False Accounting Fraud

False accounting allegations often arise when financial records, invoices, expenses, accounts or other business documents are said to have been deliberately altered, concealed or used to create a misleading picture.

Sometimes the issue is discovered internally by a business. In other cases, concerns emerge through an audit, a dispute between directors or shareholders, an employee complaint, insolvency, an HMRC enquiry or a wider fraud investigation.

The difficulty is that inaccurate accounts do not necessarily amount to criminal false accounting. Investigators need to consider who was responsible, what they knew, why records were created or changed and whether there was the required dishonesty and intention to gain or cause loss. False accounting can also overlap with other offences, including Fraud Act offences, theft, money laundering and tax offences.