Forensic Accounting: Overview and How It's Used

By Kristi Waterworth – Updated Jul 25, 2025 at 8:54 PM | Fact-checked by Frank Bass

Key Points

Forensic accountants analyze financial records to detect crimes, supporting court testimonies.
They specialize in areas such as business valuation, economic damage assessment, and family law.
Their work protects investors by ensuring the accuracy of company financials and compliance.

Although it's not an everyday occurrence, financial crimes happen, and when they do, you need someone who knows what they're looking at to help set things right. This is the art of forensic accounting, where accountants become detectives. Read on to gain a deeper understanding of this specialty and its significance.

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A person uses a magnifying glass to thoroughly examine financial documents. — Image source: Getty Images.

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About the Author

Kristi Waterworth has been a contributing real estate and financial expert at The Motley Fool, covering real estate, investing, and personal finance topics, since 2020. Kristi has been interviewed by various TV media outlets and podcasts for her real estate investing expertise – from residential real estate to digital real estate and everything in between. Kristi’s journalist career spans over 25 years, and she has written about real estate investing, homeownership, and home construction specifically for the last decade. She was also previously a licensed Realtor and general building contractor before the Great Recession and housing market collapse. She holds a bachelor’s degree in American history from Columbia College in Missouri.

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