Wednesday, 28 June 2017 A white paper published by the American Institute for Certified Public Accountants (‘AICPA’) based on a survey of forensic accountants, academics and solicitors provides some guidance. The survey sought to better understand the traits, characteristics and skills that the market place expects forensic accountants to possess, and the areas for development within the profession. The paper provides some interesting insights into the expectations of users of forensic accounting services, as well as the perception forensic accountants have about themselves. In respect of essential traits and characteristics, all three groups nominated analytical skills as the most important trait a forensic accountant can possess. Solicitors most frequently chose effective oral communication skills as an important core skill of forensic accountants, followed by their ability to simplify information. Further, more than 80% of the solicitors identified a failure to simplify information and ineffective oral communication skills as the main two reasons for ineffectualness by forensic accountants. This is in contrast with forensic accountants themselves, who saw critical thinking as the most important skill and an inability to identify key issues as the main cause of dissatisfaction. These inconsistent perceptions perhaps highlight an opportunity for reflection for forensic accountants. While the forensic accounting industry agrees that analytical skills are extremely important, its clients place a high value on the ability of forensic accountants to communicate information in a way that can be understood by solicitors themselves and ultimately the courts. The full results of the survey can be found here: http://www.aicpa.org/InterestAreas/ForensicAndValuation/Resources/PractAidsGuidance/DownloadableDocuments/ForensicAccountingResearchWhitePaper.pdf