Skip to main content

Labelmakers Case


A forensic accountant’s role in a civil action is usually to draw out information from accounting records and establish relevant facts (Fenton & Isaacs, 2012). In the Labelmakers Group Pty Ltd v LL Force Pty Ltd case two forensic accountants were engaged by each party to examine relevant records and provide reports. They were required to calculate the profit margin, discount rate, loss of profit on paper sales and accounts of profits. The profit margin was calculated to identify losses of sales revenue and to indicate the impact of clients transferring their business away. The discount rate was calculated to be applied in calculating the quantum of the applicant’s losses as a result of the respondents misconduct in order to assist in recognising the resulting damages of each party. The loss of profit on paper sales was calculated to identify the implications of lost business on paper quantity ordered and the revenue from these sales.  Under the accounts of profits, net profit was compared to the profits attributable to the former clients for easy comparison. Capital profits were also calculated to establish the investment gain through shares in LL Force (Labelmakers Group Pty Ltd v LL Force Pty Ltd, 2013).

In a case where both parties believe the other is in the wrong, I believe it is critical for a forensic accountant to be impartial to all involved. An ethical forensic accounting process must be unbiased to increase the chances of a successful outcome (Shapiro, 2015). Accountants must follow fair guidelines in their nature, timing, documentation and communication of results to enable more creditable and high-quality decisions to be made (Shapiro, 2015).


References


Fenton Jr, E. D., & Isaacs, P. (2012). Preparing Deposition Questions: The Critical Role of the Forensic Accountant. Journal of Forensic & Investigative Accounting4(1). 
Labelmakers Group Pty Ltd v LL Force Pty Ltd (No 3) [2013] FCA 1059

Shapiro, D. M. (2015, September 2). FORENSIC ACCOUNTING: BEYOND THE COURTROOM
Retrieved from Strategic Finance: https://sfmagazine.com/post-entry/september-2015-forensic-
accounting-beyond-the-courtroom/

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Strict/Vicarious Liability

Under strict/vicarious liability an employer can be held liable for the actions of their employees even if the employee engages in criminal or fraudulent behaviour (Smit & Viviers, 2016). In Australia, liability can arise under contract law, tort, criminal law or other statutes (Ryding & Reisz, 2016) . I do agree that making employers liable for their employee’s actions is a great motivation to minimise fraud, bribery and corruption; however, I disagree that it is the only solution. The backhand in a workplace could be that an employer withholds information that might lead to the conviction of an employee in the fear that they will become equally convicted initiating another area of fraud. The Royal Commission produced a report into misconduct in the banking, superannuation and financial services industry that identified types of crime. Vendor fraud was a main issue of the report due to banks charging fees for services that were not provided (Hayne, 2017) . Vica

Risk Management

Risk management is a major component of IT Governance set to protect against fraud, bribery and corruption. Due to the increasing use of IT in all organisations, IT Governance must continuously evolve to manage the increasing need for higher risk management (Pasquini & Galie, 2013) . Accurate IT governance should have the ability to identify, monitor and report on the level at which IT risks are managed along with how much they need to be managed (von Solms, 2005) . HR managers can implement fraud prevention strategies such as top-down control and trust-building practices into their organisation, however these strategies do not address every aspect of fraud, like opportunity (Niehoff & Paul, 2000) . HR managers along with the use of IT Governance can effectively implement controls within an organisation to prevent fraud. COBIT 5 provides guidance through enablers to contribute to the overall governance and management of risk. Processes identify an