Forensic accounting for embezzlement, misappropriation, and financial statement irregularities. The work reconstructs the flow of funds through bank, ledger, and payment records, traces diverted assets to where they came to rest, quantifies the loss for each scheme identified, and documents the evidence trail so it can support a civil claim, an insurance recovery, or a referral to authorities.
KW Economics prepares fraud and tracing analysis for plaintiff and defense counsel nationwide; the method is the same whichever side retains the economist.
Fraud and tracing analysis at KW Economics is directed by Christopher Skerritt, M.Ed., MBA, Chief of Economic Services, who is available to testify to it.
How fraud and tracing analysis applies to the specific demands of each case type: methodology, deliverables, and what counsel should expect.
Transaction by transaction. The economist maps how the scheme worked from the records, identifies each transaction that fits it, confirms the amounts against bank statements, check images, and third-party documents rather than the internal books alone, and sums the loss by scheme, by year, and by account. Amounts established from records are separated from amounts estimated where records are missing.
Where the money went. Diverted funds are followed through the accounts they passed through to the real estate, vehicles, investments, or other holdings they were used to acquire, with each step documented. Identifying those assets supports recovery from the assets themselves in addition to a damages claim against the person.
Bank statements with check images and deposit detail for every account involved, the general ledger and sub-ledgers, payroll records, vendor files and invoices, expense reports, corporate and personal tax returns, and the access and authorization records that show who controlled each account. Third-party records obtained by subpoena are often decisive.
No. The report establishes what happened to the money, how, in what amounts, and where it went. Whether the conduct was fraudulent is a question for the fact finder on the whole record, and the report is written so that it supports a civil claim, an insurance recovery, or a referral to authorities without reaching that question.
No state licenses forensic economists. Qualification to testify on fraud and tracing analysis is decided case by case on education, method, and testimony history; these pages explain what each credential establishes and what it does not.
Request a consultation on Fraud & Tracing or call (201) 343-0700. Plaintiff and defense counsel.