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Financial fraud and financial crime can strike at the heart of any business, threatening your company’s assets and reputation. Discover how Evelyn Partners can help you with a fraud or financial crime investigation and limit the potential damage.
From bribery and corruption to payment interception, fraud and financial crime pose a clear and present danger to businesses of all sizes, across every industry. With financial fraud alone said to cost the UK private sector around £140 billion each year* there’s no room for complacency.
Whether you’re dealing with occupational fraud among employees, falsified accounts or money laundering, a swift response is always critical. Quickly establishing the facts and developing a robust plan of action can make all the difference when recovering lost assets and minimising reputational damage.
No matter the gravity of the situation, you’re never alone with Evelyn Partners. Our experienced team of forensic accountants, investigators and technology specialists will support your business at every stage of the journey. We can carefully evaluate your position through a bespoke fraud or financial crime investigation. And we’ll do our utmost to trace stolen assets and correctly prepare evidence for legal cases.
Read on to explore our full range of financial fraud and crime services – and what makes Evelyn Partners different from the rest.
*Nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk
Which types of financial crime and fraud can Evelyn Partners tackle?
Since no two financial crimes are ever the same, we’ve built expertise across a range of areas.
Our experts can respond to a wide variety of financial crime types, including bribery, money laundering and theft.
When it comes to financial fraud types, we have years of experience combatting occupational fraud, where employees manipulate financial statements, misappropriate assets, or act in a corrupt way. We can also deal with the fallout from procurement fraud, where transactions aren’t fulfilled properly.
Guide: Investigation and prevention – protecting your business from within
Failure to prevent offences—such as bribery, tax evasion, and now fraud—place businesses at the forefront of the fight against economic crime. In our guide, we explore how you can prevent, detect, respond and recover from fraud.
What services do we offer to combat fraud and financial crime?
We work on cases both large and small, delivering a range of targeted, hands-on services that quickly get to the heart of the matter. Our tailored end-to-end solutions offer insights and assistance at each step.
Our main services in response to financial crime and fraud include:
- Support with financial investigations. We’ll help you evaluate suspected fraud, bribery and corruption, providing expert advice to determine how to proceed. A financial fraud investigation will guide you on the next steps to follow and who issues should be reported to. We’ll also discuss actions you can take to avoid further losses, the access suspects have to your systems, and when lawyers and the police should get involved.
- Forensic data collection. Using the latest technology, our fraud and financial crime team will ensure any evidence in criminal and civil litigation cases conforms to the relevant legal and regulatory requirements, as well as court standards.
- Asset tracing assistance. We can follow stolen money using in-depth financial analysis. This can support freezing orders and civil recovery proceedings to identify hidden assets and recover funds.
- Collaborating with regulators. Evelyn Partners works with regulatory authorities in the UK and overseas to achieve a speedy resolution and minimise any reputational damage. We can help companies quantify how much was lost and explain how the corporate financial fraud or crime occurred.
- Long-term prevention of bribery and corruption. We can also help you look at the bigger picture to prevent errors or system failures from happening again. Our experts will assess your requirements, before advising on the introduction and maintenance of effective compliance monitoring programmes.
What makes Evelyn Partners unique?
Independent voice
Partner-led approach
Diverse team of specialists
Global reach
What goes into our fraud and financial crime work?
Wealth of experience
Deep industry knowledge
International links
Thought leadership
Discover what Evelyn Partners can do for your business
We know that dealing with financial fraud and crimes can be tough, with your company’s finances, hard-won reputation and staff morale all in potential jeopardy. But keeping a cool head and hiring the right financial fraud investigator should help you get back on track.
To learn more about our services and how the financial fraud investigation process usually works, just get in touch.
Frequently asked questions about fraud and financial crime
What is financial fraud?
In simple terms, we regard financial fraud as any attempt at trying to obtain money through deception and dishonesty.
