1. Forensic and Investigative Accounting
Chapter 9
Proper Evidence Management
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2. Forensic and Investigative Accounting
Rules of Evidence
The rules of evidence are the rules governing the admissibility of evidence in a legal proceeding and the weight to be given to evidence that is admitted.
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Forensic and Investigative Accounting

3. Forensic and Investigative Accounting
What Is Evidence?
Evidence is testimony, writings, and material objects offered to prove an alleged fact or proposition.
Direct evidence is evidence that directly proves a fact at issue, without the need for any inference or presumption.
Circumstantial evidence is evidence from which a fact at issue may be proved indirectly.
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Forensic and Investigative Accounting

4. Relevance Requirement
Circumstantial evidence.
Inflammatory evidence.
Evidence about plaintiff’s character.
Evidence of habit.
Exclusionary rules.
Evidence of liability.
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Forensic and Investigative Accounting

5. Privileged Communications
Attorney-client privilege.
Employee communications.
Work product rule.
Attorney-requested accounting work.
Medical privilege.
Spousal privilege.
Other types.
Religious.
Governmental.
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6. Forensic and Investigative Accounting
Hearsay Rule
Hearsay is an oral or written assertion, other than one made by the declarant while testifying at the trial or hearing, offered in evidence to prove the truth of the matter asserted.
As a general rule, hearsay is not admissible as evidence in a legal proceeding (except by an expert witness).
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7. Forensic and Investigative Accounting
Hearsay Rule
In some situations a statement that appears to be hearsay is offered to prove a fact other than the matter asserted:
Legally operative fact.
Effect on the listener.
State of mind of the declarant.
Impeachment.
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8. Forensic and Investigative Accounting
Hearsay Rule
There are three concepts underlying the exceptions to the general rule barring hearsay:
Trustworthiness.
Unavailability of the declarant.
Practical considerations.
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9. Authentication Requirement
To be admissible as evidence in a legal proceeding, a document or other material usually must be authenticated or identified as to what its proponent claims it to be.
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10. Forensic and Investigative Accounting
Best Evidence Rule
Under the best evidence rule (also referred to as the original writing rule), to prove the contents of a writing, recording, or photograph, the original writing, recording, or photograph usually must be presented.
Attorneys can get around this rule.
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Forensic and Investigative Accounting

11. Demonstrative Evidence
Demonstrative evidence is an item that illustrates testimony but has no probative value in itself (such as a chart, diagram, photograph, video, or model).
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12. Forensic and Investigative Accounting
Special Rules
Criminal cases.
Administrative proceedings.
Tone of the proceedings.
Residuum rule.
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13. Forensic and Investigative Accounting
Residuum Rule
The residuum rule is that no finding may be supported solely by hearsay evidence.
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14. Maximizing Client Confidentiality
Michael Mostek, in Expert Witnessing in Forensic Accounting, provides the following advice for protecting the work product privilege:
The attorney should directly retain the consultant.
The agreement should be between attorney and expert.
The expert should obtain facts through, or at the direction of, the attorney.
The investigation should be done at the direction of the attorney.
The attorney should be present when the consultant meets with the client.
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15. AICPA Top Technologies Task Force
The task force found the following top ten technologies for 2007 in descending order of importance:
Information security management.
Identity and access management.
Conforming to assurance and compliance standards.
Privacy management.
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16. AICPA Top Technologies Task Force
Disaster recovery planning (DRP) and business continuity management (BCM).
IT governance.
Securing and controlling information distribution.
Mobile and remote computing.
Electronic archiving and data retention.
Document, content, and knowledge management.
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17. Using Technology to Gather Evidence
Drill-down functionality.
Electronic imaging.
Benford’s law.
Digital Analysis Tests and Statistics (DATAS).
Data warehousing/mining.
Data extraction versus data investigation.
Inductive vs. deductive method.
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18. Forensic and Investigative Accounting
Computer Evidence
Protecting data in hardware seizures.
Insidious s.
Documenting computer evidence.
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19. Forensic and Investigative Accounting
Evidence Management
Do not mark, staple, or otherwise alter any documents or other evidence that might find its way into court.
Record how the documents were obtained and who has handled it (chain of custody).
Use see-through holders to avoid putting fingerprints on documents.
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20. Forensic and Investigative Accounting
Evidence Management
Store original documents and working papers in fireproof safes or locked cabinets.
Protect material stored on a computer with a password.
Make backup copies on a regular basis and store in a separate location.
Copy, inventory, and index evidence so that it can be readily found when needed.
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21. Forensic and Investigative Accounting
Questioned Documents
Invoices and other documents may be fake or altered
when:
Font sizes or types are not consistent.
No address is shown for the vendor or customer; this situation is especially suspicious if a vendor has not identified an address to which a check can be sent.
The document has no identifying numbers such as invoice number, purchase order number, or customer number.
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22. Forensic and Investigative Accounting
Questioned Documents
All invoice numbers on invoices from vendors are numbered sequentially, with no numbers skipped.
No tax is shown for taxable items.
No shipping or freight cost is shown for items that would have been shipped at the purchaser’s expense.
Little or no detail is provided on the invoice or document.
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Forensic and Investigative Accounting