Shipping businesses keep complex records spread across owning companies, managers, agents and charterers. When a dispute turns on money, a forensic accountant brings those records together and tests whether the figures each side relies on are complete, accurate and properly linked to the events in issue.
Voyage accounts and revenue
Voyage accounts are a common starting point. A forensic accountant checks freight and hire receipts against charterparties and bank statements, reconciles bunker and port costs with supplier invoices, and identifies items that have been omitted, duplicated or moved between voyages.
Related-party transactions
Many groups run vessels through single-ship companies with shared managers and service providers. Payments between these entities, such as management fees, commissions and loans, can shift profit or hide losses. Tracing those flows is often central to shareholder disputes, insolvency claims and allegations of fraud.
Supporting or challenging damages
In a damages claim the accountant builds the counterfactual: what the business would have earned without the breach or incident. They also review the other side's model, test its assumptions and explain clearly to the tribunal where and why the figures differ.
This article is general guidance for lawyers, insurers and commercial parties instructing maritime specialists. It is not advice on any specific matter.
For matter-specific advice, submit an expert requirement with brief details of the dispute, parties and relevant deadlines.