How a CPA Becomes a Forensic Accountant in a Tennessee Divorce

In Tennessee divorce and family law cases, CPAs often get their first clients because of the high demand for their services.  CPA’s usually start their careers in tax or audit, but forensic accountants are born out of the limitations and frustrations in those careers.  CPAs become forensic accountants after taking courses, tests, and meeting certification experience requirements.

Many CPAs begin their careers with traditional public accounting firms, spending several years in tax, audit, or consulting departments. In larger accounting firms, tax, audit, and consulting departments are distinct, with very little cross-training. In smaller accounting firms, accountants work in a combination of different engagements throughout the year, usually including compilation work and a grinding tax season. Compilation work assists small business clients with their general accounting needs and helps with cost accounting and financial statement preparation. Other accountants begin working in “private accounting,” or “industry,” employed by businesses in a variety of general accounting roles. If early in his career, the young accountant will almost always report directly to another CPA. Some obtain the required experience in a combination of public and private accounting.

Transitioning to forensic accounting is not challenging from a technical competence standpoint. Even though there is much to learn, almost all CPAs with a few years of experience have obtained the basic skill sets to perform the work. Many forensic accountants will jokingly admit that they sought out forensic accounting because the traditional accounting career was just a grind to them. Many enjoy the sporting and sparring of a deposition and look forward to the intellectual and professional challenge of staying calm under the pressure. As with family law, there are no two days just alike in a forensic accounting practice. The clients, lawyers, and issues are always unique. As one might expect, this difference attracts a different breed of personality to the forensic accounting universe.

While building their forensic accounting practices, most CPAs will maintain their tax or audit practices until they are ready to make the leap and go full time as a forensic accountant and/or business valuation expert. Business valuation and forensic accounting often go hand in hand, although the universes are distinctly separate in many ways. One important difference is that the business valuation universe is much larger than just CPAs. Several organizations credential business valuation experts. But almost all forensic accountants are CPAs. Over time, a forensic accountant develops relationships with a core group of lawyers. A healthy forensic accounting practice usually results from as little as 20 or so leading litigators calling upon the forensic accountant for engagements. As with a family law practice, growing a practice means making more money by leveraging assignments worked by other CPAs and staff. Marketing professional services is one of the typical accountant’s least favorite activities. Not many do it well. Successful forensic accountants socialize with lawyers at local, state, and American Bar Association meetings, speak at conferences, and present continuing legal education. Forensic accountants also often send out direct mail, invite lawyers to lunches, email newsletters, and advertise.

This blog post is an excerpt from The Forensic Accounting Deskbook: A Practical Guide to Financial Investigation and Analysis for Family Lawyers. Reprinted by permission. Copyright © 2011 American Bar Association. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Footnotes may be omitted from the original text.

Miles Mason, Sr., JD, CPA practices family law exclusively and is founder of the Miles Mason Family Law Group, PLC, in Memphis, Tennessee. Miles is the author of The Forensic Accounting Deskbook: A Practical Guide to Financial Investigation and Analysis for Family Lawyers, published by the American Bar Association.

The Forensic Accounting Deskbook teaches lawyers, forensic accountants, and divorcing spouses how to uncover hidden income and discover hidden assets in complex divorces involving business owners and highly compensated corporate executives.  The author, Miles Mason, Sr. has presented numerous seminars on divorce, family law, forensic accounting and business valuations at national and regional conferences for judges, divorce and family lawyers, forensic accountants, and business valuation experts. For a complete listing of speaking presentations, publications, and more of his professional biography, see Miles Mason, Sr.’s professional biography.