Digital Forensics for CPA Firms & Accounting Practices
When financial fraud demands digital evidence, when a data breach exposes your clients' most sensitive information, or when litigation requires court-admissible accounting records, your firm needs a forensic partner who understands both the technology and the stakes. Petronella Technology Group delivers specialized CPA forensic services to accounting practices across Raleigh, Durham, RTP, and the entire Triangle region of North Carolina.
Speak directly with a forensic specialist: 919-348-4912
CPA Firms Face Unique and Escalating Digital Threats
Accounting practices are among the most targeted organizations in the United States. You hold the keys to your clients' entire financial lives, and threat actors know it. The consequences of inaction are severe, immediate, and increasingly personal.
Financial fraud hidden in digital systems. Embezzlement, asset misappropriation, and financial statement manipulation leave digital footprints buried in accounting databases, email chains, and cloud platforms. Without forensic-grade tools and methodology, these traces remain invisible to standard audits and IT reviews. Fraudsters count on your inability to find what they have hidden, and every day that passes makes recovery harder as operating systems overwrite deleted data and log files rotate out of existence.
Data breaches exposing client tax returns and financial records. CPA firms store Social Security numbers, bank account details, tax returns, financial statements, and business valuations for hundreds or thousands of clients. A single breach can expose all of it. The IRS, FTC Safeguards Rule, and North Carolina breach notification laws impose strict response timelines and documentation requirements that most accounting practices are unprepared to meet without a forensic partner on standby.
E-discovery demands that overwhelm accounting teams. When litigation involving financial records escalates, attorneys issue discovery requests for electronically stored information spanning years of transactions, emails, and documents. CPA firms that cannot produce this data in a legally defensible format face sanctions, adverse inferences, and case-altering penalties. Your accounting staff was hired to prepare returns and advise clients, not to manage forensic data collection under federal court rules.
Regulatory compliance growing more complex every year. The FTC Safeguards Rule now requires written information security plans for all tax preparers. IRS Publication 4557 mandates specific security controls. SOC 2 requirements affect firms processing client data at scale. AICPA professional standards demand confidentiality protections. North Carolina state laws add breach notification obligations. Failing to comply does not just risk fines; it threatens your license, your reputation, and your ability to retain clients who trust you with their most sensitive information.
Forensic-Grade Digital Investigation Purpose-Built for CPA Practices
Petronella Technology Group operates at the intersection of digital forensics and financial data expertise. For more than 22 years, we have served CPA firms, forensic accountants, and financial professionals across the Raleigh-Durham Research Triangle with investigation services that produce court-admissible evidence, satisfy regulatory scrutiny, and resolve complex financial disputes where digital systems hold the answers.
Our CPA forensic services begin with a thorough understanding of your specific situation. Whether you are an accounting firm that has discovered anomalies in a client's books, a practice that has suffered a data breach, or a forensic accountant who needs digital evidence extracted and preserved for litigation, PTG's certified investigators scope the engagement precisely and provide transparent cost estimates before any work begins. We understand that CPA firms operate under strict professional and ethical obligations, and our entire forensic methodology is designed to complement and protect those obligations.
We create bit-for-bit forensic images of relevant systems, capturing every byte of data including active files, archived records, and latent data that standard recovery tools cannot reach. Our investigators analyze accounting software databases, email servers, cloud storage platforms, employee workstations, and mobile devices to reconstruct complete transaction histories, identify unauthorized access, trace data exfiltration, and recover deleted financial records. Every step follows legally defensible chain-of-custody procedures that ensure the evidence we collect can withstand judicial scrutiny in state and federal courts.
Beyond reactive investigation, PTG proactively strengthens the security posture of CPA practices through vulnerability assessments, penetration testing, compliance audits against IRS and FTC requirements, and security awareness training that transforms your accounting staff from a vulnerability into a line of defense. For firms across Raleigh, Durham, Cary, Chapel Hill, and the broader Triangle region, PTG provides the forensic foundation that protects your practice, your clients, and your professional reputation.
CPA Forensic Investigation Process
- 1 Intake & Scoping — Confidential fact-finding consultation to understand the nature of the incident, identify relevant systems and custodians, and define investigation objectives. NDA execution and cost estimate provided before engagement begins.
- 2 Forensic Preservation — Bit-for-bit imaging of all relevant storage media including accounting servers, workstations, cloud platforms, and mobile devices. Strict chain-of-custody documentation from first contact through final disposition.
- 3 Analysis & Investigation — Deep examination of financial databases, email communications, document metadata, user access logs, and network activity to reconstruct events, trace fraud, or assess breach scope.
