A GROUP of business advisors from Chalfont St Peter specialising in cloak and dagger forensic accounting will play a major part in a massive crackdown on business crime and fraud.

Harwood Hutton, based in the High Street, Chalfont St Peter, has beaten off hefty national competition to provide forensic accountancy services to the Assets Recovery Agency (ARA).

The ARA reports directly to the Home Secretary and deals with cases referred by police forces, HM Revenue and Customs and other law enforcement agencies.

The firm's experts are to work closely with the non-Ministerial Government Department set up to disrupt criminal enterprises through the recovery of criminal assets. ARA appoints forensic accountants to help trace assets and act as expert witnesses in legal proceedings.

Adam Stronach (pictured right), who led the proposal team, was overjoyed by news that the Buckinghamshire business had been chosen by the agency, which promotes the use of financial investigation as an integral part of criminal investigation.

He said: "This is a significant achievement for Harwood Hutton as only a handful of others will be used by the ARA. It demonstrates our excellence in the field of forensic accounting and we hope to work closer with the ARA over the coming years."

Forensic accountants are different from regular accountants in that they tend to go into more detail when analysing material, and work alongside the legal profession and law enforcement agencies, knowing that their reports may end up in court.

Mr Stronach added: "We anticipate this will be a springboard for further development of the forensic team at Harwood Hutton.

"The current range of our forensic work encompasses everything from £15million valuation assignments to quantifying losses in matrimonial and contractual disputes."

Only about 12 organisations across the UK will be covered by an ARA framework agreement and the venture is one of a number of appointments secured by the forensic team since Mr Stronach joined the firm a year ago.

John Brace, managing partner, said: "Adam Stronach's arrival at Harwood Hutton has broadened our forensic services offering and enabled us to explore new types of appointments. This is great for the firm."

Harwood Hutton business advisors and accountants was established in 1957 and specialises in a number of areas including forensic work. It has seven partners and operates from offices in Chalfont St Peter and Maidenhead.