JULY 2016

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Auditing Attestation vs. Investigative Accounting

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We are grateful to have the opportunity to provide you this valuable information via our monthly e-newsletter and our unparalleled forensic accounting and investigative services.

The goal of this e-newsletter is to provide you critical, inside information that will help you prevail when defending an IRS criminal case. We will do this by sharing the knowledge we have from our 25+ years of experience as an IRS Special Agent.

We take special care to ensure the information we provide you in "The Beacon" is the latest and most current information available.
In this edition, we explain Auditing Attestation vs. Investigative Accounting.

We want to write about topics that will assist you in prevailing with criminal IRS cases. Please e-mail us your topics of interest to Thebeacon@sageinvestigations.com

We encourage you to share our e-newsletter with others in your sphere of influence.

Sincerely,

Edmond J. Martin

Principal, Chief Investigator
Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE)

Texas Certified Investigator (TCI)

Auditing Attestation vs. Investigative Accounting

A Certified Public Accountant (CPA) is an accounting professional who has passed the Uniform CPA examination and has met all additional state certification and experience requirements. This is done by acquiring the necessary college credits by studying accounting, economics, statistics, and business. Generally, they do not have any training or experience in criminal law and the development of evidence of fraud-either oral or written.

In contrast, a Treasury Department-Internal Revenue Service-Special Agent is a professional investigator, generally with a degree in accounting, and possibly a CPA. This individual is trained in income tax law, procedure, and other federal law violations, including money laundering, Ponzi schemes, advanced fees schemes, structuring, and other financial crimes. They are trained to recognize fraudulent activities, and how to use indirect methods of proof to prove unreported income, because they seldom see a set of books. They are trained in how to interview taxpayers and witnesses to develop evidence, and how to write memorandums of interview, Special Agent Reports, and search warrants. They learn over their career how to work with the United States Attorney's office and other State and Federal agencies, and they testify before Federal grand juries and in Federal and State Courts. In addition, Special Agents are trained and skilled in the development of willfulness and intent, which is a key element in proving criminal violations of the Internal Revenue Code. Intent is developed by statements and actions of the taxpayer and is generally determined through inference drawn from circumstantial evidence.

Retired Special Agents are specifically suited to proving civil torts. They are instrumental in divorces in community property states, using their skills to analyze bank records and follow money to locate hidden assets, trace funds of separate and community property, and to help inventory and divide the marital estate. They can be used to analyze and follow money in an estate and trust matter where the trustee takes money for his personal use and deprives the other family members of their share as dictated in the will. They can be used by attorneys as an expert witness to assist in proving theft by a partner or a corporate financial officer. They can use their knowledge of indirect methods to help defend a...

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At Sage Investigations we are dedicated to serving our clients nationally, to help them navigate the difficulties of dealing with the IRS, and other complex (forensic) financial fraud investigations both civil and criminal. By narrowing our focus to our primary strength of following the money, we steer our knowledge, efforts, and experience to financial issues. We help our clients propel their cases forward by assisting in the review, acquisition, and organization of financial records, evaluating the elements of their cases, and helping create winning strategies. Through the use of our proprietary advanced financial investigative technology we analyze complex financial data quickly, easily and efficiently, saving our client's time and money.

Sage handles all cases with altruism, professionalism, honesty, integrity, passion and respect. When you hire Sage, you hire a team of professionals with skill and knowledge that helps you have more effective solutions. We are innovative with our DIO cutting edge technology, and perform every investigation in an orderly and organized manner to develop a clear investigative roadmap and deliver a quality work product. The compass that guides us is strong leadership and accountability. Learn more...

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Austin, TX 78716

Phone: 512-659-3179

Fax: 512-328-6878

Email: info@SageInvestigations.com

www.sageinvestigations.com

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