// LITIGATION SUPPORT & FORENSIC ACCOUNTING
Financial analysis for complex
disputes, damages, and investigations.
When a financial dispute becomes complex, the numbers need to be understood before they can be argued.
Transactions may be questioned. Records may be incomplete. Business owners may disagree. Funds may need to be traced. Financial performance may need to be reconstructed. Damages may need to be quantified. And attorneys may need an independent financial analysis that can be clearly explained.
H2 Advisors provides Litigation Support and Forensic Accounting services to attorneys, businesses, owners, and other stakeholders dealing with complex financial questions.
Our work combines accounting, financial analysis, Business Valuation, transaction tracing, and economic damages analysis to help understand what happened, quantify the financial impact, and communicate the analysis clearly.
Follow the financial evidence. Understand the economics. Build the analysis from the facts.
// WHEN FINANCIAL QUESTIONS BECOME DISPUTES
The issue usually begins with a question.
- Where did the money go?
- What did one owner receive that another did not?
- What would the business have earned absent the disputed event?
- Are reported earnings consistent with the underlying transactions?
- What is the financial impact of the alleged conduct?
- What is the business or ownership interest worth?
- Are the financial records complete?
- What can actually be supported by the evidence?
These aren’t ordinary accounting questions.
They require looking beyond the financial statements and into the transactions, records, relationships, and economic circumstances behind them.
That’s where Litigation Support and Forensic Accounting begins.
// WHEN H2 MAY BE INVOLVED
Financial disputes among owners may involve compensation, distributions, related-party transactions, personal expenses, use of company funds, shareholder loans, intercompany activity, financial performance, or the value of an ownership interest.
When a privately held business is involved in a divorce, financial analysis may be needed to understand business income, owner compensation, distributions, transactions, assets, liabilities, and Business Valuation issues.
Commercial disputes may require analysis of lost profits, business interruption, incremental costs, diminution in value, or other alleged economic damages.
Contract claims, failed business relationships, earnouts, purchase-price disputes, working-capital disputes, and other commercial matters can involve significant financial questions.
When records are incomplete, inconsistent, or unreliable, financial activity may need to be reconstructed using bank records, general ledgers, tax returns, invoices, transaction data, and other available information.
Financial analysis may be necessary to trace payments, transfers, distributions, related-party transactions, or the movement of funds through multiple accounts or entities.
Shareholder disputes, divorce, partner buyouts, damages matters, and other litigation may involve disagreements over the value of a privately held business or ownership interest.
When transactions, payments, vendors, expenses, or cash activity raise questions, H2 can analyze the underlying financial records to identify unusual activity and understand what the financial evidence supports.
// WORKING WITH COUNSEL
Built to work alongside the legal team.
Attorneys handling complex financial matters need more than spreadsheets. They need to understand what the records show, what they do not show, which transactions matter, how the analysis was performed, what assumptions were made, and how the financial conclusions connect to the issues in the case.
H2 serves as both testifying and consulting expert.
Depending on the engagement, our litigation support includes:
- Forensic accounting
- Economic damages and lost-profit analysis
- Business Valuation
- Transaction tracing
- Financial reconstruction
- Financial modeling
- Review of financial records
- Review and rebuttal of opposing financial analyses
- Mediation support
- Deposition and trial preparation
- Expert reports and testimony
Where the engagement calls for it, our professionals prepare expert reports, sit for deposition, and testify at hearing, arbitration, and trial.
In other matters we work behind counsel to analyze financial information, evaluate opposing analyses, develop examination themes, and support case strategy without appearing as a witness.
Where the circumstances warrant, H2 is retained by counsel rather than directly by the client so the analysis is developed within the attorney’s work product. The appropriate retention structure is determined by counsel at the outset of the matter.
We run a conflict check before substantive discussions begin. Provide the parties, related entities, and counsel of record, and we will respond promptly.
