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Analytic Focus has a targeted system that relates the cost and timing of audits to the benefits your company can realize.
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Why Use an Expert?

There are many reasons to choose an “expert”. An expert is someone with both training and experience in a particular field of study. What the expert provides is a depth of understanding of an issue and a realistic approach to applying the skill set in his area to find a solution to a problem. An expert does more than testify at trial – in fact, some of our best engagements don’t involve litigation at all. Years of training and application of quantitative methods to problems allows us to help formulate and structure issues in such a way that everyone can see what the issue is and the path to a solution. Listed below are some of the types of support and assistance that an expert can provide, both in litigation and other situations that arise in business.

Educate

A senior manager in a business may know the problem he faces, but he knows his business, not the specifics of technical analysis. Lawyers are trained in the law, not necessarily in finance or quantitative methods. Experts help structure a situation in a framework that lends itself to analysis and then develop alternative paths to study the problem. We frequently help with problems of measurement – whether something can be effectively measured or counted, so that real numbers and not wild guesses can be developed. In some cases, we advise that measurement isn’t possible because the data needed isn’t collected, but on-going monitoring can be implemented to avoid being in this situation again.
Evaluate
Experts are often used by lawyers to evaluate a case and help determine whether a claim has merit; businesses do the same thing before embarking on a new project. Other times experts will be used to evaluate the nature and extent of damages sustained, particularly for use in settlement negotiations. But experts may also be used to evaluate whether a loss is likely, or how extensive a loss may be. We’ve worked with insurance companies to evaluate the number and severity of claims that might be filed if a class action were to be brought against the insurer’s client. The insurer was able to avoid overly reserving against losses, freeing up capital for other purposes.

Testing

Experts are frequently used to test specific hypotheses. Is this process more profitable? Is there evidence of confusion in the marketplace? The best tests are those that explain why after answering yes or no.

Assist in Case Development

In planning, an expert may be used to help a lawyer or a business build a case, or defend a plan of development. For example, an insurer asked us to determine the number of persons exposed to a carcinogen in groundwater contaminated over several decades. We led the insurer to consider not only the number of persons exposed, but also how long different people had been exposed, since the area in question had a high rate of population movement. The number exposed longer than five years was miniscule relative to the number exposed, and the two totals were what was necessary to determining risk to the insurer.

Obtain Other Experts

As much as it pains some experts, the good expert realizes he is an expert in his field, not every field. The excellent expert realizes he is not the only expert in his field. A second expert is useful in supporting the work of the first, or a consulting expert is useful in provoking consideration of alternative theories. We frequently design samples for forensic accountants who understand what the files they are reviewing, but don’t know how many to review nor which ones to concentrate on. We testify about the validity of the sample and the projectability of the results to the population of records; the forensic accountant can concentrate on what he found in the records he reviewed.
Provide Written Statements or Reports
The expert in litigation most likely will be called on to prepare a report of her/his findings to be used in settlement negotiations in connection with motions or other court proceedings prior to any trial. A board of directors interested in an independent review of a business or an opportunity will ask an independent third part to examine the operations of their business or a new proposal. In asset-based lending, an activity that can be fraught with risk, we help review the audit plans that would protect a portfolio of loans. The board of directors wants to know whether they’re sufficiently covered for risk – they may want a firm to expand audit functions even when the lender is attempting to pare back costs.

Testify at a Deposition and/or Trial

Rarely do motions or assertions of guilt or innocence go unchallenged. Expert testimony is often presented to help persuade the judge, the jury or arbitrators; more frequently the opinion of the expert is challenged at deposition or trial to determine how strongly the opinion is held and whether it is supported by sound reasoning. The expert is not only a teacher (as noted above), but also the strongest advocate for his own views. If the expert cannot defend or support his own opinions, how can he expect others to believe in them?

Training

The excellent expert helps a business or a litigation team by expanding their intellectual capital. This is similar to the concept of education, described above, but there is a difference between offering enlightenment on a specific issue (education) versus providing a way to think about similar problems in the future by passing on part of one’s knowledge and experience.
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