Exploring Principles of Corporate Investigation & Business Practices

This essay provides a comprehensive overview of corporate investigations, emphasizing the need for transparency and accountability in business practices. It begins by defining corporate investigation and highlighting its various types, including undercover, research, financial, electronic, and corruption investigations. The essay underscores the importance of professionalizing the role of investigators to ensure the time value of money, particularly during periods of austerity, by focusing on identifying fund sources, conducting due diligence, addressing legal violations, preventing data breaches, protecting intellectual property, and combating corruption. It further discusses the necessity of corporate investigations for preventing illicit activities and ensuring organizational well-being, detailing methods such as evidence preservation, undercover investigations, and various research approaches. The essay concludes that professionalizing the investigator role and implementing thorough investigation practices are crucial for maintaining transparency and preventing future crises within organizations.

Running head: INVESTIGATION PRINCIPLES
Investigation Principles
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:
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1INVESTIGATION PRINCIPLES
Table of Contents
1. Introduction:...........................................................................................................................2
2. Types of corporate investigation:...........................................................................................2
3. Importance of professionalising the role of the investigators to provide time value of
money in austerity:.....................................................................................................................3
4. Necessity of corporate investigation:.....................................................................................6
5. Ways of conducting corporate investigation:.........................................................................7
6. Conclusion:............................................................................................................................9
References:...............................................................................................................................11

2INVESTIGATION PRINCIPLES
1. Introduction:
The global corporate scandals have necessitated the need for conducting corporate
investigations in order to ensure transparency in business practices along with assuring the
time value of money in crisis situations. In this context, Chen, Parsley & Yang (2015) stated
that corporate investigation is a systematic examination of a business or entity for uncovering
the malpractices of the management, staffs or third parties. These investigations have various
aspects and they could vary considerably depending on business needs. For instance, with the
help of corporate investigations, it is possible to ascertain the legitimacy of a business
partner, honesty of an employee along with identifying any embezzlement and fraud. In such
situations, the primary role of the corporate investigators is to ensure smooth running of the
business operations within lawful jurisdictions.
The current assignment would lay stress on highlighting the types of corporate
investigation. In addition, the significance of professionalising the role of the investigators in
providing time value of money in austerity would be discussed as well. Furthermore, it would
concentrate on the need of corporate investigation in the current business environment.
Finally, the assignment would shed light on the ways that corporate investigations could be
carried out after professionalising the role of the investigators.
2. Types of corporate investigation:
Based on the nature of the investigations within the organisations, the investigators
would carry out one or multiple investigations, which are elucidated as follows:
Undercover investigation:

3INVESTIGATION PRINCIPLES
By working in combination with the organisation, it would be easy for an investigator
to have a thorough look on the misconducts of an employee, which could be in the form of
theft, harassment or substance abuse (Comer, 2017). In order to carry out this investigation,
the investigators often tend to use covert surveillance.
Research investigation:
It might be necessary for the investigators to carry out research for obtaining
information about the other organisations involved in businesses with the home organisations
for mergers, acquisitions, venture capital, joint ventures, investments and private equity. The
investigators could conduct detailed background checks of the employees as well (Dyreng et
al., 2017).
Financial investigation:
The investigators appointed for a financial investigation could explore money
laundering, embezzlement, fraud and other professional crimes.
Electronic/E-Discovery investigation:
The electronic records could help the investigators to collect information, which is
preserved electronically for obtaining needed evidence. As a result, the lost data could be
restored as well.
Corruption investigation:
The investigators attempting to uncover corruption could uncover illicit foreign
exchange, bribery, industrial surveillance and corporate fraud.

4INVESTIGATION PRINCIPLES
3. Importance of professionalising the role of the investigators to provide time value of
money in austerity:
The developed nations have already started to professionalise the role of the
investigators in order to minimise the corporate frauds and other misconducts. However, this
is yet to make its mark on the global arena. The advantages that could be sought by
professionalising the role of the investigators in the corporate sector are summarised as
follows:
Identification of the sources and flow of funds:
By professionalising the role of the financial investigations, collection and detailed
evaluation could be assured. The aspect of collection includes looking through various
financial documents (Garrett, 2015). These might be in the form of records related to bank
accounts, files of real estate, motor vehicles and computer files. The professional
investigators could utilise the computer forensics for identifying pertinent information with
the prior permission of the organisation. The data collected would be evaluated to identify the
location and flow of money. For instance, this investigation is helpful in mergers and
acquisitions, partnership conflicts and corporate internal investigations.
Due diligence:
When the role of the investigators is professionalised, investigation could be carried
out in relation to the management of an organisation, its finances, mission, performance,
aims, history and clients detailing the business functions. This is necessary for identifying
hidden liabilities that could cause trouble to the organisation, if inflation takes place
(Gottschalk, 2015). In this process, the investigators would review the public records;
communicate with the clients along with contacting cross-border units to determine the
potential and legitimacy of an organisation. With the help of professionalising the