- 4 Reporting & Testimony — Comprehensive forensic report documenting methodology, findings, and conclusions in court-admissible format. Expert witness testimony available for depositions and trial proceedings.
CPA Forensic Services That Protect Your Practice
Every service is delivered by certified forensic professionals using legally defensible processes, court-validated toolchains, and deep expertise in accounting systems and financial data environments.
Financial Fraud Digital Investigation
When embezzlement, asset misappropriation, or financial statement fraud is suspected, PTG's forensic investigators extract and analyze the digital evidence that proves it. We work alongside CPAs and forensic accountants to forensically image accounting system databases, recover deleted transactions and journal entries, trace unauthorized access through audit trails and user logs, analyze email communications for evidence of collusion or concealment, and reconstruct document modification histories that reveal when financial records were altered. Our findings are documented in court-admissible reports that have been tested in North Carolina state and federal proceedings, and our investigators provide expert witness testimony that translates complex technical evidence into clear narratives for judges and juries.
Data Breach Response for CPA Practices
When a breach strikes your accounting firm, PTG's incident response team deploys immediately to contain the threat, preserve forensic evidence, and begin the investigation while the digital trail is still fresh. We isolate compromised systems without destroying volatile memory data, perform forensic imaging of affected servers and workstations, conduct root-cause analysis to determine exactly how the attacker gained access, assess the scope of exposed client data including tax returns, Social Security numbers, and financial records, and produce the documentation required for IRS notification, FTC Safeguards Rule compliance, North Carolina breach notification, and cyber insurance claims. Our breach response process is designed to minimize downtime for your practice while maximizing evidence preservation.
E-Discovery for Financial Litigation
PTG manages the complete technical workflow of electronic discovery for CPA firms involved in financial litigation, whether your practice is a party to the case, is supporting an attorney's investigation, or is acting on behalf of a client. We implement legal hold notices to prevent evidence spoliation, perform forensic collection from accounting software, email systems, cloud platforms, and mobile devices, process and de-duplicate large volumes of financial ESI, provide review platforms for attorney document examination, and produce data in court-required formats. Our process follows the EDRM framework and satisfies Federal Rules of Civil Procedure requirements, ensuring every document, spreadsheet, and email maintains its evidentiary integrity from collection through courtroom presentation.
Forensic Accounting Technology Support
Forensic accountants need digital evidence extracted from complex systems, but they are not digital forensics specialists. PTG bridges that gap by providing the technical forensic expertise that forensic accountants rely on to build their cases. We extract data from QuickBooks, Sage, Xero, UltraTax, Lacerte, Drake, ProSeries, and other accounting and tax preparation platforms using forensic methods that preserve metadata, document version histories, and deletion records. Our investigators produce structured data exports, timeline reconstructions, and technical analysis reports that give forensic accountants the foundation they need to quantify losses, trace funds, and prepare their expert opinions for litigation.
CPA Practice Security Assessment
Before a breach happens, PTG evaluates your accounting firm's security posture against the specific requirements that CPA practices face. Our assessment covers IRS Publication 4557 and Written Information Security Plan (WISP) compliance, FTC Safeguards Rule obligations for tax preparers, network perimeter and internal segmentation vulnerabilities, cloud platform security for accounting software and document storage, email security and phishing resistance, endpoint protection across staff workstations and mobile devices, and physical security controls for servers and backup media. We deliver a prioritized remediation roadmap that shows your firm exactly where to invest for maximum risk reduction, enabling you to demonstrate due diligence to regulators, insurance carriers, and clients who increasingly demand evidence that their data is protected.
Expert Witness & Litigation Support
When financial cases reach the courtroom, PTG's certified forensic investigators serve as expert witnesses who translate complex technical findings into clear, compelling testimony. As an independent third-party firm with more than 22 years of digital forensics experience, our testimony carries the weight of neutrality and deep expertise. We prepare demonstrative exhibits that visualize financial data flows, evidence timelines, and access patterns for non-technical audiences, support attorneys during depositions and cross-examination preparation, and provide courtroom testimony in fraud, embezzlement, intellectual property, partnership dispute, and white-collar criminal cases across North Carolina state and federal courts.
The Forensic Partner That CPA Firms Trust
PTG's forensic evidence collection has been accepted in civil and criminal proceedings at the federal and state level. Contact us to discuss your case confidentially.
919-348-4912Explore Our Full Forensics Ecosystem
PTG's CPA forensic services are part of a comprehensive digital forensics and cybersecurity platform. Explore related capabilities that strengthen your firm's investigation and defense posture.
