Indian firms hiring experts to detect accounting frauds
By siliconindia   |   Monday, 29 March 2010, 15:26 IST   |    3 Comments
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Indian firms hiring experts to detect accounting frauds
New Delhi: Several Indian firms have started hiring forensic accountants to detect misreporting in books of accounts in an attempt to prevent corporate frauds especially after the Satyam scam, according to consultancy firm KPMG. "The need of forensic accountants is prevalent across industries. The current availability of industry specific forensic accountants is quite low and there exists a gap between demand and supply," said KPMG Executive Director Deepankar Sanwalka. The majority of corporate fraud cases involve accounting schemes designed to deceive investors and auditors about the true financial condition of a corporation, reports PTI. "In the wake of the growing number of fraud incidents coming to light both within India and internationally more and more companies are looking towards forensic accountants to help ensure increased transparency," he said. Forensic accounting is a scientific process of gathering, analyzing and documenting financial information that can stand the test of time in the courts and as such would go a long way to check the rising cases of fraud. "With the break out of the Satyam scam several companies have become more aware and wary of the repercussions of fraud. Forensic is a word that not many were familiar with a few years ago," Sanwalka said. Experts believe that in today's world of increasing white-collar crimes, forensic accounting could provide investors a better view of the company's accounts. The multi-crore rupees Satyam fraud came into light in January 2009 when the then Chairman B Ramalinga Raju had confessed to overstating the accounts in the balance sheet. To unravel India's biggest corporate fraud, the government also sought help of private forensic accountants as government investigators were finding it difficult to figure out the intricate accounting web in the company's books.

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