David Anderson is principal of David Anderson & Associates, a Philadelphia forensic accounting firm that provides a full range of fraud investigation, forensic accounting and marital dissolution services in Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley. On TV, especially in police procedurals, fraud investigators are able to access banking records, credit card information and tax returns within minutes of identifying the perpetrator. In addition, they are able to easily identify fraudulent activity by briefly viewing these records. Unfortunately, this is seldom the case in the real world. Neverthel ..read more

David Anderson is principal of David Anderson & Associates, a Philadelphia forensic accounting firm that provides a full range of fraud investigation, forensic accounting and marital dissolution services in Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley. In my previous discussions about the Fraud Triangle – the three factors that must be present for fraud to occur – one of those factors was Rationalization: The mental process a potential fraudster goes through to justify committing the fraud. Without being able to rationalize to oneself why it is OK to commit the fraud, a potential fraudster with Op ..read more

David Anderson is principal of David Anderson & Associates, a Philadelphia forensic accounting firm that provides a full range of fraud investigation, forensic accounting and marital dissolution services in Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley. Among the less-frequent but more-expensive frauds are those targeting Accounts Receivable.  In this column, I’ll discuss some of the Accounts Receivable-related frauds I have encountered. Fraudsters can manipulate Accounts Receivable to conceal their diversion of payments made by customers.  A common element of these diversions is that the ..read more

David Anderson is principal of David Anderson & Associates, a Philadelphia forensic accounting firm that provides a full range of fraud investigation, forensic accounting and marital dissolution services in Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley. Family arguments over such minor issues as toys, chores, or family rules are quite common among siblings, cousins, and other relations. However, these youngsters often grow up and get engaged in more meaningful, and significant, disagreements over trusts, estates, and other inheritance issues. This is where the services of a forensic accountant can ..read more

David Anderson is principal of David Anderson & Associates, a Philadelphia forensic accounting firm that provides a full range of business valuation and other forensic accounting services in Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley.  This is the last of a five-part series in which Anderson reviews the basics of business valuation. The process of determining the worth of a business is a complicated one. A business valuation expert must undertake a series of preliminary steps to set the groundwork and then consider the value of the business from three very distinct approaches before forming ..read more

David Anderson is principal of David Anderson & Associates, a Philadelphia forensic accounting firm that provides a full range of business valuation and other forensic accounting services in Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley. This is the fourth of a five-part series in which Anderson reviews the basics of business valuation. Business valuation experts must undertake a series of preliminary steps to set the groundwork for determining the worth of a business.  Once those steps are complete, valuators must consider three very distinct approaches to valuing a business. In earlier posti ..read more

David Anderson is principal of David Anderson & Associates, a Philadelphia forensic accounting firm that provides a full range of business valuation and other forensic accounting services in Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley.  This is the third of a five-part series in which Anderson reviews the basics of business valuation. Determining the worth of your business can be quite complicated. Before the actual business valuation can begin, several steps must be taken. “The value of a business often depends on the earnings it generates,” said David Anderson, a business valuation expert ..read more

David Anderson is principal of David Anderson & Associates, a Philadelphia forensic accounting firm that provides a full range of business valuation and other forensic accounting services in Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley. This is the second of a five-part series in which Anderson reviews the basics of business valuation. Knowing how to calculate a value of your business that is fair and accurate is a skill with which every corporate principal should be familiar. “You don’t want to rely on estimates, gut instinct, or rumored calculation methods to determine business value,” said Davi ..read more

David Anderson is principal of David Anderson & Associates, a Philadelphia forensic accounting firm that provides a full range of business valuation and other forensic accounting services in Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley. This is the first of a five-part series in which Anderson reviews the basics of business valuation. Do you know what your business is worth? If not, you probably should. There are many reasons why it’s important to know. These can range from business reasons, such as calculations related to any acquisitions or mergers, to personal issues of estate planning and reso ..read more

David Anderson is principal of David Anderson & Associates, a Philadelphia forensic accounting firm that provides a full range of forensic accounting services including fraud investigation and fraud deterrence programs in Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley. The decision to end a marriage is a messy affair that becomes undoubtedly more complicated when the division of property includes a business that must be valued; the situation becomes even trickier when claims of unreported cash transactions taking place in that business are involved. In these cases, determining a fair value for the b ..read more