Data Breach Forensics
Comprehensive breach investigation, incident response, and evidence preservation services.
Accounting & Financial Services
Industry-specific cybersecurity and compliance solutions for financial professionals.
Digital Forensics
Full-spectrum forensic investigation including computer, server, network, and mobile device analysis.
Schedule a Consultation
Speak with our forensic specialists about your CPA firm's investigation or security needs.
PTG's CPA forensic services support sole practitioners and small accounting firms managing sensitive client engagements, regional CPA practices responding to breaches or fraud investigations, forensic accountants who need technical evidence extraction and analysis, attorneys pursuing financial litigation who need CPA-related digital evidence, and insurance carriers evaluating claims involving accounting firm data breaches. Every engagement is tailored to the specific regulatory, legal, and operational context of the accounting profession.
The Difference Between IT Support and Forensic Investigation
Your internal IT team keeps your systems running. PTG's forensic investigators produce evidence that wins cases, satisfies regulators, and protects your professional license. There is no overlap between these roles, and trying to substitute one for the other puts your firm at serious risk. Here is why CPA practices across the Triangle choose PTG:
- 22+ years and zero breaches among clients who implemented our full security recommendations—Our operational record across more than two decades and 2,500+ organizations speaks directly to the reliability and thoroughness your firm requires when the stakes involve client trust, regulatory compliance, and courtroom outcomes.
- Independent, neutral third party—Our findings carry maximum credibility because we operate independently from your firm, your clients, and their adversaries. Courts and regulators recognize that independence matters for evidence integrity.
- Accounting system expertise—We have deep experience forensically examining QuickBooks, Sage, Xero, UltraTax, Lacerte, Drake, ProSeries, and other platforms that CPA firms and their clients use daily. We know where financial fraud hides in these systems.
- Court-validated forensic methodology—Our chain-of-custody procedures, forensic imaging techniques, and reporting standards have been tested and validated in North Carolina state courts and federal proceedings.
- Rapid deployment with minimal disruption—We image devices during evenings and weekends, typically completing collection in fewer than six hours. Your firm continues operating while we preserve the evidence your case depends on.
- Local presence across the Triangle—Headquartered in Raleigh, NC, PTG provides on-site forensic collection and support for CPA firms throughout Raleigh, Durham, RTP, Cary, Chapel Hill, and the entire Research Triangle region.
Tax Season Breach Contained in Under 4 Hours
A 12-person CPA firm in Raleigh discovered unauthorized access to their tax preparation server during peak filing season. Client tax returns containing Social Security numbers, financial statements, and bank account details for over 800 individuals and businesses were potentially exposed.
PTG's incident response team was on-site within 90 minutes. We isolated the compromised server, performed live memory capture to preserve volatile evidence, and initiated forensic imaging without taking the firm's other systems offline. Within four hours, we had contained the breach and confirmed its scope. Within 48 hours, our forensic report documented the attack vector, assessed exactly which client records were accessed, and provided the documentation the firm needed for IRS notification, state breach reporting, and their cyber insurance claim.
CPA Forensic Services Questions Answered
Get answers to the most common questions CPA firms and financial professionals ask about digital forensics, e-discovery, data breach response, and forensic investigation for accounting practices.
CPA forensic services combine digital forensics expertise with an understanding of accounting systems and financial data to help CPA firms investigate fraud, respond to data breaches, support litigation, and meet regulatory compliance obligations. Accounting firms need these services when a client suspects embezzlement or financial fraud, when the firm itself experiences a data breach exposing sensitive client information, when financial records stored in digital systems require forensic examination for litigation, or when regulatory bodies require evidence-grade documentation of a security incident. Petronella Technology Group provides these specialized services to CPA practices across Raleigh, Durham, Research Triangle Park, and all of North Carolina.
PTG's forensic investigators work alongside CPAs and forensic accountants to extract, preserve, and analyze digital evidence from accounting systems, email servers, cloud platforms, and employee devices. We create forensic images of relevant storage media to preserve the original evidence, then use enterprise-grade forensic tools to trace unauthorized transactions, recover deleted financial records, analyze user access logs and audit trails, reconstruct document modification histories, and identify data exfiltration patterns. Our findings are documented in court-admissible reports that meet federal and state evidentiary standards, and our team is available to provide expert witness testimony when cases proceed to litigation.
