I recently watched the following video on CNN. While I have a lot of empathy for the business owner in the story, I think that the angle that the reporter takes in the story shows the reporter’s lack of research into the subject matter by attempting to equate the term “forensic accounting” with “death” for Gulf coast business owners.
The term “forensic” means that which is subject to public debate (think legal setting). The definition of a debate is a “discussion, involving opposing viewpoints.” In other words, there are always two sides to a debate. It’s true that forensic accounting is adversarial in nature because the numbers generated by a forensic accountant are used to support a specific position in a debate. The problem with the BP oil spill claims process is that right now, many business owners are experiencing only one side of the debate–BP’s side. Businesses need to understand the most basic rules of the claims process, including:
- These claims are a debate and therefore they’re subject to negotiation. Businesses do not have to simply accept what BP’s forensic accountants tell them.
- Businesses need to hire their own forensic accountants, to get the tools they need to identify, quantify, present, support, and defend their oil spill claim.
While business owners or corporate officers are the definitive subject matter experts of their business, they are not economic damage valuation experts. They do not know how to identify, quantify, present, support, and defend their damage measurements. By hiring a forensic accountant who is an expert in business interruption claim preparation, businesses can get paid both fairly and faster.
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