Imagine a collection of years-long financial documents like bank statements and tax records and credit card statements. pay reports, and brokerage statements.
Now you have technical information.
You may have few practical suggestions.
It’s not always easy because financial records aren’t always available. The problem lies in determining what documents provide the answers to the most important questions and when they’re absent.
Start with the question, Not the Spreadsheet
A forensic accountant who is divorced in New Jersey may approach financial discovery differently from someone just arranging documents.
When the issue is about money available for support. A tax return can help, however, the owner of a company or an expert who receives a substantial amount of compensation may receive compensation in various ways. Bonuses, salaries, distributions as well as other forms of compensation might require further examination, based on situation.
If you have assets which may be concealed, it is essential to track them. Banking activity, transfers, expenditure patterns, and the movement between accounts could help create a more complete financial picture.
It’s not about gathering every document you could imagine. It’s about obtaining the documents that are required to address specific financial queries.
Business Ownership Changes the Discovery Process
Privately owned companies can be a valuable in the matrimonial process.
Performing business valuation for divorce in New Jersey requires appropriate financial information about the company. In the event of an engagement the expert might require the historical financial statements, tax records along with ownership records and other documentation relevant to studying the business and creating an appraisal opinion.
The problem can be caused by insufficient information.
For instance, analyzing revenues without considering expenses can only reveal a portion of the story behind the company’s finances. Examining a single performance year can be deceiving.
SJS Forensics helps counsel by identifying pertinent documents, preparing specific discovery requests, as as reviewing the materials produced for accuracy.
Even if the difference in financials isn’t significant is not a sign that something went unnoticed.
Unknown transactions are a great way to raise suspicions in divorces, as they’re emotional.
The purpose of the transfer could not be discovered until the records are reviewed. Large withdrawals that are unexpectedly large could be explained by a common cause. A seemingly regular series of transactions may deserve closer examination once viewed together.
It is vital to conduct an objective analysis because accounting for forensic purposes cannot start by assuming that there has been a breach of the law.
The analysis should start with the documents.
Mediation can be more productive by providing more information
Experts in finance are often found in courtrooms however, a useful analysis could begin much earlier. Determining issues like the value of a business, its income, or separate property prior to mediation helps to define the real dispute.
SJS Forensics is a forensic accounting firm that combines knowledge of forensic accounting along with a settlement-minded attitude. They also can participate in mediations for financial matters.
If a witness is required an expert witness accountant in matrimonial disputes must be able take the analysis that underlies it and explain it in a clear manner to attorneys mediators, judges and other non-accountants.
The objective is to minimize the unknowns
Transactions in the financial sector from many years can be accumulated in a complicated divorce. The process of achieving financial clarity cannot be accomplished just by putting documents in folders. The records must be examined for what they indicate as well as what remains unanswered, or if additional information is needed.
That’s the benefit of the forensic financial analysis. We don’t want to complicate divorces by producing a huge pile of paperwork. The goal is to reduce the number of unanswered financial questions in a complicated situation.