At FAS, we provide expert financial analysis and damage calculations for attorneys, insurance adjusters, and individuals involved in civil and criminal cases, anywhere in the United States.
○ Personal injury and wrongful death
○ Business interruption and vehicle downtime
○ Breach of contract and patent infringement
○ Trust, estate, and family law
○ Theft, fraud, and embezzlement
○ Financial elder abuse investigations
It’s a specialized field of accounting that looks at disputed financial issues. These can be how much money someone lost when they couldn't work after a car accident, business losses following a fire, or suspected fraud or embezzlement. Because these kinds of disputes can end up in court, a forensic accountant has to apply legal standards to their work as well as accounting standards.
We help our clients understand the financial issues in their dispute so that they can make decisions about how to move forward. We gather and analyze relevant documents, form opinions, and walk our clients through their options. If needed, we provide written or verbal testimony in court or other legal proceedings.
At FAS, we believe that being able to describe our work in plain language is just as important as having accurate, well-supported opinions in the first place. We have more than twenty years of experience in making sure that we can explain our calculations to people who aren’t financial experts—including judges, attorneys, law enforcement, and juries.
An effective forensic accountant will find answers for the financial questions in your case and provide you with the best way to present that information. As experts, we will help you understand the issues so you can make the most informed decisions for your clients.
Along with our calculations, we can also assist you with:
○ discovery, including identifying financial accounts and other useful information
○ evaluating the other side’s calculations and reports
○ interrogatory and deposition questions
○ determining the strengths and weaknesses of your case
We calculate financial losses, including lost earnings, household services, and personal consumption. If needed, this includes the value of a life care plan. Loss estimates are discounted to today’s dollars as appropriate.
We determine lost profits and other damages to business entities like corporations, s-corps, LLCs, and partnerships. These losses may be due to fires and floods, breach of contract, patent infringement, equipment and vehicle downtime, or other business interruptions.
We document income and expenses and investigate possible diverted funds from trusts, estates, and businesses for couples involved in divorces. We closely examine financial records to locate potential hidden assets.
We investigate suspected theft and embezzlement from small businesses, private investors, and non-profit organizations. We help determine the scope of the problem and identify ways to prevent it from happening again.
We calculate losses in employment disputes, including lost wages, benefits, and other damages. We estimate the tax effects of potential awards as required by the legal jurisdiction.
We work with attorneys, family members, estate executors, and law enforcement to analyze suspected financial elder abuse for both civil and criminal cases.
Oregon is a ‘trial by ambush’ state — one without depositions or an exchange of expert reports in most cases. Oregon experts need to think about a case from all angles, including the possible arguments that the other side could use. When a case goes to trial, we have to be ready for anything.
Here at FAS, we bring that kind of in-depth perspective to every case, whether it’s inside or outside the state.
We are Oregon's first CPA firm devoted exclusively to forensic accounting engagements. Founded in 1989 by Gregson Parker and assumed in 2017 by Rebecca Newman, we work with attorneys, insurance adjusters, business owners, law enforcement, and individuals throughout the U.S.
With more than 20 years of experience in forensic accounting, Rebecca has testified in both civil and criminal proceedings, and provided expert testimony in six states and federal court. Her clients include business owners, plaintiff and defense attorneys, insurance adjusters, and criminal prosecution and defense.
Rebecca joined the staff of FAS in September 2000 with a Master’s Degree from Portland State University and a background in math and communication. After fourteen years working directly under Gregson Parker on hundreds of cases, she decided to pursue the qualifications to testify as an expert. She received a post-baccalaureate certificate in accounting in 2015, earned her CPA in 2016, and became a Certified Fraud Examiner in 2017.
Rebecca Newman CPA, CFE
Here are some recent cases where our assistance made a difference.
The doctor wasn’t sure how to estimate the amount of the theft, or what he needed in order to prove the loss to his insurance company and the police.
We were able to identify the records he already had that would show the missing cash, and use them to calculate the total amount of the theft. The doctor took our worksheets to the police. The suspect was arrested and convicted, thanks to our work on the case, and the doctor recovered thousands of dollars in restitution.
The insurance company had offered a settlement for her lost earnings, but the woman thought that the offer was too low because she had been on family leave for part of the previous year. Her attorney contacted us to calculate her lost earnings and see what was supported by the documents.
We created worksheets to illustrate how her earnings had gone back to previous levels right before the accident, and used that to calculate her loss. When the case went to trial, the jury accepted our numbers and awarded the woman her lost earnings based on our calculations.
There were several businesses on the ground floor that had partial or total closures because of water damage and the repairs.
We were hired by the insurance adjuster to calculate lost earnings for those closures. We contacted the claimants directly and gathered the documents needed to determine their lost revenue, continuing expenses, and additional expenses.
We provided the adjuster with worksheets showing the past losses and estimating future losses for repairs that had not been completed. The adjuster was able to settle these claims faster with our help.
The wife's attorney contacted us to document the husband’s income for support purposes, and to see if there were any signs of hidden assets. We investigated the business financial records and documented where the funds went and what assets had been purchased with them. The attorney leveraged our worksheets to obtain a favorable judgment for his client.
The state had produced many reports, but the defense attorney thought they didn't add up. We helped them identify which documents were incomplete and draft additional document requests and subpoenas.
After several months of failing to receive the needed documents, the defense attorney was able to successfully move to exclude the incomplete and unsupported information. With our help and testimony, the charges were dismissed.
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