We define the scope of the analysis with counsel at the outset, work to the case calendar and discovery deadlines, and communicate early when the available records will not support the question being asked.
Financial analysis, supporting schedules, and a written explanation of the records reviewed, the methodology applied, the assumptions made, and the conclusions the evidence supports.
Complex records. Clear analysis.
// FOLLOW THE MONEY
Understand how the transactions fit together.
Financial records don’t always tell their story in one place.
A transaction may begin in an accounting system, move through a bank account, involve another entity, and ultimately appear somewhere entirely different in the financial statements.
Forensic accounting requires connecting those pieces.
- 01Define the Question
What financial issue are we actually trying to understand?
We work with the client and, where applicable, counsel to define the scope of the financial analysis.
- 02Identify the Information
What records can help answer the question?
We identify the accounting, banking, tax, transactional, and other financial information relevant to the matter.
- 03Reconstruct the Activity
What actually happened?
Where necessary, we organize and reconstruct transactions across accounts, entities, periods, or financial systems.
- 04Identify Patterns & Exceptions
What stands out?
We analyze the records for inconsistencies, unusual transactions, unexplained activity, relationships, or patterns relevant to the financial question.
- 05Trace the Transactions
Where did the money come from — and where did it go?
Where appropriate, we trace funds, payments, transfers, distributions, and other financial activity through the available records.
- 06Quantify the Financial Impact
What does it mean economically?
When the matter involves alleged losses or damages, we evaluate and quantify the financial impact using methodologies appropriate to the circumstances.
- 07Communicate the Findings
What does the evidence support?
We organize the analysis so the financial information, methodology, assumptions, and conclusions can be clearly understood.
Start with the question. Follow the evidence. Build the conclusion from the records.
// ECONOMIC DAMAGES & LOST PROFITS
Understanding what happened is only part of the question.
Many disputes ultimately come down to financial impact.
- What would the business have earned?
- What actually happened?
- What costs were incurred?
- What expenses were avoided?
- How long did the impact continue?
- And what portion of the difference can reasonably be attributed to the event being analyzed?
// ECONOMIC DAMAGES & LOST PROFITS
H2 provides financial analysis in matters involving economic damages and lost profits.
Depending on the engagement, that may include:
Analysis of profits a business may have generated absent an alleged damaging event.
Comparison of actual financial performance with an estimate of performance absent the event being analyzed.
Analysis of financial performance during a period in which normal business operations were disrupted.
Evaluation of expenses incurred, avoided, or otherwise affected by the alleged event.
Evaluation of revenue, margins, profitability, growth, seasonality, and other operating trends.
Development of financial models to evaluate the magnitude and duration of the alleged economic impact.
Where appropriate, Business Valuation may be relevant when a dispute involves the value of a business or an alleged longer-term impact on enterprise value.
The methodology should fit the facts — not the other way around.
// SHAREHOLDER, PARTNER & OWNERSHIP DISPUTES
When business relationships break down, the numbers often become part of the dispute.
Closely held businesses frequently involve financial relationships that are more complex than they appear on the financial statements.
Compensation.
Distributions.
Personal expenses.
Related-party transactions.
Intercompany activity.
Loans to or from owners.
Management fees.
Capital contributions.
Once a dispute develops, transactions that were previously accepted or overlooked may become important.
H2 analyzes the financial activity underlying ownership disputes and provides an independent financial perspective on the issues being questioned. That work covers owner compensation and distributions, related-party and intercompany transactions, personal expenses charged to the business, shareholder and partner loans, capital contributions, financial performance and cash flow, Business Valuation, and buyout calculations.
Depending on the matter, that may involve:
- Owner compensation
- Distributions
- Related-party transactions
- Personal expenses
- Shareholder or partner loans
- Capital contributions
- Intercompany transactions
- Financial performance
- Cash flow
- Business Valuation
- Buyout calculations
- Other disputed financial activity
The objective is to turn a complicated financial history into information that can be understood and evaluated.
