Accounting Q&A · Forensic Accounting · Topic 5
Practise 25 forensic accounting questions on reliable datasets, preservation and exception testing using five fictional investigation cases. Try each question before revealing the answer. Legal and reporting duties depend on the jurisdiction and engagement.
A transaction export omits the final day of the month
1. What should the examiner establish?
Establish population completeness.
2. Which records should the examiner obtain?
Record export filters and obtain source counts.
3. What procedure would test the issue?
Reconcile rows and totals by date.
4. What alternative explanation or limitation matters?
Testing every extracted row cannot cover missing records.
5. What should happen next?
Correct the export and rerun tests.
An email attachment may contain relevant evidence
6. What should the examiner establish?
Preserve the original and its provenance.
7. Which records should the examiner obtain?
Retain the authorised original with metadata and access records.
8. What procedure would test the issue?
Work from a copy and verify hashes where appropriate.
9. What alternative explanation or limitation matters?
A matching hash verifies file integrity rather than truth of its contents.
10. What should happen next?
Document custody and corroborate the email independently.
An analysis flags repeated invoice numbers
11. What should the examiner establish?
Distinguish duplicates from valid numbering overlaps.
12. Which records should the examiner obtain?
Collect supplier IDs, invoice data and settlement records.
13. What procedure would test the issue?
Match supplier and invoice details across payments.
14. What alternative explanation or limitation matters?
Invoice numbers can repeat across unrelated suppliers.
15. What should happen next?
Review exceptions before estimating loss.
Joining payments to invoices doubles reported totals
16. What should the examiner establish?
Identify a many-to-many join problem.
17. Which records should the examiner obtain?
Preserve source data and document join keys.
18. What procedure would test the issue?
Compare counts and totals before and after joining.
19. What alternative explanation or limitation matters?
One payment can cover several invoices.
20. What should happen next?
Use a reliable allocation table or reconcile at the proper level.
A spreadsheet contains overwritten formulas
21. What should the examiner establish?
Identify when and how calculations changed.
22. Which records should the examiner obtain?
Preserve the workbook and available version history.
23. What procedure would test the issue?
Compare formulas and recalculate from source inputs.
24. What alternative explanation or limitation matters?
A changed formula alone does not establish intent.
25. What should happen next?
Quantify the impact and document limitations.