Rushmore Forensic is a boutique forensic accounting firm assisting law firms, individuals, businesses across Australia.
Andrew Firth is a chartered accountant and Director of Rushmore Group. Andrew is personally involved with each forensic accounting or business valuation report. In each engagement Andrew takes a holistic approach combining his accounting, finance, investigation, computer programming, statistical and database skills.
At Rushmore, we believe that expert forensic accounting services should be cost effective and our costs should be transparent and predictable. We can provide fixed price quotes to carry out each of our services.
Our key services include:
- Business valuations
- Expert accounting reports for Federal Court of Australia, Supreme Court, District Court, Federal Circuit Court of Australia, County Court of Victoria, Land and Environment Court and Family Court matters.
- Compulsory acquisition expert reports.
- Quantification of loss reports;
- Family law property settlements.
Contact us today on freecall 1800 454 622 to arrange a complimentary initial appointment.
Discover the 7 Steps To Solving Your Financial Dispute
- Is there so much complexity to your dispute that you don’t know where to start?
- Is the sheer quantity of transactions, companies, trusts, bank statements, or invoices making a simple dispute complicated?
- Are you or your lawyer struggling with “sorting the wheat from the chaff“?
- Are you chasing 20 to 30 issues, when you really need to focus on the 3 or 4 key issues that will have the greatest impact on your particular matter?
- Do you need someone to assist you organise your documentation so that you can focus on the key issues?
Did you know that?
- More than 90% of the court cases we are involved in settle out of court.
- Being organised and systematic in your approach to litigation can give you an enormous advantage.
- People think that the use of Forensic Accountants is only for very large cases, but the majority of our engagements range from $2,000 to less than $15,000.
- The mark of a successful forensic accountant is their ability to shortcut complex problems with logic, clarity and innovative thinking.
The Solution
At Rushmore Forensic, we view our role as more than simply “expert accountants”. The “DNA” to our approach can be found in a Big 4 accounting firm.
Our team at the time consisted of an actuary, a database/computer programmer, a retired police officer and a chartered accountant.
Over time we found that these backgrounds cross pollinated. The programmer taught the accountant how to organise information. From the police officer we learnt investigation techniques and interviewing skills and the actuary taught us to approach problems from a statistical and mathematical viewpoint.
This multidisciplinary approach to solving problems resonated with me and has over the years resulted in some tremendous solutions for our clients.
Some of the services we provide include:
- Business valuations
- Joint expert valuation reports
- Valuations for compulsory acquisition; and
- Other forensic accounting engagements.
What does this mean for you?
If you are in dispute, litigation or have another financial issue that requires resolution, then we are confident that we can take a fresh look at the problem to shortcut the stress, and cost of a protracted court case.
The majority of the cases we are involved in settle out of court. We believe that an important part to this occurring is the 7 Step System that is applied to each matter:
Step 1: Document control
We have been involved in disputes with documentation ranging from 20 pages to disputes involving more than 200,000 pages. Most of the disputes we work with have between 300 and 2,000 pages. We believe it is critical to have excellent documentation control and referencing system and this provides an important foundation for the remaining steps.
Step 2: Objects
Objects can be thought of as the “containers” of the dispute. If you are a computer programmer or work with databases you will understand the importance of “objects”. Recently I was involved in an extremely complex inheritance dispute. The key to “solving” this dispute was the analysis of properties held in the estate. I set up the case with information attached to each property and this allowed us to gain a much clearer picture of the events at the time. In a recent commercial dispute between two suppliers, the invoices and payments were the key objects in this case. In the case of a corruption inquiry into a particular sport, it was the particular races, individuals and horses that were the key objects.
Step 3: Information Management
Once you understand the “objects” you are working with, attention can be turned to managing the information. In many engagements, we are provided documents from lawyers and the key facts and information are contained within text based documents, such as letters, correspondence and affidavits. We often take this source information and create a database to hold and keep track of this information. We will then run queries, extracting key pieces of this information which then forms the basis of our solution. The ability to take the source information and re-organise that information will often provide us with a glimpse of the final solution. Additional information may then be sought prior to finalising the solution. The document referencing system applied in Step 1, is carried through into the information management. For example, every “piece” of information be it the address of a property, a date of birth, a person’s name or other piece of information, we reference on which document number it was sourced from.
Step 4: The Expert Accounting Report
After we have obtained the source information and organised it in a way that we can work with, we turn our minds to writing a report that a non-accountant can read and then quickly understand how we have formed our solution and understand the work and opinion we have obtained.
The key step to forming an expert accounting report is to simplify what can be often complex accounting and financial issues into a form that anyone can understand.
We write queries in the database to export detailed and summary tables to be inserted in our reports. In this way, we can extract any information that has been gathered throughout our initial investigations and together with the document reference, this can then be inserted in the report.
We often see other forensic accountants provide reports that we term “dumb-smart” reports. This type of report on the surface may appear complex and “smart” but when eventually understood are actually the opposite. Many forensic accounting experts like these reports as they seek safety from criticism by trying to baffle their readers.
At Rushmore Forensic, we take a different approach. We want to simplify and break down difficult concepts into simple language. We strive to find out the “truth” and get to the heart of the matter and we believe that this is the fastest, fairest, logical and stress free approach to solving complex problems.
Step 5: The One-Pager
It is a function of our legal system that each matter is comprised of hundreds or even thousands of pages. We like to produce what we call the “one pager”, this is a summary page which draws together the essential matters that are in conflict.
We find that this can assist to solve a particular issue that is in conflict as it focusses us and our clients on the key issues.
From the “one pager” we then have a cascading series of documents which sit behind the one-pager and support the key aspects of the particular matter.
Step 6: Opposing Expert Reports
In most disputes we are involved with will involve interaction with the opposing expert accountant. We find that this process is made relatively straight forward given the work we have done from Step 1 to Step 5. We generally find that this process will allow us to seek even greater clarity with issues in dispute and help us to focus on those key issues that remain outstanding, if any.
Step 7: Cross Examination
In most cases we are involved with the matter settles prior to us being cross examined in court. However we are always mindful and prepared for this eventuality. We believe that our integrity, search for the truth and our approach to each engagement puts us in the best possible position to be questioned about our expert accounting reports.
Further information?
If you have a financial issue or dispute that needs to be solved, then we would welcome the opportunity to speak with you further. Please contact us on 1800 454 622 to arrange an obligation free appointment.