Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) — generated more than £200 million last year from forensic work. Investigating fraud, recovering stolen assets and advising companies on legal disputes is a hot area for accountatnts at the moment, for obvious reasons.

Increasing incidences of fraud, tougher regulatory controls and regulators in fear of more embarrasment from failure have come together to exaggerate the effects in this area of the market. The Big4 are expecting the business to double in size by 2012…  so a good time to sharpen up those forensic skills.

If you prefer the style of Horatio to Gil…