Compulsory Purchase
Quantification of business losses
Delivering outstanding results
Vero Consulting Services
Vero Consulting provides expert and authoritative analysis and opinion on the financial, economic, accounting, fiscal and monetary aspects of disputes and investigations.
Testimonials
Charles's reports are carefully prepared and supported by thorough research. I would not hesitate in recommending him for big money and complex matrimonial cases.
I first came across Charles in a case where he had been appointed by the acquiring authority and I was advising the claimant. I found Charles to be extremely knowledgeable and a tough negotiator. His confident and professional delivery convinced me that I would much rather have him on my team in future. He never fails to deliver results!
Your service is always impeccable!
Charles is a pleasure to work with and his expertise in this field was clear to all involved in the case.
I found him to be very knowledgeable about how compensation should be quantified and was very supportive throughout the negotiations and in reaching settlement. His quiet confident manner assured me that I was in safe hands throughout!
It has been a pleasure to get to know you and I have enjoyed our various meetings. The insights and advice that you were able to provide me with during my divorce negotiations were invaluable. Should any of my friends be unfortunate enough to go through a similar situation, I would not hesitate to recommend you.
We found Charles's knowledge and understanding of the area to be highly professional and extremely competent, we were able to completely trust the advice he presented to us. His ability to provide “real world” experience in the matter was invaluable. I would wholeheartedly recommend Vero Consulting in any agency valuation matter.
I have not the words to adequately express my sincere gratitude. You have been exceptional and I recommend you unreservedly.
Charles has an astute legal mind which is firmly anchored in reality, enabling him to advise his clients on the best and most viable course of action. He is alert to the wider implications, and able to identify unforeseen opportunities. He makes and explains his case lucidly, and is a pleasure to work alongside.
Recent Blogs
CIArb Audit Committee
I am pleased to announce my appointment to the Audit Committee of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (“CIArb”), the world’s leading qualifications and professional body for dispute avoidance and dispute management.
This appointment builds on my long involvement in dispute resolution as an expert witness, as well as recognising my expertise in corporate governance, auditing and financial reporting.
Further details of my experience may be found by clicking here.
To contact me, please click here.
10 January 2020
#audit #auditcommittee #financialreporting #ciarb #arbitration #disputes #disputeresolution #internationalarbitration #law
Charles Lazarevic – Global 100 Award winner
In December Charles was Awarded Fraud Accountancy Expert Witness of the Year 2019 by KMH Media, publishers of M&A Today. This annual Award aims to provides their readership with an understanding of those individuals that are truly leaders within their chosen areas of specialisation.
The Process:
Each individual recognised must receive no less than 21% in votes from the global readership, currently in excess of 293,000 in 163 countries.
After the voting process, which follows a very strict format of self-submission and third-party nomination, firms are shortlisted and selected as winners as follows:
Judging stage:
Once all votes have been received, an independent panel of judges review the votes within each category.
The judges will assess the following in their considerations:
- The strategic nature of work conducted.
- The complexity of work conducted.
- The scale of work conducted.
- Whether the work conducted was done so in a speedy manner and within budget.
- Any ground-breaking or innovative processes used during completion of conducted work.
The judges were asked to focus strongly on the complexity and strategic significance of work conducted.
The above criteria underlines the importance of the recognition each individual receives as a result of being recognised as a Global 100 winner.
In summary, the publishers believe their Global 100 programme provides a benchmark for the very best of the best industry leaders, exemplary teams and distinguished organisations.
The full list of Award winners may be viewed here.
Download a pdf of the entry here.
31 December 2019
The Conservative Party’s Manifesto set out the party’s aims for audit reform within the following statement: “We are also strengthening the UK’s corporate governance regime, and will reform insolvency rules and the audit regime so that customers and suppliers – and UK taxpayers – are better protected when firms like Thomas Cook go into administration. We will also carefully study the results of the ongoing investigation into its collapse.”
Sir Donald Brydon’s review dated December 2019
On 18 December Sir Donald published his 138-page report into audit reform. His terms of reference were set by the Government at the beginning of the year and included the ambitious aim of “seeing the UK at the forefront of corporate governance internationally. This includes maintaining a leadership position internationally in terms of the evolution of the audit”.