The first step is to contain the breach without destroying evidence. Do not turn off or restart compromised systems, as this can overwrite volatile memory containing critical forensic data. Contact PTG's incident response team immediately at 919-348-4912. We will guide you through isolating affected systems, preserving the chain of custody, and beginning the forensic investigation. Simultaneously, notify your cyber liability insurance carrier and legal counsel. PTG handles the technical response including forensic imaging, root cause analysis, scope assessment, and regulatory notification support for IRS Publication 4557, FTC Safeguards Rule, and state breach notification laws applicable to North Carolina CPA practices.
PTG's forensic data recovery capabilities extend to virtually every type of financial data stored in digital systems. This includes QuickBooks, Sage, Xero, and other accounting software databases; tax preparation files from UltraTax, Lacerte, Drake, and ProSeries; client documents stored on local servers, cloud drives, and email attachments; deleted or modified spreadsheets, PDFs, and financial statements; payroll records, bank reconciliations, and wire transfer logs; audit trail data showing who accessed or modified records and when; and metadata embedded in documents that reveals authorship, modification dates, and version history. We recover active, archived, and latent data that standard IT tools cannot access, using forensic imaging techniques that preserve every byte for evidentiary purposes.
E-discovery in financial litigation follows a structured process to identify, preserve, collect, process, review, and produce electronically stored information relevant to the case. PTG manages the technical aspects of this process for CPA firms, whether the firm is a party to the litigation, is supporting an attorney's investigation, or is acting on behalf of a client. We issue and implement legal hold notices, perform forensic collection from accounting software, email servers, cloud platforms, and mobile devices, process and de-duplicate large volumes of financial ESI, provide review platforms for attorney document examination, and produce data in court-required formats. Our process follows the EDRM framework and satisfies Federal Rules of Civil Procedure requirements.
CPA firms in North Carolina operate under multiple overlapping regulatory frameworks. These include the FTC Safeguards Rule requiring comprehensive information security programs for financial institutions including tax preparers, IRS Publication 4557 mandating written information security plans (WISP) for all tax professionals, the North Carolina Identity Theft Protection Act requiring breach notification, AICPA professional standards governing confidentiality and data integrity, Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act provisions applicable to financial service providers, and SOC 2 requirements for firms processing client data at scale. PTG helps CPA practices across the Raleigh-Durham Triangle achieve and maintain compliance with all applicable frameworks.
The cost depends on the scope and complexity of the engagement. Forensic investigators typically charge between $250 and $300 per hour. A standard financial fraud investigation involving ESI collection, forensic examination, and a written report usually requires fewer than 15 hours and costs approximately $5,000. Data breach incident response varies based on the number of affected systems. E-discovery projects are scoped based on data volume and number of custodians. PTG provides transparent cost estimates after an initial consultation, and we can perform device imaging during evenings and weekends in fewer than six hours to minimize disruption. Contact us at 919-348-4912 for a free initial assessment.
Yes. PTG's certified forensic investigators regularly serve as expert witnesses in civil and criminal financial fraud cases across North Carolina state and federal courts. As a neutral, independent third-party firm with more than 22 years of experience, our testimony carries significant weight with judges and juries. We translate complex technical findings into clear, accessible language, prepare demonstrative exhibits that visualize financial data flows and evidence timelines, and provide testimony under direct and cross-examination. Our expert witness services include pre-trial consultation with legal counsel and deposition preparation.
Internal IT staff lack the specialized forensic tools, certified methodologies, and courtroom experience required for evidence that holds up under judicial scrutiny. Evidence collected by internal personnel raises questions about objectivity and bias, potentially rendering it inadmissible. Most court systems mandate that e-discovery be conducted by outside specialists. You typically get only one chance to recover evidence without contamination, and inexperienced handling can permanently destroy critical financial data. PTG operates as an independent third party with enterprise-grade forensic tools and court-validated procedures, ensuring maximum credibility and legal defensibility for every piece of evidence we collect.
Confidentiality is foundational to every PTG engagement. We execute non-disclosure agreements before any data is accessed and maintain strict chain-of-custody documentation throughout. All forensic images and working data are stored on encrypted, access-controlled systems. Our investigators operate under professional ethical standards that parallel the confidentiality obligations CPA firms maintain with their clients. We restrict case data access on a need-to-know basis, structure communications to preserve attorney-client privilege where applicable, and follow documented data retention and destruction policies upon case completion.
Your Clients Trust You With Their Most Sensitive Financial Data. Are You Prepared to Protect It?
Whether you are responding to an active data breach, investigating suspected financial fraud, preparing for financial litigation, or strengthening your firm's security posture before an incident occurs, PTG's CPA forensic specialists are ready. Schedule your free, confidential consultation today. Every minute matters when evidence is at stake and client trust hangs in the balance.
Need immediate forensic assistance? Call us directly at 919-348-4912