A more detailed description from the International Standards on Auditing (UK) 240 defines fraud as: “An intentional act by one or more individuals among management, those charged with governance, employees, or third parties, involving the use of deception to obtain an unjust or illegal advantage.”
Meanwhile, the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners defines fraud as “any activity that relies on deception in order to achieve a gain”.
There are various criminal offences relating to fraud under the Fraud Act, Companies Act, Theft Act and Insolvency Act. They include:
- Fraud by false representation
- Fraud by failing to disclose information
- Fraud by abuse of position
- Fraudulent trading
- False accounting
What financial fraud types can affect businesses?
The main type of financial fraud that can affect businesses is occupational, or insider, fraud. The main perpetrators of occupational fraud are employees, management or senior management (including directors).
Occupational fraud can be grouped into three main categories:
- Corruption, including conflicts of interest, kick-back schemes, inappropriate gifts or some form of extortion.
- Asset misappropriation, including theft of cash on hand, diverting cash receivable, intercepting payments and inappropriate use of business assets.
- Financial statement fraud, including falsifying accounting records, management accounts and annual financial statements.
Other financial fraud types can exist outside companies, however. Businesses are also susceptible to fraudsters pretending to be customers and ordering goods without the intent to pay for them, or suppliers lying about the goods they have provided or work they have carried out.
Investment businesses can also be targeted by fraudsters trying to induce funding of fictitious or underperforming opportunities.
Fraud is distinct from cyber-crime, where there is an attack on businesses’ IT infrastructure. However, fraud may be cyber-enabled, where fraudsters use technology to assist in committing it.
What is financial crime?
Europol defines financial crime as: “Illegal acts committed by an individual or a group of individuals to obtain a financial or professional advantage. The principal motive in such crimes is economic gain.”
We consider that, in addition to fraud, financial crime examples include theft, bribery, money laundering and tax evasion.
What should I do if I discover financial fraud in my business?
Speed of response is critical in the face of fraud, bribery, corruption or other types of financial crime. Being able to quickly establish the facts will help you put a robust plan in place to recover lost assets. Moving swiftly can also help you manage any damage to your reputation.
There are a range of urgent steps to consider if you suspect financial fraud has taken place:
- Form an initial hypothesis of what happened to understand the scale of the suspected fraud, and its impact on the business. This will help guide further action and the resources that should be provided to investigate and resolve the suspected fraud.
- Prevent further harm, including securing access to the business’ systems and controls. You should also alert your banks about possible fraudulent payments and insurers of possible claims. It’s important to ensure that your people are supported too, through what will be a difficult time for the business.
- Secure evidence. This needs to be done by an expert to ensure any evidence isn’t tampered with or destroyed. A financial fraud investigator can also ensure you retain the integrity of the evidence so it can be useful and admissible in any subsequent legal or employment action.
- Bring in fraud and financial crime experts to guide you through your next actions.
Who should investigate fraud?
The investigation of suspected fraud still carries the risk of further harming the business. So it’s important to ensure those charged with the task have the skills and experience to know what to do, how to do it and how to protect the company.
A financial fraud investigation team needs to have legal expertise and investigation skills. Business fraud differs from volume or individual fraud in that the financial fraud investigator will also need a good understanding of how companies operate, plus knowledge of financial data. This is because some of the evidence of the fraud can be recorded within the business’ books and accounting records.
This is where experienced forensic accountants are particularly useful. They can analyse financial data, extract evidence from accounting records, and then simplify or explain it so a judge or jury can understand what happened.
Forensic accountants work well with both businesses and legal advisors, advising on the commercial aspects of pursuing fraudsters and considering the options for recovery.
Why use a forensic accountant in a fraud or financial crime investigation?
Forensic accountants understand the financial records and processes of a business, its commercial drivers and pressures, the controls and procedures that should be in place to mitigate risk, and how gaps in those controls may result in losses.
Forensic accountants also frequently work with legal advisors. They understand the importance of carrying out the investigation to certain standards to maintain the integrity and admissibility of evidence, ensuring any legal proceedings don’t fail.