By: Luis Gerardo Ramírez Villela
A forensic audit is an internal review process used to investigate fraud and corruption crimes, in addition to verifying that operations within a company are being carried out in compliance with applicable internal and external regulations.
In this sense, it is important to mention that this type of audit involves the review of different aspects and, consequently, the participation of experts in accounting, financial, tax, legal and criminal matters. The audit process must consider the joint work of these specialists to reconcile the information and documentation and to be able to identify any fraudulent operation and/or any other operational risk for any company.
For such purposes, the analysis of the applicable legal provisions in force must be considered not only during the review period but also for a previous period that may cover any potential risk from previous years for the proper protection of the audited company.
It is important to mention that all the material elements directly related to the facts investigated in this type of audit and whose purpose would be to prove, based on the information and documentation, any procedure for the protection of the company.
Although the forensic audit is normally carried out when some illegal act has occurred, it can also be carried out preventively when there is some indication that there may be facts that could eventually affect the reputation of a company.
The coordination of the team that will carry out this type of audit is very important since it involves the integration of advisors from different areas who will have to frame and detect any accounting/financial irregularities and crimes.
Once the information has been reviewed, it will be important that the issuance of the forensic report and the identified risks expressly indicate the non-compliance with internal and external regulations, the possible sanctions and the legal actions that must be carried out to proceed in accordance with the laws.
The above is based on the understanding that the report must include all supporting documentation to proceed in accordance with the law in civil, commercial, labor or criminal proceedings.
As has been discussed in other articles, it is extremely important to have an internal corporate governance framework so that each employee understands the applicable provisions regarding anti-corruption and that these will be reviewed in detail internally, indicating the possible consequences in each specific case.
