Senior Associate, Investigations & Forensic Accounting

BRG; Chicago (IL); Hybrid; USD 100,000 - 175,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work model

Travel as required

Job summary

BRG is seeking a Senior Associate for our Forensic, Technology, Investigations & Discovery practice. The role supports complex financial disputes and investigations from BRG’s Houston, Chicago, or New York City offices, contributing to expert opinions, lost profits, and economic damages analyses.

You’ll work on GAAP-related issues, test assumptions, and document analyses for court, arbitration, and regulatory proceedings, collaborating with engagement teams and managing multiple deliverables

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in accounting or finance required.
• Master's degree in accounting preferred or combined program.
• 2–4 years in public accounting, audit, or forensic accounting.
• CPA designation or progress toward licensure strongly preferred.
• Strong GAAP knowledge and financial statement analysis.
• Analytical/problem-solving skills with attention to detail.
• Proficiency in Excel; Word and PowerPoint knowledge.
• Clear written/verbal communication to attorneys and nontech audiences.
• Ability to work independently and manage multiple deadlines.
• Experience with data analytics tools is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Analyze financial statements, ledgers, tax returns and data to identify issues.
• Trace transactions and reconcile records for investigations.
• Research GAAP and assess treatment consistency with standards.
• Support post-closing disputes and earn-outs with supporting records.
• Develop financial models for lost-profits and damages analyses.
• Evaluate forecasts and reasonableness of projections.
• Assist drafting expert report sections and exhibits.
• Prepare for depositions, hearings, and regulatory proceedings.
• Review intercompany transactions for alter-ego analyses.
• Conduct company/industry/economic research as needed.
• Maintain reproducible workpapers and source-document references.
• Review others' work for accuracy and completeness.
• Communicate findings to engagement teams and clients.
• Collaborate across engagements and meet deadlines.
• Travel as required by engagement needs.

Skills

Analytical thinking

Problem-solving

Communication skills

Attention to detail

Independent work

Team collaboration

Financial statement analysis

Education

Bachelor's degree in accounting or finance

Master's degree in accounting (preferred)

CPA licensure (preferred/progress toward)

Tools

Excel

Word

Power Query

SQL

Python

R

Job description

We Do Consulting Differently About BRG BRG brings together industry specialists and leading experts in accounting, damages analysis, economics, finance, valuation, data analytics, and strategic analysis. Our Economics, Disputes & Investigations community helps clients address complex business challenges through rigorous analysis, independent perspectives, and clear, practical insights.

About the Role

BRG’s Forensic, Technology, Investigations & Discovery practice is seeking a Senior Associate interested in working from BRG’s Houston, Chicago, or New York City offices to support complex financial disputes and investigations. The successful candidate will work with engagement professionals on forensic accounting, business valuation, lost profits, and economic damages analyses supporting expert opinions in litigation and other dispute proceedings. Engagements may involve fraud allegations, post-closing M&A disputes, disputed accounting methodologies, compliance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), alter-ego allegations, lost profits, business valuation, and economic damages. The role emphasizes rigorous, standards-based analysis and clear documentation that supports expert reports and testimony in court, arbitration, and regulatory proceedings. This role is well suited to a public accounting or advisory professional who wants to apply accounting knowledge and professional skepticism to disputed financial issues. Professionals with experience in a Big Four environment tend to do well in this role, drawing on their technical foundation, analytical rigor, and client-service experience. Candidates should enjoy examining underlying records, testing assumptions, and explaining complex financial matters clearly to both technical and nontechnical audiences.

Job Responsibilities

• Analyze financial statements, general ledgers, tax returns, transaction-level data, and other business records to identify relevant financial activity, inconsistencies, and potential accounting issues.
• Trace transactions, identify the flow of funds, and reconcile financial records to support investigations of alleged financial statement fraud, asset misappropriation, embezzlement, and other financial irregularities or disputed accounting practices.
• Research applicable accounting standards, including GAAP, and assist in evaluating whether accounting treatments and methodologies are consistent with those standards and the underlying financial evidence.
• Support analyses of post-closing M&A disputes involving working capital adjustments, earn-outs, and alleged breaches of representations and warranties, including reviewing relevant purchase agreement provisions and supporting accounting records.
• Develop and maintain financial models supporting lost-profits calculations, business interruption claims, economic damages analyses, and business valuations, including discounted cash flow analyses where appropriate.
• Evaluate historical financial performance, forecasts, and underlying assumptions to assess the reasonableness of financial projections and claimed losses.
• Assist in drafting expert report sections and preparing exhibits and supporting schedules that clearly connect financial evidence, analytical methods, assumptions, and conclusions.
• Support preparation for depositions, hearings, arbitration, trial, and regulatory proceedings by checking report support, reviewing opposing experts’ methodologies and calculations, and identifying issues for expert evaluation.
• Analyze intercompany transactions, related-party balances, and financial relationships among entities to support expert analyses involving alter-ego allegations, without making legal determinations.
• Conduct company, industry, and economic research as needed.
• Maintain organized, reproducible workpapers with clear references to source documents so analyses can be reviewed, replicated, and supported under scrutiny.
• Review your own work and the work of others for accuracy, consistency, completeness, and supportability.
• Communicate findings effectively to engagement teams and contribute to client discussions as appropriate.
• Collaborate across engagements, manage competing priorities, and meet project deadlines while maintaining high standards of quality and confidentiality.
• Participate in practice development activities and travel as required by engagement needs.