Sir Donald’s report also includes over 60 other wide ranging and ambitious recommendations, including strengthened standards for auditors, more responsibilities for company directors and additional powers for shareholders and stakeholders to influence audit.
Sir Donald proposes that the new generation of auditors should be trained in forensic accounting and in fraud detection. So, while the higher standard will require auditors to approach their work with suspicion rather than just scepticism, by targeting their work using their forensic accounting skills perhaps we will have better outcomes without increasing fees prohibitively.
The Business Secretary’s priorities
In her editorial for my Institute’s newsletter, Economia, just before Parliament was dissolved in November, the Business Secretary, Andrea Leadsom, asserted that:
“Reform will cover not just the function of the regulator, but also the purpose and function of audit itself. It will include proposals on the function and oversight of audit committees and new internal control arrangements within our great British businesses – key lines of defence against poor corporate governance. It will also include proposals on the responsibilities of boards and directors – who need to build trust in the business activities that they lead. And reform will also look at how both investors and regulators can better hold companies and their auditors to account. All of those factors must be assessed and weighed together, so that the whole package is coherent and effective.”
She ended be stating her aims to be: “I want to see the UK leading the world in the next phase of improvements in corporate governance and audit reform.”
The challenge ahead
There has always been an “expectation gap” between what the public expected and what auditors delivered. Like many accountants, I spent my early years as an auditor before concluding that adding forensic accounting skills to my toolbox would allow me to make a much greater contribution in business. While I applaud the introduction of forensic accounting training for auditors, and the need for them to approach their work with suspicion rather than mere scepticism, introducing these changes will require huge effort by regulators, trainers and the new firms themselves.
Some of Sir Donald’s recommendations may be implemented relatively early but others, such as creating a separate audit profession with its own governing principles, standards, and professional qualifications is a big step, and will take time to implement, and require a lot of work with the inevitable cost falling on business.
In our interconnected world, any changes introduced in the audit of major UK companies will need to be mirrored in other major economies if UK auditors are to be able to meet these new standards. The UK will need to encourage the accountancy professions in other countries to adopt these proposals as well.
In addition to Sir Donald Brydon’s review, the Business Secretary has three other major reviews on various aspects of the profession to address – the future of the Financial Reporting Council (Sir John Kingman), reform of the audit market (Competition and Markets Authority) and the future of audit (the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy’s own Committee).
The Business Secretary certainly has her work cut out if she is to implement these ambitious aims in the next 12 months. As always, the devil will be in the detail and I suspect we will see more limited reform within this timetable, leaving the more ambitious aims for another day.
Charles Lazarevic
20 December 2019
Rule of Law Programme – Western Balkans
A conference on the recovery of the proceeds of crime was held in Belgrade, sponsored by the UK Government. The conference provided training for senior judges and prosecutors from seven countries in South Eastern Europe with the aim of encouraging international co-operation in recovering assets following every successful prosecution.
This training provided an overview of the law and practice in international cooperation in asset recovery. The participants were also provided with an excellent Handbook setting out the available tools, channels for cooperation and best practice. The Keynote speaker was HH Judge Michael Hopmeier, Southwark Crown Court, London.
The conference was arranged in response to the low level of international cooperation in the field of asset recovery in South Eastern Europe and forms part of a wide programme of capacity building being sponsored by the UK Government in the fight against corruption and organised crime in the region.
The event attracted over 30 participants including a former judge from the European Court of Human Rights, and judges from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia.
The UK Government is keen to share the UK’s experience of fighting corruption and recovery of the proceeds of crime. One important aim is to speed up the seizure of assets at an early stage.
Vero Consulting’s skills in this area
Charles Lazarevic represented Vero Consulting at the conference, building on the firm’s forensic accounting investigations work in the region. The firm has used its extensive forensic accounting and language skills to prepare and present expert witness evidence in proceeds of crime trials for the prosecution or defendants on many occasions.
While most assignments are conducted in English, Vero’s team includes individuals with a working knowledge of German, French, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Romanian, Serbian and Croatian.
Further details of Vero team’s expertise is available here. If you would like consult Vero for a business financial review or a forensic investigation anywhere in the world, please contact the firm at: enquiries@veroconsulting.expert.
Charles Lazarevic
30 November 2019