DPA Negotiation Forensic Accountant | Quantifying the Financial Settlement
A Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA) defers prosecution of a corporate in exchange for cooperation, remediation, and financial payment under court supervision. The financial settlement comprises disgorgement, financial penalty (typically equal to or greater than disgorgement), and costs.
SFO 2025 guidance explicitly links self-reporting and full cooperation to DPA invitation. Forensic accountants quantify the scope of misconduct and model disgorgement before disclosure, establishing the foundation for negotiation.
Disgorgement represents net benefit the organisation obtained from misconduct. Forensic accountants trace financial benefit through organisational accounts, netting legitimate costs from tainted activity.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is the disgorgement figure in a DPA calculated?
Disgorgement represents the net benefit the organisation obtained from the misconduct: profits made or losses avoided as a direct result of the fraudulent or corrupt conduct. Forensic accountants calculate this by tracing the financial benefit through the organisation's accounts, netting off legitimate costs and revenue from the tainted activity.
Is the DPA financial penalty always equal to the disgorgement?
No. The financial penalty is typically equal to or greater than the disgorgement figure, reflecting both the disgorgement and an additional punitive element. Forensic accountants assist in negotiating the disgorgement base figure, which then drives the penalty calculation.
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