// BUSINESS VALUATION + FORENSIC ACCOUNTING
Some financial disputes require both.
Forensic accounting asks:
What happened?
Business Valuation asks:
What is the business or ownership interest worth?
In many disputes, those questions overlap. A shareholder dispute may involve both questioned transactions and the value of an ownership interest. A divorce may require analysis of financial activity as well as Business Valuation.
A damages matter may require determining both historical economic losses and an alleged impact on enterprise value.
A partner buyout may require analyzing owner transactions before determining the value of the interest being acquired.
H2’s Business Valuation professionals are Certified Valuation Analysts (CVAs) through the National Association of Certified Valuators and Analysts (NACVA).
Different questions. Connected financial issues.
// LITIGATION SUPPORT
Financial analysis built to be understood.
Attorneys dealing with complex financial matters need more than spreadsheets.
They need to understand:
What the records show.
What they don’t show.
Which transactions matter.
How the analysis was performed.
What assumptions were made.
And how the financial conclusions connect to the issues in the case.
H2 works alongside counsel to analyze financial information and translate complex accounting and financial issues into clear, understandable analysis.
Depending on the engagement, our litigation support may include:
- Forensic accounting
- Economic damages
- Lost-profit analysis
- Business Valuation
- Transaction tracing
- Financial reconstruction
- Review of financial records
- Financial modeling
- Review of opposing financial analyses
- Rebuttal and responsive analysis
- Mediation support
- Deposition support
- Trial preparation
- Expert witness support, when appropriate
Our role is to help make the financial issues understandable and supportable.
Complex records. Clear analysis.
// THE H2 DIFFERENCE
Financial disputes require more
than accounting knowledge.
H2’s professionals include Certified Public Accountants (CPAs), Certified Valuation Analysts (CVAs) through NACVA, and Certified Fraud Examiners (CFEs)
Build the analysis from the evidence.
We work from the underlying financial records, transactions, available documentation, and appropriate financial methodologies.
Understand the business behind the numbers.
Financial activity makes more sense when you understand how the business actually operates. Our broader advisory experience helps us evaluate the transactions within the context of the business.
Understand earnings, risk, and value.
Our CVAs bring Business Valuation experience to matters involving ownership interests, economic damages, divorce, shareholder disputes, and other questions of value.
Understand how money moves through a business.
Our Accounting, Fractional CFO, and M&A experience gives us perspective on financial statements, cash flow, working capital, transactions, ownership structures, and the economics of privately held companies.
Built to work alongside counsel.
We coordinate with the legal team so the financial analysis addresses the relevant issues and fits the broader case strategy and timeline.
Complex financial information. Understandable conclusions.
The analysis has to be understood to be useful. We focus on communicating what the records show, how the analysis was performed, and what conclusions can reasonably be supported.
Follow the evidence.
Our role is not to manufacture a predetermined answer. We analyze the available financial information and develop conclusions based on what the evidence supports.
// ONE FIRM. A BROADER FINANCIAL PERSPECTIVE.
Financial questions don’t always stay in one lane.
A litigation or forensic matter may begin with a questioned transaction and lead to issues involving accounting, taxes, cash flow, ownership, Business Valuation, or economic damages.
H2 brings together professionals across:
Accounting · Tax · Fractional CFO · Business Consulting · Business Valuation · M&A Advisory · Litigation Support & Forensic Accounting ·Eminent Domain
That broader perspective allows us to understand not only the individual transactions being questioned, but the business behind them.
Follow the transaction.
Understand the business.
Connect the financial story.
// FREQUENTLY ASKED
Answers to the questions
we hear most.
// LET'S TALK
When the financial story is unclear,
start with the evidence.
Whether you’re dealing with an ownership dispute, economic damages, complex transactions, incomplete records, suspected financial irregularities, or litigation involving financial issues, H2 can help bring clarity to the numbers.