FRP Advisory Trading Limited

Chair: Penny Judd

Number of employees: 725 (including 99 partners)

Languages: Afrikaans, Cantonese, Catalan, French, Gaelic, German, Greek, Gujarati, Hindi, Italian, Lingala, Liujarati, Maltese, Mandarin, Nepali, Pehari, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Russian, Solvak, Spanish, Urdu

Overview & History:

FRP Advisory Trading Limited (a wholly owned subsidiary of FRP Advisory Group plc), is a leading business advisory firm. With over 700 staff, including 99 partners operating from 26 offices across the UK and two overseas, FRP specialises in forensic services, corporate finance, debt advisory, restructuring and pensions advisory.

Services:

Forensic Services

The forensic services team is comprised of highly experienced forensic accounting, investigation, and forensic technology professionals, providing expertise across a multitude of situations, including commercial disputes, global asset tracing and recovery assignments, as well as bribery and fraud investigations, judgement enforcement, competition damages claims, regulatory enquiries, professional negligence, divorce and insolvency cases.

FRP’s partner-led teams deliver valuable solutions and leverage the accounting and technology elements of the forensic services team to work together seamlessly.

Dispute Services

FRP has experience in many forms of dispute resolution including litigation, arbitration, mediation and expert determination. FRP’s partners have acted as party appointed expert, single joint expert, expert determiner, shadow expert and adviser. They also have experience giving evidence in the High Court and in international arbitration tribunals.

The firm’s expert appointments include contentious valuations, reconstructing accounts and calculating lost profits in the context of shareholder disputes, unfair prejudice claims, contractual disputes, security for costs and claims under the Insolvency Act.

Case experience includes acting as quantum expert on behalf of an Asian listed corporate manufacturer in the energy sector defending a claim regarding loss of profits in an LCIA arbitration. Following submission of the expert reports and a joint statement of experts, FRP partner Chris Osborne was cross-examined at Tribunal.

Forensic Investigations

FRP works with law firms, audit committees, regulatory and enforcement agencies (such as the SEC, DOJ, SFO and FCA) to determine the nature and extent of fraud, bribery, corruption and money laundering and explain complex issues in a manner that non-accountants understand.

The team has performed a wide variety of investigations including accounting fraud, insider dealing, misappropriation of client funds, employee fraud, boiler room fraud, invoicing fraud, bribery, corruption, and money laundering. They are also instructed on asset tracing and recovery assignments in a variety of contexts including fraud, high value divorce, and insolvency matters. The forensic services team works extensively with FRP’s contentious insolvency experts, assisting with investigations and potential claims.

Investigation experience includes an instruction to investigate allegations of bribery, corruption, money laundering and fraud on behalf of a nation state. The case involved a high-net-worth individual and his associates, including politically exposed persons across the Middle East.

Other experience includes an investigation into suspicions of financial irregularities at a major charity, following the identification of discrepancies between its accounting records and a supplier ledger. The team identified three key methods used to fraudulently extract funds. The investigation report (including findings from the imaging of the suspect’s computer) was provided to the police to assist with criminal proceedings, with the perpetrator committed to prison for five years.

Forensic Technology

The forensic technology team provides computer forensic and eDiscovery services. The team captures, processes, analyses and produces digital and digitised evidence in a manner which is admissible in Court or Tribunal and useable in the context of insolvency proceedings, regulatory enquiries, litigation, arbitration and the investigation of financial misconduct.

The team is experienced in all areas of the eDiscovery process. They advise clients on best practice for identifying, preserving, collecting and producing electronic information and on the latest developments in discovery rules. They also develop eDiscovery project plans and negotiate best approaches and practices with clients.

Forensic technology experience includes an eDiscovery matter where the team was able to leverage FRP’s document review platform, Relativity, to reduce review time and save an estimated £1.25 million of potential review costs.

Compliance and Risk Advisory

The forensic services team has experience in drafting and reviewing policies for compliance programmes including financial control, bribery and corruption and anti-money laundering.

They have worked with regulatory authorities and in-house compliance teams of corporates, banks and charities to advise on risk related matters. Experience includes providing control recommendations to the trustees of a charity to assist them to safeguard the assets of the charity, identify and manage risks and ensure high-quality financial reporting.