Career Options
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Jobboom Publishing |
JONATHAN ALLARD, CA, CA•IFA, MBA, Managing consultant,
Leclerc Juricomptables Inc., part of Navigant Consulting Inc.
Photo: Marie-Claude Hamel
CRACKING WHITE-COLLAR CRIME
Jonathan Allard, CA, CA•IFA, MBA
With the advent of shows such as CSI, we may think we have seen it all when it comes to the life and work of forensic investigators — yet many of us would still raise an eyebrow to hear about a person working as an investigative and forensic accountant. DNA analysis has become an everyday concept, but how do you place financial numbers under a microscope?
Meet Jonathan Allard, who has been working for over three years as a managing consultant with the dispute and investigation practice in the Montreal office of Leclerc Juricomptables Inc., a part of Navigant Consulting Inc. This is the largest forensic accounting office in Montreal, employing over 30 professionals and serving clients such as the Sûreté du Québec (the Quebec provincial police) and the Autorité des marchés financiers.
Allard holds an MBA from the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières and for four years worked as an auditor for a regional firm in Trois-Rivières. In 2004, he wrote the Uniform Final Examination for Chartered Accountants and won a spot on the honour roll, which recognized the 50 best results from among the 2,600 Canadians who wrote the exam that year. The following year he moved to Montreal, where he earned a specialized Diploma in Investigative and Forensic Accounting (DIFA) in 2007.
The program helps accountants receive a CA•IFA designation (charted accountant specialized in investigative and forensic accounting) by giving them the necessary skills for working in fraud investigations, quantification of damages mandates, quantification of insurance claims, and business valuations in the context of litigations. Allard describes the DIFA as a “must-have” for all investigative and forensic accountants.
His daily work involves a great deal more than taking numbers back to the lab. “I interview suspected fraudulent people, their colleagues/employees and material witnesses.
I analyze financial statements, bank statements, contracts/agreements, invoices, cleared/cancelled cheques, accounting books, then I write an expertise report, which is deposited in court. In a fraud case, I have to explain, in simple words, how the fraud occurred, who is concerned and what amount was misappropriated. In a loss quantification report, I would explain the context of the litigation, what I was asked to quantify (usually damages) and my opinion on the amount of loss with detailed calculations. I testify before the judge to explain my findings, which serve as evidence to accuse the [defendant].” Allard goes on to point out that “there’s a big part of creativity in my work, which is not a word that we usually associate with accountants.”
Every case that Allard investigates presents a new puzzle, requiring him to think like the perpetrator of a fraud, “to be in his shoes and imagine how he would have done this.” Approaches and methodologies must be constantly adapted and invented to solve each problem. “I had an engagement where the CFO of a business was suspected of fraud. I performed the investigation while the CFO was away for a conference. Accordingly, I designed the work plan to target riskier areas involving the CFO — in that case, his expense reports and wire transfers.
However, we later found that it was the CFO’s assistant who was perpetrating the fraud. So I had to elaborate a whole new strategy, since he knew we were investigating the business and he was guiding us on false tracks!”
A curious feature of this branch of accounting is that numbers take a back seat. “My job is mostly writing words,” says Allard, “which is a bit unusual for an accountant.” He likens his task to that of a teacher, who must explain to the judge how a particular fraud may have been committed. To be successful, the presentation must be kept simple, with a minimum of accounting jargon. Allard says this is a job he could do for the rest of his life.
“In forensic accounting, you feel that your work is very useful,” he explains. “A lot of the time, especially during the investigation, the client is in a panic, he doesn’t know what to do. He has lost a lot of money and he needs help. And you are there to help him, and that feeling is very rewarding.”
How many hours a week do you work?