Bethesda, Md. (March 15, 2004) -- Growing demand for computer-related forensic accounting services has prompted regional CPA firm Klausner Dubinsky & Associates, based here, to form a separate practice that specializes in those services.
Newly launched U.S. Data Forensics specializes in computer forensic examinations and fraud investigations for law firms, accountants and other fraud specialists, and businesses and organizations themselves. Certified Fraud Examiners Cal Klausner and Bruce Dubinsky serve as partners. Philip Rodokanakis, CFE consultant and former head of the Washington chapter of the Association of CFEs, serves as managing partner.
Klausner said the CPA firm’s new affiliate is mainly about creating efficiency for their fastest growing niche service. The CPA firm has been involved in fraud investigation work for nearly six years, but found lately that most of its work has been analyzing computer hard drives in order to detect fraud.
“What we found is too much of a delay between the time we physically take the computer and get an outside consultant to image the hard drives, analyze them, and report to us,” Klausner said. “Even then, these aren’t trained forensic accountants and they don’t always know what to look for. Now, we have the ability to do all that and often solve a crime in-house.”
Klausner said that having a trained technical and CFE staff and a fully functional lab at the ready is paying off -- the firm was able to solve a recent fraud case within 24 hours, rather than the weeks it used to take.
“The CFO of an area nonprofit came to us stating there was $200,000 in missing checks that had allegedly been sent to bogus vendors,” Klausner said. “They had two or three suspects but when we seized the hard drives and put them in our lab, we were able to track the money and who was sending it out through deleted e-mails. They came to us on a Wednesday afternoon with this -- by Friday morning we had a confession from the suspect.”
Klausner also said USDF is in talks with employment attorneys about examining computer hard drives when employees leave under “questionable” circumstances. His lab is also designing software businesses can install in their accounting systems that will flag questionable activity.
-- Seth Fineberg
