Information is a strength for a company. This is especially true for a company that is on a growing path. There can be many factors that will stop the growth of the company midway. The factors could be within the company or out of it. A company must maintain its reputation and ensure that there is nothing that spoils it. This can be done only if the company has information about all the activities that go on within the company. It must also ensure that there are no disputes with outside entities that will go to spoil the company’s reputation. Such disputes must be immediately solved. For this also the company will want to have all the details about a transaction and prove that the company has not committed any mistake. For all these purposes companies can use forensic investigation services in Singapore provided by various auditing firms.
Various scenarios can warrant the use of investigators in the corporate world. Investigative services have long been in use in many companies. There are financial frauds that occur with increasing frequencies and all these will need an investigation to ensure that the company doesn’t lose its reputation. When you take on a new partner for your company, you must be very careful. Having a new partner may be good on a financial level. But if the partner’s reputation is not good then it could affect your company. If the company earns a bad name then it is almost impossible to get rid of that.
Financial frauds are a major problem faced by many companies. The players can be from within the company or outside it. Sometimes various players from the company and other agencies get together to perform fraudulent activities which set the company back by a huge amount. Frauds can be at a small scale where are manager allows the subordinates to claim expenses which are not allowed by the company. There can also be large-scale fraud involving the transactions from the bank authorized by people at very high levels.
There are cases where the people at the top positions use fraudulent methods for their gains sacrificing the interests of the company. They may accept bribes to enter into contracts and agreements with organizations that are not reputed enough to be having a relationship with the company. A top person could enter into a contract with a company for the supply of raw materials knowing very well that the company is not reputed for supplying quality materials. Sometimes the quality may be good but the company that supplies it may be involved in some illegal activities.
The forensic investigation companies can help in putting in place strong measures to prevent fraud inside the company. They will inspect the existing controls in the company and recommend new ones to make the system protected from fraudulent dealings. They will also assign responsibilities to different people to ensure that the transactions are checked and analyzed regularly to detect any fraud.
Misappropriation can be done in many ways. Sometimes the company is involved as a whole or some elements in the company are involved in it. Companies can be making payments for purchases that have never been made. They could be showing salaries in the books to employees who are not there. Certain people in the company may be stealing the products from the company by creating false records. They may even be misusing various equipment in the company for their gains. If you are planning to acquire such a company you can know these by using investigative services.
Fudging of books is done by many companies to show a false financial status. This may be done to get more buyers for the company or partners for investment. There are other reasons for changing financial records. Sometimes it is done to ensure that the top-level executives earn bonuses based on the supposedly good performance of the company. There are also incidences where there is heavy pressure on the top management to perform but are not able to do so. In such cases also financial statements can be corrected.
Those companies providing forensic investigation services also provide dispute resolution services. When there are disputes between two entities these service providers will educate and present the witnesses to perform well. There are cases where claims are made by clients. These claims will be investigated and their genuineness will be found out by these agencies. This will help to reduce the damage to the company suffered due to the claim.
These agencies also assist in drawing up contracts and agreements. They will inspect the financial clauses in the agreements and help the company to draft the agreements in a way as to cause no damage to the company. There can be disputes that occur because of accounting mistakes. These occur between companies and their clients. The agencies will check the accounting and help the dispute to be resolved.
A forensic investigation is similar to conducting a financial audit. They will check the records for the period and find out how the fraud was conducted. The additional job that they perform is to appear in court on behalf of the company and present the evidence they have collected. The agencies start by understanding and establishing whether fraud was committed. They will then go through the records of the period when the alleged fraud was performed. They are also capable of understanding how the fraud was done.
The investigation agencies will then start collecting the evidence that must be present in the court. They must have enough evidence to establish that a fraud has been done. They must also find out and prove who was responsible for the fraud. The agencies will then quantify the damage suffered by the company so that claims can be made. The agencies will also suggest ways to prevent such fraud or corrupt practices in the future.