In such circumstances, when during investigation any professional unintentionally harm the client's property and documents, and in case, such property or document is useful in the investigation carried on then the professional is liable to three parties :

1. Client
2. Investigation firm
3. Stakeholders of the client's firm.
4. Professional regulation body.

 

As in the given case, during an investigation professional "accidentally" delete a very important file which is important in the investigation of the assigned case, then "accidental" cause or harm to the documents are considered as unintentional but still a mistake and violation of professional standards from the professional, in such circumstances, the option available to the professional are :

1. Recovery of the deleted file: The professional must be immediately engaged in the recovery of the file ( if possible ) with the IT control system of Investigation's firm, as there are various types of software which can do it so. It is important here that he should not use the IT control of the client to recover, as the client's employees from IT can easily manipulate the recovered file data, if he does so then it should be strictly under his observation.
2. Declaring the unintentional mistake with proper documentation: The second option available to the professional is that he should declare his unintentional mistake of deleting the file accidentally which is very crucial to the investigation of the case, this declaration must be in written and to all the parties involved, Client, Investigation Firm, Regulatory body and Stakeholders ( includes creditors/lenders to the client).

Here it should be remembered, the professional is still liable to prove this as an "Accidental" or unintentional mistake, for this he

has to prove to the investigation firm and regulatory body (if required) that he is "independent" from the client that :

• he is not a related party to the client's firm
• he does not have any professional /personal relationship with the management or employees of the client.
• He does not have any stake in the case which is being investigated by the firm.

After proving the "unintentional" act by him, he is still liable to the client and investigatory firm because he is paid for making no mistakes whether intentional or unintentional but proving this act as "unintentional can save his professional services to be terminated by the regulatory body and any punishment by investigation firm.

 

3 Organize the facts and figures that can substitute the importance of file: However this effort if made by the professional would not be a vulnerable solution to the harm caused by him but if the facts and figures organized by him found strong investigated suspects the things can work ahead, but again objection from the client's firm would also be considered. As figures arranged or organized can be declared as secondary or estimated data, so the accuracy of the investigation would still be doubtful.

 

In this situation of harming the documents of the client, the professional has violated the code of professional standards by misconduct to objectivity and also violated Prudence and care under duties to clients (code of professional standards) and responsibility standard under the duty to the employers.

 

Step-by-step explanation

Explanation to the terms :

Misconduct under Professionalism: Under the code of professional standards, the professionalism standard is violated when the professional misconducts or commits any act that not only harms his professionalism but also the client.

 

In the given case, accidentally deleting the files of the client which is important to the investigation of the case would be considered as misconduct to the objectivity of the investigation.

 

Prudence and care under duties to clients: This standard is violated when a professional lacks care towards the client's property and internal information while performing the investigation or engagement.

 

In this case, the professional did the same, he lacks care about such an important document of the client. He has violated prudence and care under the duties to clients' code of professional standard.

 

Responsibility standard under a duty to the employer: When any professional fails to ensure his responsibility is given by the employer towards the engagement or investigation, he has also violated this standard under a duty to the employers.

 

In this case, the professional has given responsibility by his employer investigation firm for proper investigation of this case but by deleting the file of the client which is the key to the case, he has also violated the responsibility standard under a duty to the employer.