Overview

This is my firm. I've worked as a Forensic Accountant for over twenty years on an enormous variety of professional assignments, including some of Australia's largest and most complex financial investigations and commercial matters.

All forensic work requires a team effort involving clients, lawyers and experts. The stakes are usually high for the clients (even when monetary amounts are not large) and the lessons drawn from long experience say that, in most cases, delegation of any of the key elements of an assignment rarely produces good outcomes.

Consequently, I believe that Forensic Accountants should themselves deal with most aspects of their assignments directly and hands-on. In my firm I do all the critical work myself - and therefore accept responsibility for the quality and effect of its outcomes.

Personal Profile - Jon Kenfield

(please see my professional resume for more details)

I am a Forensic Accountant, a commercial Arbitrator and a professional Mediator. I also work as a financial / commercial adviser - facilitating strategic and business planning processes for organisations and businesses of all types and sizes.

I am an "enthusiast" and have enjoyed a varied and often challenging private and professional life. I believe this diversity and experience underpins my competencies as a Forensic Accountant.

Personal Background

I was born and educated in London, England. I spent two of my mid-school years in Toronto, Canada.

In 1975 I graduated with honours in law from Manchester University in the UK. I then spent four years travelling and working:

As a scuba diving instructor, diving safari guide and underwater photographer in the Red Sea.
As an underwater photographer working with an engineering and structural inspection team on the oil rigs of the North and Java Seas.
As a wildlife, underwater and adventure travel promoter, photo-journalist and public speaker, based in London.

Looking for more excitement I became a chartered accountant and, shortly after qualifying, went to Africa (Zambia and Zimbabwe) to work for Deloittes.

I migrated to Australia in 1985. After settling in Perth, I had just enough time to establish a Legal Support Division for Deloittes (one of the first in Australia) before the stock market crash of 1987. The next few years provided an intense deepening of my forensic accounting experience on a number of major Inquiries and commercial litigation matters.

Deloittes transferred me to Melbourne in 1992 to develop a national forensic accounting practice. After a short while I joined Ernst & Young as a Principal, again specialising in Litigation Consulting and Forensic Accounting (civil litigation and fraud investigations).

I left EY in 1994 to establish my own chartered accounting firm - specialising in providing the highest possible standard of independent forensic accounting services to Australian businesses and individuals and to their legal advisers and representatives.

In 2000, I joined some of my former Deloitte colleagues as the partner in charge of Forensic Accounting & Dispute Solutions at Spencer & Co, chartered accountants.

In March 2003 I re-established a specialised, independent chartered accounting firm under my own name - my objective being, as always, to provide the most professional and responsive forensic accounting services available anywhere, bar none.

What do I do ?

I deal with the clouded, complex, confused and often corrupted accounting, financial and commercial data and issues that are involved in most litigation, investigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution ("ADR") matters. It often seems that my most important professional function is to:

Interpret a matter's legal and commercial requirements so the appropriate forensic accounting task can be performed and,
Interpret and present the results derived from detailed forensic accounting analysis so they can be used effectively by clients and/or by their legal advisers in a variety of difficult circumstances.

Main areas of expertise

Forensic accounting analysis, reports and expert evidence for:

Financial, accounting and commercial dispute analysis.
Corporate, commercial and partnership disputes.
Quantification of economic loss and damage.
Valuations - especially businesses and goodwill.
Matrimonial and de facto property disputes.
Insurance and personal injuries claims.

Assignment History

I have worked as a Forensic Accountant for almost twenty years. Here follow some specific descriptions of some of the high profile cases I have worked on over the period, plus some generic descriptions of the other work I do:

Forensic Accounting (as expert)

Royal Commissions: HIH and Building Industry.
ASIC Inquiries/Investigations: Rothwells Limited; Bond Corporation; Hawkins / Elders "H" Fee; Secret Commissions Investigation (Hong Kong).
Legal Ombudsman: investigation of a large law firm's mortgage activities.
Civil litigation - major cases: Estate Mortgage and Bond Corporation.
Civil litigation - other cases: many corporate, commercial, partnership and matrimonial matters, of all sizes and for most State and Federal courts and tribunals.
Major Arbitration (as expert and as leader of large team of financial consultants): Gas & Fuel Corporation vs Esso & BHP - $2.6Bn Petroleum Resource Rent Tax dispute.
Other dispute resolution processes (as an independent accounting expert) in arbitrations, mediations, conciliations and facilitations: many commercial, contract, compulsory acquisition, valuation, professional partnership and matrimonial disputes.

Dispute Resolution and Facilitation

Mediation (as mediator): resolving a large number of corporate, family business and private matters as mediator, including disputes involving most major Australian Banks and many financial institutions. Two major class actions for the Financial Planning Association of Australia.
Arbitration (as arbitrator): resolving a large number of commercial and contract disputes including breach of commercial contracts; compulsory acquisitions; economic loss claims; franchise disputes; a trade union merger; partnership disputes (mainly legal and accounting firms); sales of businesses; goodwill, business and asset valuations.
Dispute Resolution (as problem solver): resolving a large number of family business disputes and conflicts.
Investigation and resolution of several Department of Defence workplace grievances.
Facilitation (as facilitator): commercial negotiations involving several major financial institutions; contract negotiations with software developers; insurance agencies; major pharmacy group etc.