How to Approach Life or Death Issues

Video Transcript 

My name's Robert Bonavito, New Jersey Forensic Accountant. This video is part of a series of videos where I discuss forensic accounting topics for educational purposes only. If this was a litigated manner, I would take a different approach, have different conclusions based on different facts and circumstances.

As a forensic accountant, we deal with some very big issues that usually have far reaching and long effects, and you know, when we testify in court, we realized that we're not just dealing with, you know, damages. Because when we testify in damages, for breach of contract or something like that, a lot of times, if we don't win our argument or explain it in a easily understood way, companies can go out of business, employees can lose their jobs.

It's very important that we present the facts in such a way that could be easily understood because actually, we're not gonna testify unless we really believe what we're saying is the truth. But, you know, some cases we get involved with may involve matrimonial issues where one spouse is very sick and they need to obtain very expensive healthcare, and we will have to go and testify as to the value of a part of a company they own, or alimony issues. And if we don't convince, or at least portray that, so that she should...the spouse should get the appropriate award, they're not gonna be able to afford that treatment.

You know, they need a house, they need treatment, they need to be near the kids, etc., etc. So as a forensic accountant, the issues we deal with are, we realized, are much more important than just, you know, dollars and numbers because they do have, like I said, far-reaching effects. And, you know, a lot of students will call me up and people will be wondering and I explained, I say, "Listen, this is not all fun and games, this is very serious business. You need to know the facts, you need to know the presented facts, and you need to be truthful and honest so that...because if you make a critical mistake, if it be...the damage of you could be substantial."

My name's Robert Bonavito. If you have any questions on this video, please feel free to email me.