Gold Magazine April - May 2013, Issue 25 | Page 61

We are
dealing in
moral and
ethical issues
and we need
to ensure
transparency
and good
regulation
had to take 15 courses and sit exams for
each of them. The final Forensic Accountancy exam is a 4-hour paper dealing
with 180 cases. The Business Valuation is
even tougher – a 7-hour written paper for
which the pass rate is even lower. And for
some people, success in the exams is still
not the end of the process: to be Certified
in Financial Forensics, candidates must
have gained 1,000 hours of practical experience as well as a number of credits that
require other exams. It is hardly surprising
that so few accountants have obtained the
qualification.
“It’s not easy,” Christoforou admits,
“and it requires a great deal of sacrifice.
Basically, anyone wishing to become a
Forensic Accountant will have to give up
all his/her free time for a couple of years.
Luckily I had the support of my family.
Without it, I wouldn’t have been able to
do what I have done. But I believe it’s
worth it in the end and we are going to
need many more accountants specialising in this line of work. In the past 20-30
years, there has been a huge increase in
the number of cases of fraud that could
not be brought in front of a judge due to
a lack of supporting evidence. The development of the Internet – online business,
instant transactions, etc. – has created
a new reality. Forensic Accountants are
also looking into computers, so we have
to combine accounting, legal and technological knowledge. It’s a challenge but a
worthwhile one”.
On a recent visit to New York, Christoforou saw for himself that more and more

accounting firms are setting up their
own in-house Department of Forensic &
Valuation Services while many companies
specialise exclusively in these services.
“In the United States, it’s become very
big because of what happened in the Enron, WorldCom and other high-profile
cases. The American government and the
American Institute of Certified Public
Accountants realised that they needed to
be able to convict those responsible for
serious fraud, so they created this qualification,” he says.
Is there are need for this qualification
in Cyprus? Most definitely, says Christoforou. “I want to encourage more professional accountants obtain it. Right now
we all know that Cyprus is in the spotlight
because of allegations of money laundering. One of the Forensic Accountant’s areas of focus is precisely that, together with
ensuring proper corporate governance.
We are dealing in moral and ethical issues
and we need to ensure transparency and
good regulation”. Rakis Christoforou sees
bad practices, including nepotism, favouritism, etc., as a major source of problems
in Cyprus ever since independence. “If we
had had Forensic Accountants in place at
the time of the Stock Exchange scandal,
for example, I believe that many of the
problems that arose would have been
prevented. Companies were being listed
on the CSE and claiming to be worth millions when, in reality, their value was a
few thousand pounds”.
Christoforou says that he knows of at
least one company from that time which
listed fixed assets of property that it did
not own. “And their accounts were audited!” he notes wryly. “So demand certainly exists for the Forensic Accountant’s
special skills in Cyprus and PwC has now
become the first major accounting firm
here to create a special department. This
is an excellent first step”.
How does it feel to know that he
is one of only a couple of thousand
people in the world who know what
he knows?
“I feel proud to have achieved
something that was not easy but
I also feel a great responsibility
to encourage other professional
accountants to obtain this qualification,” he says. “I strongly
believe it’s the only way that,
within the profession, we

can help improve Cypriot society. I don’t
want to remain the only Forensic Accountant in Cyprus or one of a handful in
Europe because there are limits to what I
can do”.
Surely it requires more than accountants and lawyers to improve society?
“Of course,” he concedes, “but we have
to start somewhere. Our culture needs
to change. We often hear people saying,
‘What can I do? I’m not going to change
the world’ but we have to try. We may
not succeed 100% but even 1% is an
achievement”.
Rakis Christoforou is not only a passionate accountant. He is obviously a
great idealist.
“I try!” he says. “In the end it’s a matter of getting one’s priorities right. And if
I can do something that makes the world
a better place in some way, I’ll be happy.
Now that I have successfully completed
this particular professional project, I feel
personal satisfaction but it’s more than
that. I think I’ve done something good”.