Lessons · Accounting · who the expert's duty runs to
Who the duty runs to
An expert's obligation runs to the proceeding, not to whoever is paying. The opinion is the same whichever side instructed it, and where the evidence does not support the client's position, saying so is the job rather than a failure of it.
Hone is a place to practise a career, one idea a day. This is one of its lessons, written out in full and free to read without an account.
In beta. This lesson was written for Hone and has not yet been checked by a qualified accountant. Practice material, not professional advice. What that means.
What it is for
It is the sentence most likely to be inconvenient and most important to have understood before it is. An expert who shades an opinion towards the instructing side is worth nothing to them, because the first thing the other side does is look for exactly that, and finding it destroys the evidence and the expert together.
How to think about it
Write the opinion you would write if the other side had instructed you. If those two documents differ, the difference is the problem, and it is better found by you than by somebody cross-examining.
Worked example
Instructed by one sideWho pays does not change the answer.
The evidence supports part of their case and not the restBoth parts are reported.
An opinion shaded towards the payerWorth nothing, because it is the first thing looked for.
The test: would this be the same from the other sideA useful discipline before filing anything.
Your turn
Name who an expert's duty runs to.
The duty runs to the , not to whoever is paying
Solve one, graded on the server
The trap
Treating an unhelpful finding as something to soften. Softened findings are found, and the discovery converts an honest report with one inconvenient paragraph into an expert whose whole opinion is worthless.