TTOG4610 - Investigation work: business side examinations: FPU Accountancy Involvement

The involvement of Finance Professional Unit (FPU) accountants is quite fundamental where a business side examination is required. In some cases the importance of the business side of the case may have been evident from the Review stage onwards. In these cases it may well be that the Team Leader has been able to allocate an FPU accountant to work in tandem with the Investigator from the outset. In many cases the FPU accountant will have been present with the Investigator at the opening meeting.

In cases where the FPU accountant has come to the case at a later stage the Investigator should summarise the position reached and the reasons why a business side examination is considered worthwhile, in the form of a Customer Agreement agreed with the FPU accountant. See TTOG10030 

In Code 9 cases the nature of any disclosures that have been made should be set out with the Investigator’s views on the overall private side position, and any relevant further issues, insofar as they have emerged at that point.

FPU accountants should also be consulted in Code 8 cases.

Whichever Code of Practice the case is being worked under, the FPU accountant should be consulted at the earliest stage possible in the life of the case.

FPU accountants should be given clear instructions about the areas they should concentrate on or examine in detail. However they should be conscious at all times of areas outside their brief where irregularities are considered, or discovered to have occurred.

Close liaison with the Investigator is essential in such circumstances so that the most productive use is made of the accountant’s time.