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The global corporate scandals have necessitated the need for conducting corporate investigations in order to ensure transparency in business practices along with assuring the time value of money in crisis situations. In this context, Chen, Parsley & Yang (2015) stated that corporate investigation is a systematic examination of a business or entity for uncovering the malpractices of the management, staffs or third parties. These investigations have various aspects and they could vary considerably depending on business needs. For instance, with the help of corporate investigations, it is possible to ascertain the legitimacy of a business partner, honesty of an employee along with identifying any embezzlement and fraud. In such situations, the primary role of the corporate investigators is to ensure smooth running of the business operations within lawful jurisdictions.
The current assignment would lay stress on highlighting the types of corporate investigation. In addition, the significance of professionalising the role of the investigators in providing time value of money in austerity would be discussed as well. Furthermore, it would concentrate on the need of corporate investigation in the current business environment. Finally, the assignment would shed light on the ways that corporate investigations could be carried out after professionalising the role of the investigators.
Based on the nature of the investigations within the organisations, the investigators would carry out one or multiple investigations, which are elucidated as follows:
By working in combination with the organisation, it would be easy for an investigator to have a thorough look on the misconducts of an employee, which could be in the form of theft, harassment or substance abuse (Comer, 2017). In order to carry out this investigation, the investigators often tend to use covert surveillance.
It might be necessary for the investigators to carry out research for obtaining information about the other organisations involved in businesses with the home organisations for mergers, acquisitions, venture capital, joint ventures, investments and private equity. The investigators could conduct detailed background checks of the employees as well (Dyreng et al., 2017).
The investigators appointed for a financial investigation could explore money laundering, embezzlement, fraud and other professional crimes.
The electronic records could help the investigators to collect information, which is preserved electronically for obtaining needed evidence. As a result, the lost data could be restored as well.
The investigators attempting to uncover corruption could uncover illicit foreign exchange, bribery, industrial surveillance and corporate fraud.
The developed nations have already started to professionalise the role of the investigators in order to minimise the corporate frauds and other misconducts. However, this is yet to make its mark on the global arena. The advantages that could be sought by professionalising the role of the investigators in the corporate sector are summarised as follows:
By professionalising the role of the financial investigations, collection and detailed evaluation could be assured. The aspect of collection includes looking through various financial documents (Garrett, 2015). These might be in the form of records related to bank accounts, files of real estate, motor vehicles and computer files. The professional investigators could utilise the computer forensics for identifying pertinent information with the prior permission of the organisation. The data collected would be evaluated to identify the location and flow of money. For instance, this investigation is helpful in mergers and acquisitions, partnership conflicts and corporate internal investigations.
When the role of the investigators is professionalised, investigation could be carried out in relation to the management of an organisation, its finances, mission, performance, aims, history and clients detailing the business functions. This is necessary for identifying hidden liabilities that could cause trouble to the organisation, if inflation takes place (Gottschalk, 2015). In this process, the investigators would review the public records; communicate with the clients along with contacting cross-border units to determine the potential and legitimacy of an organisation. With the help of professionalising the investigator role, the particular methods based on the investigation needs could be ascertained. Due diligence investigation is vital before merger, acquisition and company purchase.
In case, the management believes that the organisation has breached any law or other related regulations, it could seek to avoid legal problems by examining the issue along with identifying the main individuals involved (Gottschalk, 2017). If the investigators are professionalised, the organisation would carry out internal investigation by appointing a professional in demonstrating cooperation and conformance to the authorities.
In the words of Gottschalk (2018), loss, data theft and hacking are increasing with the passage of time in the corporate organisations. At the time there is occurrence of proprietary data, it might not be the output of a sophisticated hack. Most significantly, this might occur due to any disgruntled staff or a common error in security privileges, which permitted an unauthorised individual within the organisation to access data. The corporate investigators could identify these breaches, which would help the organisation to conform to the prevailing laws by adopting appropriate actions.
This could take into account simple corporate espionage or staff theft of the intellectual property of the organisation. By appointing a professional investigator, the organisation could detect such infringement and as a result, the organisation could be safe from legal proceedings.
As laid out by Markham (2015), corruption could have negative repercussion on the business performance and public trust on the firm. With the help of professionalised investigators, the kickbacks, inappropriate conducts exercised on the part of the staffs in association with the public officials or representatives of other organisations and improper payments could be identified. Such tight control would help in maintain transparency within the organisation and this would enable it in combating during inflationary conditions.
This comprises of various items that take into account false claims made on the part of the competitors to fraudulent reviews in the social media websites. With the help of the professionalised investors, the organisation could detect the individuals associated for eliminating reviews along with ceasing and desist papers could be served or other suitable actions undertaken (McNeil & Brian, 2017).
The business entities utilise corporate investigations for proving unsuspected illicit activity along with preventing from the potential. As the organisation is worried about its well-being, a professionalised investigator is an impartial source, which could provide with consistent information (Meerts, 2016). Most often, the big organisations would have investigators on retainer or they have internal investigators in order to keep them aware of each facet of their organisations. The presence of such information would help in ensuring their success.
In addition, if the organisations are encountering staff dishonesty, financial discrepancy or if any doubt is raised regarding their legitimacy, the corporate investigators could depict evidences that are obtained professionally and legally (Rugman & Verbeke, 2017). Thus, by professionalising the role of the investigators, future incidents like austerity could be prevented.
After professionalising the role of the investigators, the focus areas of the corporate investigations are described as follows:
In each investigation, the initial step is to gather evidence rapidly before its destruction. The investigators would gather electronic evidence such as emails, accounting information, chat logs and other information, which are crucial at a later point of time during the investigation.
