Is a Lifestyle Analysis Simply Data Entry? – Fraud Files Blog

When completing a lifestyle analysis in a divorce or child support case, I am often asked whether my work is simply data entry. Why does a forensic accountant need to do the lifestyle analysis? Can’t anyone with a bit of accounting training do it?

As Tracy discusses in the video below, a lifestyle analysis is much more than a data entry exercise. There is a high level of quality control needed to ensure that all transactions are included in the analysis, and that none are duplicated. In larger cases, this gets complicated because of the high volume of data to manage. The divorce client needs an expert who can handle this volume of data AND maintain the integrity of the data.

The data must also be categorized and analyzed in multiple different ways. This isn’t a task for a rookie. It takes a forensic accounting expert to drill down into the numbers, to know what problems to look for, and the make reasonable estimates and judgments.