Financial Pros Add ‘Expert Witness’ to Résumés

Small, midsize firms encourage employees to get specialized training to help in winning clients.

So writes Eilene Zimmerman in Crain’s New York Business, where she mentions American Institute for Expert Witness Education (AIEWE) courses:

Sareena Sawhney is a detective of sorts. As a certified forensic financial analyst, she exposes a hidden world of fraud and negligence by analyzing financial transactions and reconstructing accounting records. Ms. Sawhney, a certified fraud examiner, is a director in the litigation and corporate financial advisory services group at Marks Paneth & Shron in midtown Manhattan. She investigates fraud for corporate and nonprofit organizations and determines if and how fraud took place.

Those findings can be used in litigation. To get a leg up on the witness stand, Ms. Sawhney recently took the National Association of Certified Valuation Analysts’ three-day expert witness training, known as Litigation Boot Camp, in Jersey City.

“In cross-examination, there can be some pretty grueling questions,” said Ms. Sawhney. “You learn what you can expect to be asked and how to avoid being tricked by the opposing attorney.” The program not only improved her skills, she says, but also gave her a niche specialization that can be touted in marketing the accounting firm’s services to its clients. The cost ranges from $1,890 to $2,750 per individual, depending on factors such as membership in the NACVA.

The American Institute for Expert Witness Education offers expert witness training, education, and resources

The article also quotes Michael G. Kaplan:

Forensic CPA Michael G. Kaplan heads the AIEWE and teaches its boot camp classes in New York and other cities. The founder of Kaplan Forensics in Los Angeles, Mr. Kaplan has testified as an expert witness in more than 250 cases. He says that, after the financial scandals at Enron and Arthur Andersen, “it became clear there was quite a bit of fraud going on in the world of accounting. Those cases raised the stature of forensic accounting, which continues to evolve. And the minute you move into forensics,” he said, “you get called into the courtroom.”