Weekly Blog 5 - Expert report formatting

In society there are a set of rules that govern how people go certain things, to determine what is right and wrong, this is important in order to create a civilised environment. Forensic accounts have establish a set of guidelines that follow the fundamental responsibilities in order to be a professional line of work.

The guidelines set out in Australia's Practice Note CM7 help reinforce the fundamental ideas forensic accounting, which can be found in APES 215, the foundation forensic accounting is built on; public interest, independence, competence and due care and confidentiality. CM7 paragraph 2.1 (c) requires the expert to show his/her area of expertise, which tie in with APES 215 paragraph 3.14 competence and due care, where a member shall only take an assignment in their area of expertise. Having a clear set of guidelines also creates uniformity to follow court rules and comparability in each expert report.

My experience with guidelines usually do with following a manual. Take for example building a furniture from IKEA, some people just throw away the manual and do it blind, however, it is recommended to follow the book. I would of course follow the manual because one mistake could ruin the whole thing, this also applies to CM7 and APES 215, not following the rules set in place have consequences I would rather not deal with.

Relevant links

Practice Note CM7
http://www.fedcourt.gov.au/law-and-practice/practice-documents/practice-notes/cm7

APES 215
http://www.apesb.org.au/~apesborg/development/APESBCMS/ver1.3/uploads/standards/apesb_standards/13092014103232p2.pdf