Business Investigations: The Importance of Hiring External Investigators

Both large and small organizations could sometimes face serious problems such as fraud, that require special handling. However, not all companies have the resources to solve these problems quickly with minimal risk. Therefore, companies need external investigators to investigate the problems.

In 2013, a federal court in Connecticut rejected the evidence of a company’s internal investigation into an employee discrimination case because the court considered the investigation to be one-sided. The court refused to allow the results of the investigation as evidence, based on its conclusion that the HRD representatives were not neutral; witnesses and evidence were selected by HRD representatives; and there was no opportunity for employees to dispute the evidence against them.

The case above shows that internal investigations tend to be biased and not neutral in nature. With an external investigator, the facts provided are objective and impartial. This is because external investigators do not have any conflict of interest — in contrast to internal investigators who usually work closely with management, such that they have a conflict of interest to secure the company’s reputation.

External investigators are trained with the experience and required skills to manage the entire process of conducting professional investigations, procedural justice concepts, and other legal complexities. With trained investigators, their risk management is better than internal investigators because they work independently, so they focus only on cases. Anonymity will also be maintained because the external investigator is only a third party and is not within the scope of the company.

Finally, recruiting external investigators can save time and effort. Companies can continue to do business without thinking about an investigation strategy, thereby allowing the company’s business stability to be maintained.

Integrity Indonesia, with up to fifteen years of experience, will guarantee a comprehensive, compliant, thorough, and discrete approach in identifying and investigating fraud. Contact us for further business investigation information.

Written by: Aqilla

Image by Markus Winkler from Pixabay