| In recent years it has become accepted wisdom that we are experiencing rapid increases in the rates of fraud and white-collar crime, and that the processes of economic globalization, corporate re-structuring, and the proliferation of sophisticated information technologies are largely responsible for this growth. The problematization of these trends has typically been followed by a somber reflection upon the challenges which these developments pose to the public police who are often unwilling and/or unable to deal with white-collar crime given jurisdictional boundaries and the prevailing public concern with street-level offenses. However, what has been overlooked in these debates thus far is the growing involvement of the private sector in policing fraud and other forms of white-collar crime on both a national and international scale. This paper will present the preliminary results of an in-depth study of one of the fastest growing markets in private policing--the forensic accounting industry. In tracing its origins, composition, and operations, it will be argued that forensic accounting bears a number of critical implications for the nature and administrationof justice as the considerations of public interest and accoutnability are eclipsed by the demands of the bottom line. |
Updated 05/20/2006