounting audits and investigations. If you suspect a business partner of stealing money or otherwise committing fraud against you and other partners, our business lawyer who has deep insight into business partnerships can help here, too. Reach out for assistance today.
Trust Our Forensic Accounting Lawyer to Discover the Truth
Forensic accounting to determine fraud requires strong analytical, investigative, interviewing, financial and accounting prowess. A forensic accountant who is also a lawyer brings all of those skills, as well as the ability to counsel clients about possible legal remedies in their case. If you believe an employee or former employee has stolen from your business, you can trust our forensic accounting lawyer to work hard to learn the truth.
Some of the biggest cases involving fraud and embezzlement in the past couple of decades were the first that required the use of forensic accounting principles, such as the Ponzi scheme involving Bernie Madoff.
What Does a Forensic Accountant Do?
This type of accountant often will be a Certified Public Accountant who has the ability to understand the legalities involved with fraud charges. The accountant will use accounting skills to uncover evidence for the bringing of civil litigation or criminal charges. They may act as an expert witness in court trials. The accountant may also seek evidence for defense of a client against the same items. According to the American Bar Association, forensic accounting can involve:
- Applying scientific techniques to investigate a legal issue related to finances
- Studying matters of compliance that relate to financial matters
- Determining the valuation of a business
- Working with the unique accounting methods for different types of organizations, including publicly traded businesses, privately owned businesses, nonprofits, and public entities
- Searching for facts in financial cases ranging from misappropriation of funds to contract disputes to bankruptcy filings
- Performing risk assessments for businesses and charities to determine the possibility that fraudulent activities are occurring.
Delivering the facts in these areas requires extensive knowledge in both accounting and legal matters, as well as skill involved with investigative methods. Through the collection, analysis, and evaluation of the facts in the case, the forensic accountant is able to provide information that may lead to charges and/or provide evidence for recovery in a civil lawsuit.
We Will Assist You in Investigating Any Kind of White-Collar Crime, Including Accounting-Related Crimes
Many law firms work with forensic accountants to investigate fraud against businesses. However, the attorneys themselves are not forensic accountants. This makes our forensic accounting lawyer unique, because he has the special skills needed to investigate the books of businesses and identify when and how fraud occurred, as well as being able to provide legal guidance about options for holding people accused of fraud accountable. You can rely on Kelvin Birk’s training as both an attorney and a CPA to deliver the best possible outcome for your company in recovering lost money.
Other types of white-collar crimes that our law firm can help with include the following:
- Money laundering
- Bank fraud
- Internet crimes
- Check fraud
- Breach of contract
- Mismanagement of funds
- Fraudulent management of a nonprofit organization
- Tax fraud
- Insurance fraud
- Social Security fraud.
We Will Study the Facts to Determine Exactly What Happened in Your Case
When you suspect someone of embezzling money or committing another accounting-related crime, you need to be able to understand your company’s financial records to discover how the crime happened. But people who commit embezzlement and fraud are often very experienced at covering up their tracks, which is where our forensic accounting attorney in Cape Girdeau and his team of legal and accounting professionals is ready to help.
We can decipher the numbers in the accounting books, and we can use these facts to identify how the embezzlement or other financial fraud happened. Don’t wait. Reach out today when you need help. Call our law firm at 573-332-8585.
Our Forensic Accounting Lawyer Will Always Treat You With the Respect You Deserve
Sometimes business owners may feel embarrassed for placing trust in employees who turn around and commit fraud against them. In some cases, they would rather sweep the theft under the rug rather than admit that they were taken in. However, people who set out to steal money and deceive others are often very good at what they do, including conning others into believing they are honest and trustworthy individuals.
Our forensic accounting attorney in Cape Girardeau understands these feelings and that it can sometimes be hard for business leaders to open up their books to scrutiny. We believe strongly in ensuring that our clients receive the professional level of representation that they deserve and will work with you with the utmost courtesy and respect. We are here to help you identify how fraud happened and recoup the money that you lost. We will work hard on behalf of your business interests from the start of the case until the conclusion.
Call Birk Law Firm as soon as possible at 573-332-8585 to discuss your situation. We will be ready to begin investigating your case immediately after you choose to hire us.
ALL YOUR LEGAL NEEDS
Why Choose Birk Law?
Birk Law Firm is a small firm by choice that is big on client services. Attorney Kelvin Birk and his team are responsive to their clients’ needs. When we sign on as your law firm, you can count on us for strong legal counsel, from negotiations to settlement to trial.
Our clients benefit from the intertwining of Kelvin Birk’s legal and CPA background and experience. We provide well-rounded advice to solve both legal and financial issues and to come up with creative solutions. We use modern technology to deliver legal services in a more efficient and client-focused manner than was previously possible.
We provide personalized and compassionate service. We believe that each client’s matter is the most important matter in the world to them, and we strive to treat it that way.