5INVESTIGATION PRINCIPLES
investigator role, the particular methods based on the investigation needs could be
ascertained. Due diligence investigation is vital before merger, acquisition and company
purchase.
Legal and regulatory violations:
In case, the management believes that the organisation has breached any law or other
related regulations, it could seek to avoid legal problems by examining the issue along with
identifying the main individuals involved (Gottschalk, 2017). If the investigators are
professionalised, the organisation would carry out internal investigation by appointing a
professional in demonstrating cooperation and conformance to the authorities.
Data breaches:
In the words of Gottschalk (2018), loss, data theft and hacking are increasing with the
passage of time in the corporate organisations. At the time there is occurrence of proprietary
data, it might not be the output of a sophisticated hack. Most significantly, this might occur
due to any disgruntled staff or a common error in security privileges, which permitted an
unauthorised individual within the organisation to access data. The corporate investigators
could identify these breaches, which would help the organisation to conform to the prevailing
laws by adopting appropriate actions.
Infringement of intellectual property:
This could take into account simple corporate espionage or staff theft of the
intellectual property of the organisation. By appointing a professional investigator, the
organisation could detect such infringement and as a result, the organisation could be safe
from legal proceedings.
Identifying corruption:

6INVESTIGATION PRINCIPLES
As laid out by Markham (2015), corruption could have negative repercussion on the
business performance and public trust on the firm. With the help of professionalised
investigators, the kickbacks, inappropriate conducts exercised on the part of the staffs in
association with the public officials or representatives of other organisations and improper
payments could be identified. Such tight control would help in maintain transparency within
the organisation and this would enable it in combating during inflationary conditions.
Libel and defamation:
This comprises of various items that take into account false claims made on the part
of the competitors to fraudulent reviews in the social media websites. With the help of the
professionalised investors, the organisation could detect the individuals associated for
eliminating reviews along with ceasing and desist papers could be served or other suitable
actions undertaken (McNeil & Brian, 2017).
4. Necessity of corporate investigation:
The business entities utilise corporate investigations for proving unsuspected illicit
activity along with preventing from the potential. As the organisation is worried about its
well-being, a professionalised investigator is an impartial source, which could provide with
consistent information (Meerts, 2016). Most often, the big organisations would have
investigators on retainer or they have internal investigators in order to keep them aware of
each facet of their organisations. The presence of such information would help in ensuring
their success.
In addition, if the organisations are encountering staff dishonesty, financial
discrepancy or if any doubt is raised regarding their legitimacy, the corporate investigators
could depict evidences that are obtained professionally and legally (Rugman & Verbeke,

7INVESTIGATION PRINCIPLES
2017). Thus, by professionalising the role of the investigators, future incidents like austerity
could be prevented.
5. Ways of conducting corporate investigation:
After professionalising the role of the investigators, the focus areas of the corporate
investigations are described as follows:
Preservation of evidence:
In each investigation, the initial step is to gather evidence rapidly before its
destruction. The investigators would gather electronic evidence such as emails, accounting
information, chat logs and other information, which are crucial at a later point of time during
the investigation.
Undercover investigations:
With the help of undercover investigations, the private investigators could gain a
better insight of the practices and culture existing in the workplace, which might not be
visible to the management, investors and board (Pollman, 2014).
Research:
Based on the nature of the investigation, various kinds of research would be
conducted. This could be a financial research, in which the investigators would accumulate
reports on the staffs, vendors and organisations for which they are working in order to search
for irregularities. This might represent malpractices (Richman, 2014). Accounting research is
something, in which theft or embezzlement is taking place, evidence is kept hidden in the
accounts. The skilled investigators understand the way of combing accounts to identify
irregularities, duplicate or unusual transactions and other discrepancies.

