Forensic accounting grounded in traceable records

Business owners, management teams, and attorneys advising them when a defined financial question requires transaction tracing, record reconstruction, or an objective review of suspected irregularities. The scope should be narrow enough to identify the accounts, period, records, and intended use of the work.

• Transactions, withdrawals, reimbursements, or journal entries appear inconsistent
• Owners disagree about financial activity or access to records
• An attorney needs accounting schedules or transaction analysis
• Business records must be reconstructed from incomplete sources

• Bank, credit-card, loan, and merchant-processor activity matched to cleared checks, deposits, invoices, receipts, and contracts
• General-ledger entries, journal entries, audit logs, user access, and changes made within the accounting system
• Owner, employee, customer, and vendor transactions that fall within the defined question and period
• Payroll, reimbursements, related-party transfers, intercompany activity, and unusual cash withdrawals when relevant
• Missing, duplicated, altered, or conflicting records and the effect each gap has on the analysis

The engagement letter defines the question, period, data sources, access, deliverables, and communication protocol. We work from original records where possible, maintain an organized file, and distinguish verified facts from assumptions or unresolved items.

Forensic accounting does not determine guilt, legal liability, or admissibility. Attorney-directed matters should be coordinated with counsel, and expert testimony or valuation work is accepted only when separately evaluated and agreed.

• Preserve and inventory the available financial evidence
• Reconcile source documents to accounting entries and bank activity
• Identify gaps, anomalies, and alternative explanations
• Prepare clear schedules with documented methods and limitations

• An indexed inventory of records received, missing items, and access limitations
• Reconciliations and transaction-tracing schedules tied to available source records
• A chronology of relevant financial activity and documented exceptions
• A written summary separating supported observations, assumptions, unresolved items, and limitations
• Organized supporting schedules for client or counsel review

Protect sensitive records. Do not send tax documents, Social Security numbers, bank records, IDs, or other sensitive files through ordinary email. Call the office before transmitting sensitive records.

• A concise description of the concern, relevant date range, people involved, and accounts affected
• Bank, credit-card, loan, and merchant-processor statements, including available check and deposit images
• General ledgers, trial balances, charts of accounts, journal-entry detail, and accounting-system audit logs
• Invoices, bills, receipts, contracts, purchase orders, and customer or vendor records relevant to the question
• Payroll registers, payroll-tax reports, expense reimbursements, and employee or contractor payment records when relevant
• Tax returns, financial statements, prior reconciliations, and schedules prepared for owners or lenders
• Ownership agreements, signing-authority records, user-access lists, and preserved communications identified as relevant by counsel

The accounting methods used to reconcile and trace transactions are not unique to Florida. A Deerfield Beach or South Florida matter may involve Florida entity records, state tax accounts, Broward County public records, or records held by local financial institutions, but each source is used only when it relates to the agreed question and, in a dispute, the protocol established with counsel.