Such sleuthing is a booming business for Kessler and other forensic accountants, who charge about $300 an hour for investigate work, one-third more than for audits. They’re riding a wave of corporate crime, cooked books, hacked computers, infringed copyrights, and old-fashioned theft. “This is without doubt one of the fastest growing areas of our practice,” says Frank Piantidosi, national director of forensic investigative services at Deloitte & Touche.

Fraud of all types cost U.S. companies more than $400 billion last year, reports the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners. Investors sued 235 corporations for securities fraud in 1998-a record number-according to the Stanford Securities Class Action Clearing House at Stanford Law School. Bank of New York Co. says it has hired investigators from accounting firm KPMG International to determine whether a Russian crime syndicate laundered as much as $10 billion through the bank, as U.S. law enforcement officials allege. And for months, scores of accountants have combed documents at six insurance companies for clues to hundreds of millions of dollars that vanished with Martin Frankel, according to state regulators. German police captured the money manager in Hamburg in September after an international manhunt, and he has since been indicted, but investigators still don’t know how much money is missing, let alone where it is.

Big Five accounting firms like Arthur Andersen, Deloitte, and KPMG are expanding their forensic businesses, units that are often part of what executives call “litigation support services” or “dispute resolution.” Deloitte has added at least 75 people to its investigative unit, including more than two dozen former agents from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Central Intelligence Agency, federal prosecutors, and Royal Canadian Mounted Police. At KPMG, the New York forensic practice has grown to 90 people from 4 in the past five years.

In the past, forensic accountants were little more than glorified insurance examiners. For example, an insurer might hire an outside investigator to value a factory and its contents flooded by Hurricane Floyd. Now the sleuths are landing work because more and more companies are suing each other or are being sued by their shareholders.

Cendant Corp., formed in 1997 by the merger of CUC International and HFS, held the dubious honor of being the most frequently sued company last year, according to the Stanford Law School study, which was published in January. The franchising and discount-shopping company, based in Parsippany, N.J., was the defendant in at least 70 class action complaints.

The suits alleged that former CUC executives booked fictional revenue and used money set aside for merger-related expenses for other things. Cendant itself sued accounting firm Ernst & Young for certifying allegedly false financial statements from CUC.

“Blame the lawyers,” says Steven Bankler, investigative accountant for the US. Senate Whitewater Committee. “We’re a litigious society, and that is a big reason why forensic accounting is a boom business.” Bankler isn’t complaining. His San Antonio, Texas, firm charges $300 an hour. He says big firms often charge more.

Some accountants come to the field with specialized training in computers. They say the ability to retrieve and secure electronic evidence is increasingly vital to solving white-collar crimes.

“Ten years ago, only the geeks had access to computers,” says Lorraine Horton, a 45-year-old investigative accountant who teaches courses in accounting computer systems at the University of Rhode Island. “Now everyone has access and can hack in for nefarious purposes.”

Stephen Silver, the Arthur Andersen partner in charge of business fraud in the Midwest, says he hires people from the FBI, state police forces, and district attorney’s offices. “You’ve got to have experience with wrongdoing,” he says.  Spotting clues is a knack some experts say can’t be taught.  That is especially true with some accountants, who are trained to believe that numbers don’t lie. “Auditing is about following the rules,” says Horton. “In forensic accounting there are no rules; anything is possible.”

   It was a lesson Mike Kessler learned while investigating tax fraud, government corruption, and organized crime for New York. A beefy Brooklyn native who stands well over six feet tall, Kessler has been director of the New York State Revenue Crimes Bureau, deputy inspector general of the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and assistant chief auditor for the New York State special prosecutor. His Park Avenue firm, Michael G. Kessler &Associates, employs about 35 accountants, researchers, and private investigators.

     Monsanto hired Kessler after stores began complaining in April 1996 that their scanners couldn’t read the bar codes on some Equal boxes. The boxes turned out to be fakes. Working from a database he keeps on people linked to product counterfeiting, Kessler decided to stake out Haskel. His team snapped dozens of photos of employees at work and gathered evidence outside.

   After obtaining a court order to seize Haskel’s books, Kessler put on his accounting hat. The accounts showed Haskel had been buying Equal in 2,000-pack boxes designed for restaurants and then repackaging the sweetener into counterfeit boxes that hold 50 packs, the size sold in stores, Monsanto later alleged.

   Monsanto says its prices are “proprietary information” and won’t disclose them. But the company does say it sells Equal cheaper in bulk than it does to stores. A 50-pack box retails for $3.99 at Delmonico Gourmet Food Market off Park Avenue.

   Monsanto filed a lawsuit against Haskel, saying the wholesaler had taken advantage of the difference in prices at its expense for five years. Monsanto has spent more than $110 million advertising and promoting Equal since 1992, according to the suit, so the company has a big stake in protecting its brand.

   Haskel eventually settled, according to Kessler. People at the wholesaler didn’t return telephone calls seeking comment.  Not your typical accounting work. But then Kessler isn’t your typical number cruncher. As he puts it, “While accountants look at the numbers, forensic accountants look behind the numbers.”