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Interviewing the staffs is another kind of research, which could be highly productive.
In case of each bad act, an individual would be present having a sound knowledge of
responsibility associated with the law, the organisations and fellow staffs who are wronged
(Webb, Tarun & Molo, 2016). It is often possible to find out the individuals accountable for
misconduct ore fraud by asking questions to the right individuals.
When the role of the investigators is professionalised, investigation could be carried
out in relation to the management of an organisation, its finances, mission, performance,
aims, history and clients detailing the business functions. This is necessary for identifying
hidden liabilities that could cause trouble to the organisation, if inflation takes place (Wells,
2017). In this process, the investigators would review the public records; communicate with
the clients along with contacting cross-border units to determine the potential and legitimacy
of an organisation. With the help of professionalising the investigator role, the particular
methods based on the investigation needs could be ascertained. Due diligence investigation is
vital before merger, acquisition and company purchase.
At the time there is occurrence of proprietary data, it might not be the output of a
sophisticated hack. Most significantly, this might occur due to any disgruntled staff or a
common error in security privileges, which permitted an unauthorised individual within the
organisation to access data. The corporate investigators could identify these breaches, which
would help the organisation to conform to the prevailing laws by adopting appropriate
actions. It might be necessary for the investigators to carry out research for obtaining
information about the other organisations involved in businesses with the home organisations
for mergers, acquisitions, venture capital, joint ventures, investments and private equity. The
investigators could conduct detailed background checks of the employees as well (Zhou, Faff
& Alpert, 2014).

9INVESTIGATION PRINCIPLES
These investigations have various aspects and they could vary considerably depending
on business needs. For instance, with the help of corporate investigations, it is possible to
ascertain the legitimacy of a business partner, honesty of an employee along with identifying
any embezzlement and fraud. In such situations, the primary role of the corporate
investigators is to ensure smooth running of the business operations within lawful
jurisdictions.
6. Conclusion:
Based on the above discussion, it could be found out that the global corporate
scandals have necessitated the need for conducting corporate investigations in order to ensure
transparency in business practices along with assuring the time value of money in crisis
situations. By working in combination with the organisation, it would be easy for an
investigator to have a thorough look on the misconducts of an employee, which could be in
the form of theft, harassment or substance abuse. In order to carry out this investigation, the
investigators often tend to use covert surveillance.
When the role of the investigators is professionalised, investigation could be carried
out in relation to the management of an organisation, its finances, mission, performance,
aims, history and clients detailing the business functions. This is necessary for identifying
hidden liabilities that could cause trouble to the organisation, if inflation takes place. At the
time there is occurrence of proprietary data, it might not be the output of a sophisticated hack.
Most significantly, this might occur due to any disgruntled staff or a common error in
security privileges, which permitted an unauthorised individual within the organisation to
access data. The corporate investigators could identify these breaches, which would help the
organisation to conform to the prevailing laws by adopting appropriate actions.

10INVESTIGATION PRINCIPLES
In addition, if the organisations are encountering staff dishonesty, financial
discrepancy or if any doubt is raised regarding their legitimacy, the corporate investigators
could depict evidences that are obtained professionally and legally. Thus, by
professionalising the role of the investigators, future incidents like austerity could be
prevented.

11INVESTIGATION PRINCIPLES
References:
Chen, H., Parsley, D., & Yang, Y. W. (2015). Corporate lobbying and firm
performance. Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, 42(3-4), 444-481.
Comer, M. J. (2017). Corporate fraud. Routledge.
Dyreng, S. D., Hanlon, M., Maydew, E. L., & Thornock, J. R. (2017). Changes in corporate
effective tax rates over the past 25 years. Journal of Financial Economics, 124(3),
441-463.
Garrett, B. L. (2015). The Corporate Criminal as Scapegoat. Virginia Law Review, 1789-
1853.
Gottschalk, P. (2015). Internal Investigations of Economic Crime: Corporate Case Studies
and Regulatory Policy. Universal-Publishers.
Gottschalk, P. (2017). Evaluation of Fraud Examinations: A Contingent Approach to Private
Internal Investigations. Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice.
Gottschalk, P. (2018). Private Internal Investigations. In Investigating White-Collar
Crime (pp. 43-55). Springer, Cham.
Markham, J. W. (2015). A financial history of modern US corporate scandals: From Enron
to reform. Routledge.
McNeil, B. F., & Brian, B. D. (2017). Overview: Initiating an Internal Investigation and
Assembling the Investigative Team. Internal Corporate Investigations, 1, 10-11.
Meerts, C. (2016). A World Apart: Private Investigations in the Corporate Sector. Erasmus L.
Rev., 9, 162.

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Pollman, E. (2014). A Corporate Right to Privacy. Minn. L. Rev., 99, 27.
Richman, D. C. (2014). Corporate headhunting. Harv. L. & Pol'y Rev., 8, 265.
Rugman, A., & Verbeke, A. (2017). Global corporate strategy and trade policy. Routledge.
Webb, D. K., Tarun, R. W., & Molo, S. F. (2016). Corporate Internal Investigations. Law
Journal Press.
Wells, J. T. (2017). Corporate fraud handbook: Prevention and detection. John Wiley &
Sons.
Zhou, Q., Faff, R., & Alpert, K. (2014). Bias correction in the estimation of dynamic panel
models in corporate finance. Journal of Corporate Finance, 25, 494-513.