The Secret to a Killer Divorce Report from Your Forensic Accountant

Forensic accountants form opinions and document them in reports. Killer reports get divorce cases settled!

The Forensic Accounting Deskbook by Miles Mason, Sr. JD, CPA, published by the ABA Family Law Section

Miles Mason, Sr. JD, CPA is the author of The Forensic Accounting Deskbook: A Practical Guide to Financial Investigation and Analysis for Family Lawyers, Second Edition, published by the ABA Family Law Section.  This updated edition of one the ABA’s most popular resources explains the practice of forensic accounting and business valuation and how to apply it in family law cases. It provides a practice-focused introduction to the core financial concepts in divorce, such as asset identification, classification, and valuation, income determination, expenses, and more.

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:

Tracy Coenen:             So Miles, when you think about some of the better reports that you’ve seen in forensic accounting engagements, what have they looked like?

Miles Mason:              When I ask my friends and accountants to put together reports, I really want a one pager to start out with. I want it very simple because my opposing counsel’s not going to read the report. They want to know what the opinion is very quickly, and often that can be done in one paragraph. Well I want that to be the first paragraph of the letter of the report. I want it to be simple. I want it to be no more, no less than what’s needed. And that can be a real challenge with some forensic accountants, because there’s just not that much that… If it’s a very simple opinion, it can be done in a sentence. It can be done. And if it’s a supporting spreadsheet, well let’s try to get it down to one page.

And the reason is, the more complicated a report, the harder it is to get a case settled. Because it gets a lot of moving pieces, and that can make things a little bit more difficult. Because I’m looking to take that report and settle a case right off the bat. That’s my first goal. Nobody wants to go to trial. We want to try to get the thing settled. And what I’m looking for… Just from a construction standpoint, as a talking tip to forensic accountants. Like for them to be using active voice, past tense. Great thing about litigation in the law, you can cover most everything that you need to do in active voice, past tense.

Thank you to Tracy Coenen, CPA, CFF for inviting me to join her in this video series. Tracy is a nationally recognized forensic accountant practicing in Milwaukee and Chicago.