On The Credit Mechanism Of Forensic Accounting Expert Opinions

The economic prosperity of modern society makes forensic accounting appraisal more and more important in litigation activities.Due to the complexity and particularity of economic cases,judges and judicial personnel without financial accounting knowledge are often unable to judge and solve the financial and accounting problems encountered in the case by virtue of their legal knowledge,experience and common sense.Therefore,it is necessary to entrust a third party with specialized knowledge,that is,forensic accounting experts,to help them identify and characterize the facts of the case,so as to provide professional support for the smooth progress of the investigation stage and court trial stage of litigation activities.In recent years,driven by the reform and innovation of judicial mechanism in China,the legal and professional environment of forensic accounting appraisal has been further improved.However,as the result of forensic appraisal activities,the credit mechanism of forensic accounting expert opinions is in urgent need of improvement.Based on the evidence attributes of expert opinions,this paper focuses on the analysis of the acceptance of expert opinions in practical cases,combining with the main content of the credit mechanism of forensic accounting expert opinions(admissibility,cross-examination and acceptance of expert opinions).It is hoped that some appropriate and reasonable suggestions can be put forward for the perfection of the credit mechanism.This paper adopts the case analysis method,inductive analysis method and comparative study method.Firstly,this paper states the related concepts and the theoretical basis of the credit mechanism of forensic accounting expert opinions,and sorts out the papers related to the credit mechanism,credit standard and improvement of the credit mechanism in domestic and foreign papers,and confirms the necessity of the research in this paper.Secondly,this paper elaborates the analytical framework of the credit mechanism of forensic accounting expert opinions,and clarifies the standards and rules for the admissibility of expert opinions,the emphases for the parties and their lawyers to cross-examine expert opinion,and the considerations of the judges in adopting expert opinions.Next to it,this paper points out the status quo of expert opinion credit,and analyzes the problems existing in credit from the appraisal standard,the qualification of the appraisal subject and the specification of the expert opinion.Then,this paper selects the LT company’s equity transfer dispute case as a case study,and introduces the overall situation of the case from the perspective of the background of the case,the two appraisal institutions involved,and the credit of forensic accounting expert opinions.Finally,based on the analysis framework of the credit mechanism of expert opinions,this paper makes a specific analysis and summary of the credit of expert opinions in equity transfer dispute case combined with the evidence attributes of expert opinions.The conclusions of this paper show that in actual cases,the credit of forensic accounting expert opinions has the following performance.First of all,the forensic accounting expert opinions will be recognized by the judge only when it meets certain standards.The lack of credibility of the expert opinions and the inconsistency between the expert opinions and the financial accounting facts that need to be investigated in the case will lead to the lack of evidential capacity and admissibility of the expert opinions.Moreover,the forensic accounting expert testifies in court to explain the doubts in the case is more conducive to the parties and their lawyers to fully cross-examine the forensic accounting expert opinions,and helps the judge to correctly review and judge the science and reliability of forensic accounting appraisal.At last,the judge will comprehensively consider the appropriateness of accounting and auditing methods,techniques and theories used in the formation of forensic accounting expert opinions,and form his final judgment on the validity and acceptance of forensic accounting expert opinions based on the full cross-examination of both parties and their lawyers.Through the analysis of the acceptance of forensic accounting expert opinions in the case of LT Company’s equity transfer dispute,this paper proposes suggestions on the improvement of the credit mechanism of forensic accounting expert opinions from four aspects,providing reference for the development direction of forensic accounting appraisal theory and appraisal business in the future.The first is to establish the qualification system of forensic accounting experts,and clarify the qualification and status of them.The second is to enact the forensic accounting appraisal standards,namely,formulate appraisal management standard and technical standard.The third is to implement the cross-examination of forensic accounting expert opinions,requiring experts to appear in court,and implement the cross-examination rules.The last is to promote the system of expert assistants.