The Information Criminologist: Litigation Services In The EDP Environment

Abstract

Prior research has concentrated on either the conventional skills of forensic auditing or the impact of information technology on accounting.  Little has been attempted by way of synthesizing these two areas; i.e., identifying specialized skills required of the forensic auditor operating in an EDP environment.  This article focuses on a sub-category of forensic auditing, litigation services, as a first step toward achieving such a synthesis.  First, the unique characteristics of the EDP environment and their affect on the nature of fraud are examined.  Second, the skills of conventional litigation experts are analyzed to see whether they are adequate for practice in the EDP environment.  Third, it is found that several new skills are required for the litigation expert to operate effectively against computer-aided crime.  Finally, the new and convention skills are combined into a more comprehensive framework.