Qualifications

• A bachelor’s degree in accounting, finance, or a related discipline is required.
• A master’s degree in accounting or completion of a combined bachelor’s and master’s accounting program is preferred.
• Two to four years of relevant experience in public accounting, audit, forensic accounting, litigation consulting, financial investigations, valuation, or a related advisory practice.
• A CPA designation or demonstrated progress toward CPA licensure is strongly preferred.
• A strong foundation in GAAP, accounting methodology, and financial statement analysis, including the relationships among the general ledger, trial balance, income statement, balance sheet, and statement of cash flows.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to investigate discrepancies, evaluate assumptions, and develop well-supported conclusions.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Excel, including organizing, reconciling, and analyzing financial data, and working knowledge of Word and PowerPoint.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to explain accounting issues and financial analyses clearly to attorneys and other nontechnical audiences.
• Excellent attention to detail, sound professional judgment, and the ability to maintain organized, reproducible analyses.
• The ability to work independently and collaboratively while managing multiple assignments and deadlines.

Preferred Experience

• Experience supporting accounting or transaction-related disputes, fraud investigations, GAAP compliance analyses, lost-profits calculations, business valuations, or expert-witness engagements.
• Familiarity with financial modeling and valuation methodologies, including discounted cash flow analysis.
• Experience using data analytics tools such as Power Query, SQL, Python, or R.
• Progress toward a relevant forensic accounting or valuation credential, such as the CFE, CFF, ABV, or CVA.

Salary Range

Salary Range: $100,000-$175,000 #LI-HYBRID #LI-MT1

About BRG

About BRG BRG combines world-leading academic credentials with world-tested business expertise and purpose-built emerging technologies. Our culture centers on agility and connectivity which sets us apart and gets you ahead. At BRG, our professionals include specialist consultants, industry experts, renowned academics, and leading-edge data scientists. Together, they bring a diversity of real-world experience, data, and human and artificial intelligence, to economics, disputes, and investigations; corporate finance; and performance improvement services that address the most complex challenges facing organizations across the globe. Our unique structure nurtures the interdisciplinary relationships that give us the edge, laying the groundwork for more informed insights and more original, incisive thinking. When paired with our global reach and resources, our diverse perspectives and technical capabilities make us uniquely capable to address our clients’ challenges. We get results because we know how to apply our thinking to your world. At BRG, we don’t just show you what’s possible. We’re built to help you make it happen.

We Do Consulting Differently

We Do Consulting Differently It takes more than top-tier people. It takes top-tier people grounded in real-world expertise, working together in the right ways. This is BRG. Purpose-built for the agility and connectivity that sets us apart— we bring the best data, brightest talent, and boldest thinking to all that we do. With the crucial added ingredient of our real-world business acumen, we translate insights into action. BRG is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. Our hiring practices provide equal opportunity for employment without regard to race, religion, color, sex, gender, national origin, age, United States military veteran status, ancestry, sexual orientation, marital status, family structure, medical condition including genetic characteristics or information, veteran status, or mental or physical disability so long as the essential functions of the job can be performed with or without reasonable accommodation, or any other protected category under federal, state, or local law.

Equal Opportunity Employer

BRG is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. Our hiring practices provide equal opportunity for employment without regard to race, religion, color, sex, gender, national origin, age, United States military veteran status, ancestry, sexual orientation, marital status, family structure, medical condition including genetic characteristics or information, veteran status, or mental or physical disability so long as the essential functions of the job can be performed with or without reasonable accommodation, or any other protected category under federal, state, or local law. We do Consulting Differently It takes more than top-tier people. It takes top-tier people grounded in real-world expertise, working together in the right ways. This is BRG. Purpose built for the agility and connectivity that sets us apart— we bring the best data, brightest talent, and boldest thinking to all that we do. With the crucial added ingredient of our real-world business acumen, we translate insights into action. BRG is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. Our hiring practices provide equal opportunity for employment without regard to race, religion, color, sex, gender, national origin, age, United States military veteran status, ancestry, sexual orientation, marital status, family structure, medical condition including genetic characteristics or information, veteran status, or mental or physical disability so long as the essential functions of the job can be performed with or without reasonable accommodation, or any other protected category under federal, state, or local law.

Accommodation Request

If you need reasonable accommodation for any part of the employment process, please contact us by email at [e-mail] and let us know the nature of your request and your contact information.

Requests for Website Accessibility and Required Information for Online Applicant Tracking Systems accommodation will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Please note that only inquiries concerning a request for reasonable accommodation will be responded to from this email address.