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FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. - An employee of a medical billings facility was found dead. Another employee disappeared two days later. Funds were missing.
The company called Barnes, Van Vorst, Reposa, Gosnell & Indowsky, CPAs based in Fort Lauderdale.
Accountants may not fit the hard-boiled Philip Marlowe image, but with more companies worried about fraud, firms that specialize in forensics are in demand.
According to the Austin, Texas-based Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, organizations lose 6 percent of their annual revenues to fraud and abuse, adding up to over $400 billion annually. The association claims that the average organization loses over $9 a day per employee to fraud.
BVRG&I was looking for a profitable niche and started its forensic division in March 1998 to help clients cope with and prevent fraud. Headed by Richard L. Wester and Bill Allen, the financial sleuths have already worked on over a dozen major cases.
"The public is asking CPA firms to deliver more services," Wester said. "We have more re sponsibility to our clients and the public. Litigative support is an interesting and profitable niche." The forensic division currently has four employees, and Wester said that they hope to generate $2 million a year within...