With the help of undercover investigations, the private investigators could gain a better insight of the practices and culture existing in the workplace, which might not be visible to the management, investors and board (Pollman, 2014).
Based on the nature of the investigation, various kinds of research would be conducted. This could be a financial research, in which the investigators would accumulate reports on the staffs, vendors and organisations for which they are working in order to search for irregularities. This might represent malpractices (Richman, 2014). Accounting research is something, in which theft or embezzlement is taking place, evidence is kept hidden in the accounts. The skilled investigators understand the way of combing accounts to identify irregularities, duplicate or unusual transactions and other discrepancies.
Interviewing the staffs is another kind of research, which could be highly productive. In case of each bad act, an individual would be present having a sound knowledge of responsibility associated with the law, the organisations and fellow staffs who are wronged (Webb, Tarun & Molo, 2016). It is often possible to find out the individuals accountable for misconduct ore fraud by asking questions to the right individuals.
When the role of the investigators is professionalised, investigation could be carried out in relation to the management of an organisation, its finances, mission, performance, aims, history and clients detailing the business functions. This is necessary for identifying hidden liabilities that could cause trouble to the organisation, if inflation takes place (Wells, 2017). In this process, the investigators would review the public records; communicate with the clients along with contacting cross-border units to determine the potential and legitimacy of an organisation. With the help of professionalising the investigator role, the particular methods based on the investigation needs could be ascertained. Due diligence investigation is vital before merger, acquisition and company purchase.
At the time there is occurrence of proprietary data, it might not be the output of a sophisticated hack. Most significantly, this might occur due to any disgruntled staff or a common error in security privileges, which permitted an unauthorised individual within the organisation to access data. The corporate investigators could identify these breaches, which would help the organisation to conform to the prevailing laws by adopting appropriate actions. It might be necessary for the investigators to carry out research for obtaining information about the other organisations involved in businesses with the home organisations for mergers, acquisitions, venture capital, joint ventures, investments and private equity. The investigators could conduct detailed background checks of the employees as well (Zhou, Faff & Alpert, 2014).
These investigations have various aspects and they could vary considerably depending on business needs. For instance, with the help of corporate investigations, it is possible to ascertain the legitimacy of a business partner, honesty of an employee along with identifying any embezzlement and fraud. In such situations, the primary role of the corporate investigators is to ensure smooth running of the business operations within lawful jurisdictions.
Based on the above discussion, it could be found out that the global corporate scandals have necessitated the need for conducting corporate investigations in order to ensure transparency in business practices along with assuring the time value of money in crisis situations. By working in combination with the organisation, it would be easy for an investigator to have a thorough look on the misconducts of an employee, which could be in the form of theft, harassment or substance abuse. In order to carry out this investigation, the investigators often tend to use covert surveillance.
When the role of the investigators is professionalised, investigation could be carried out in relation to the management of an organisation, its finances, mission, performance, aims, history and clients detailing the business functions. This is necessary for identifying hidden liabilities that could cause trouble to the organisation, if inflation takes place. At the time there is occurrence of proprietary data, it might not be the output of a sophisticated hack. Most significantly, this might occur due to any disgruntled staff or a common error in security privileges, which permitted an unauthorised individual within the organisation to access data. The corporate investigators could identify these breaches, which would help the organisation to conform to the prevailing laws by adopting appropriate actions.
In addition, if the organisations are encountering staff dishonesty, financial discrepancy or if any doubt is raised regarding their legitimacy, the corporate investigators could depict evidences that are obtained professionally and legally. Thus, by professionalising the role of the investigators, future incidents like austerity could be prevented.
Chen, H., Parsley, D., & Yang, Y. W. (2015). Corporate lobbying and firm performance. Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, 42(3-4), 444-481.
Comer, M. J. (2017). Corporate fraud. Routledge.
Dyreng, S. D., Hanlon, M., Maydew, E. L., & Thornock, J. R. (2017). Changes in corporate effective tax rates over the past 25 years. Journal of Financial Economics, 124(3), 441-463.
Garrett, B. L. (2015). The Corporate Criminal as Scapegoat. Virginia Law Review, 1789-1853.
Gottschalk, P. (2015). Internal Investigations of Economic Crime: Corporate Case Studies and Regulatory Policy. Universal-Publishers.
Gottschalk, P. (2017). Evaluation of Fraud Examinations: A Contingent Approach to Private Internal Investigations. Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice.
Gottschalk, P. (2018). Private Internal Investigations. In Investigating White-Collar Crime (pp. 43-55). Springer, Cham.
Markham, J. W. (2015). A financial history of modern US corporate scandals: From Enron to reform. Routledge.
McNeil, B. F., & Brian, B. D. (2017). Overview: Initiating an Internal Investigation and Assembling the Investigative Team. Internal Corporate Investigations, 1, 10-11.
Meerts, C. (2016). A World Apart: Private Investigations in the Corporate Sector. Erasmus L. Rev., 9, 162.
Pollman, E. (2014). A Corporate Right to Privacy. Minn. L. Rev., 99, 27.
Richman, D. C. (2014). Corporate headhunting. Harv. L. & Pol'y Rev., 8, 265.
Rugman, A., & Verbeke, A. (2017). Global corporate strategy and trade policy. Routledge.
Webb, D. K., Tarun, R. W., & Molo, S. F. (2016). Corporate Internal Investigations. Law Journal Press.
Wells, J. T. (2017). Corporate fraud handbook: Prevention and detection. John Wiley & Sons.
Zhou, Q., Faff, R., & Alpert, K. (2014). Bias correction in the estimation of dynamic panel models in corporate finance. Journal of Corporate Finance, 25, 494-513.
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