Advanced Financial Reporting and Accounting for Seized and Forfeited Assets (IPSAS and IFRS)

Course overview

Asset recovery bodies hold an unusual mix of items: cash and property they control but do not own, assets awaiting court decisions, forfeited property that now belongs to the state, and funds owed to victims or other countries. Getting the accounting wrong produces qualified audit opinions and erodes trust. This seized asset accounting course gives finance teams a complete, defensible framework.

Participants work through the recognition and measurement questions at each stage of recovery, under IPSAS for public bodies and IFRS where relevant. Topics include control versus ownership, custodial and agency arrangements, contingent assets and liabilities, revenue from forfeiture, transfers to the exchequer, amounts payable to victims, and presentation in the financial statements. Participants draft accounting policies, prepare journal entries for typical transactions and build a set of notes for a model agency. The course closes with the audit perspective and how to prepare a clean audit file.

Participants leave with draft accounting policies, worked entries and model disclosures they can adapt to their own institution.

What you will be able to do

• Determine when seized, frozen and forfeited assets meet recognition criteria
• Apply IPSAS and IFRS requirements to recovered asset transactions
• Account for custodial and agency arrangements consistently
• Treat pending cases as contingent assets or liabilities where appropriate
• Record forfeiture revenue, transfers and amounts owed to victims
• Draft accounting policies and note disclosures for recovered assets
• Prepare an audit file that supports the reported figures

Who should attend

For accountants, finance managers and auditors in asset recovery, asset management and justice institutions. A professional accounting background is assumed.

• Chief finance officers
• Financial accountants
• Finance managers in asset recovery agencies
• Public sector accountants
• External and internal auditors
• Treasury accountants
• Judiciary finance officers

Course outline

Fees are per participant in US dollars and cover tuition, course materials and your certificate. Travel and accommodation are not included.