Forensic accounting

In an increasingly complex business and legal environment forensic accountants and expert witnesses provide valuable assistance in trials and investigations. On this page you can access a range of articles, books and online resources providing quick links to organisations, directories and guidance on the Civil Procedure Rules.

Online articles

Useful links

ICAEW

Forensic Group
Special interest group within the ICAEW supporting chartered accountants working as forensic accountants and expert witnesses. The group provides regular newsletters, helpsheets and events.

Forensic Accountant and Expert Witness Accreditation
Scheme offering accreditation by Examination of Experience for forensic specialists.

Register of forensic specialists
Directory of ICAEW accredited forensic accountants and expert witnesses, searchable by name or company and browsable by specialist areas of expertise.

Forensic accounting

Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (US)
Professional association focused on reducing business fraud. The site includes details of membership and qualifications, a collection of fraud links and a press release archive. Members can access a library of documents and a directory of association members.

Forensic Accountant (KPMG)
Regular publication from KPMG as part of its Risk Advisory Services. Includes articles and commentary on forensic accounting, negligence and expert witness.

Forensic Accountants Society of North America (FASNA)
Independent network of certified public accounting firms. The society produces a monthly newsletter called Forum.

Forensic Examiner
Bimonthly journal of the American College of Forensic Examiners, with sample articles and information on subscriptions.

Journal of Forensic Accounting
Biannual academic journal covering research into ‘the evidentiary basis of economic transactions and reporting events’.

Expert witnesses

Academy of Experts
Professional body for expert witnesses in the UK. The site includes information about the organisation, a range of search tools and a number of key documents for expert witnesses.

BVS (Association of Publicly Certified and Qualified Experts)
Umbrella organisation in Germany that ‘represents 13 regional associations and 11 professional associations with a total of more than 4,000 experts working in some 250 specialised areas’. The site includes a searchable BVS Directory of Experts.

ExpertSearch.co.uk
Online directory of UK expert witnesses that can be searched by location, qualification and area of expertise. Entries vary in depth, but can include full qualifications, contact details, articles, websites, biographical detail, photographs and professional accreditation.

Expert Witness Institute (EWI)
The site includes information on the organisation, updates on changes to the Civil Procedure rules, a members directory, the EWI newsletter and a range of useful documents, including:

• Code of Practice;
• Code of Guidance on Expert Evidence;
• Expert's Declaration;
• Model Form of Reports;
• Model Terms and Conditions of Engagement.

Expert Witness Directory (Legal Hub)
A suite of directories from Sweet & Maxwell. The Expert Witness Directory can be searched by occupation, specialism or using free text.

Expert Witness UK
Online directory of expert witnesses and consultants throughout the UK, Australia, Southeast Asia, South Africa and India. The database can be searched using keywords and offer contact details and biographies.

Expert Witnesses Organisations and Registers
Useful listing of expert witness organisations and registers from Delia Venables, a computer consultant for lawyers.

UK and European Legal Experts
A selection of directories available online from publishers Legal Business, including:

• UK Legal Experts
  Profiles of specialist lawyers in a wide range of industries. Profiles of the practitioners are indexed geographically by practice area. Each profile includes a description of the practitioner's specialisation, interesting cases they have taken (with full case references) and contact details.
• European Legal Experts
  Directory covering ‘banking and finance, commercial property, corporate and commercial, EU & competition, employment, IT and telecommunications, insolvency, intellectual property, litigation and arbitration, private client and tax’. Lawyers can be located by country and specialisation. The profiles provide further information on their specialisation, experience and contact details.

UK Register of Expert Witnesses
Annual directory published by JS Publications each May. Registered experts can access over 40 factsheets, an index of Your Witness journal, a search tool for locating experts and information on the registration process.

Civil Procedure Rules

The Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) set out how civil cases are brought to court and heard. The rules are available online, both commercially and as part of free services that may provide improved searching, commentary and guidance on the official version from the Ministry of Justice. The collection of links here include both the official and unofficial sources, and you should pay particular attention to make sure any source is up to date.

Civil Procedure Rules (Ministry of Justice)
The official source of the CPR, which includes Part 35 Expert and Assessors, and Practice Direction 35: Experts and Assessors. The site also provides glossaries, court guides and a range of supplementary material.

YAWS Civil Procedure Rules
Independent website with the CPR, indexed and cross-referenced for enhanced search and functionality. Includes many documents converted from PDF to web pages to improve the ability to search across the CPR.

Articles and books in the Library collection

• View a list of recent articles and books in our collection on forensic accounting
• View a list of recent articles and books in our collection on expert witnesses