Brief of Evidence: Presenting Financial Records

How to Present Financial Records in a Brief

Build the financial part of the brief from source exhibits, with schedules and charts explaining the recorded payments. Before assembly, identify the charges or issues, the receiving prosecutor’s format and the applicable service timetable. Keep the original production bundle separate from the working copies.

1. Index the bank records by institution, account and statement period. Record missing periods and the authority used to obtain each bundle.
2. Assign proposed exhibit identifiers and page references. Retain a mapping to each original filename so the analysis survives later pagination.
3. Build a transaction schedule containing the payments relevant to the alleged conduct. Give every row its source exhibit and page reference.
4. Prepare charts from the schedule, with a defined account scope and explanation of what each line or total shows.
5. Add the analyst’s statement explaining the records used, extraction method, matching rules and treatment of duplicate transactions. Identify any assumptions separately from observed transactions.

The following fictional brief index shows one financial investigation’s structure. The identifiers are illustrative proposed exhibit numbers, not numbers assigned by a court.

The CDPP’s guidance for partner agencies describes required e-Brief formats and minimum standards. Its E-Brief referral guidelines are held in the Partner Agency Portal, and some agencies use customised templates. NSW Police’s published Early Appropriate Guilty Plea procedures identify a brief items list and summary of evidence coversheet. They also contain an alternative-evidence checklist in Appendix 2. The blank coversheet is on the police intranet.

What a Brief of Evidence Contains

A police brief of evidence usually contains the charges, witness statements, documentary exhibits and other evidence supporting the prosecution case. Financial matters also need the bank production material and evidence explaining any derived schedules. Disclosure extends beyond the selected transactions that support the allegation.

A can say statement is commonly an unsigned account of the evidence a witness is expected to give. Investigators use it before taking the formal statement. Keep its status visible within the brief and distinguish it from the witness’s completed statement. The Victorian Royal Commission’s account of statement preparation describes that use of the term.

NSW, Queensland and Victoria

The state rules differ by proceeding. A summary hearing, committal and trial on indictment do not share one universal brief deadline.

The NSW Judicial Commission’s summary-hearing guidance confirms the service obligation under ss 183–186, subject to s 187. NSW committal brief service has a separate statutory scheme. Do not apply s 183 to every indictable matter.

Under the Queensland Criminal Code, mandatory disclosure is generally due at least 14 days before evidence in a committal or prescribed summary trial. For trial on indictment, the general deadline is within 28 days after presentation of the indictment, or before evidence starts if trial begins sooner. The Queensland Police QP9 is an early summary of the alleged offence. It differs from the full evidentiary brief.

Preliminary and Full Briefs

A preliminary brief gives an early account of the allegation and available evidence. A full brief supplies the fuller evidentiary material for a contested matter, including required disclosure. These labels have specific statutory meanings in Victoria.

Under the Victorian Criminal Procedure Act, a requested preliminary brief is due within 14 days of the request. A notice-to-appear case also has the service requirement in s 24. A requested full brief is generally due at least 14 days before the contest mention or, without one, the summary hearing. The court can order an earlier or later service deadline. A hand-up brief is generally due at least 42 days before the committal mention, subject to statutory exceptions.

If a brief of evidence is served late, record the actual service time and which statements or schedules remain outstanding. Identify the affected hearing and any existing service order. Raise the delay with the prosecutor promptly so the court can address the timetable and any resulting unfairness.

The early financial summary must accurately describe the evidence then available. Complete the analysis intended for service before the applicable full or hand-up brief deadline, and disclose later material through the continuing obligation.

Civil proceedings use affidavits or witness statements, documentary evidence and court-directed service or disclosure. Regulatory criminal prosecutions follow the applicable criminal procedure. Civil penalty proceedings follow their own civil rules and directions. An agency’s internal referral brief is a separate preparation step. For hearing-bundle assembly, use court book preparation.

Organising Bank Statements as Exhibits

Give each statement exhibit a stable identifier, a clear account description and an unbroken page sequence. A reader must be able to find the cited transaction without guessing which version of the PDF you used.

Order statements consistently within each account, then record the period covered and any missing pages. Use an exhibit register containing the proposed identifier, institution, account identifier, period and original filename. Record final bundle pagination in a separate field. Preserve the statements’ own page labels alongside the PDF page positions where they differ.

For example, a fictional schedule row might cite “B2, PDF page 8, brief page 126”. The register shows which original statement became B2. If additional exhibits move brief page 126, the exhibit and source-page references still identify the same record.

Keep a clean source copy. Put annotations on a separately identified working copy, and describe any redaction or conversion. A cropped transaction image can illustrate a point, but retain the statement page that supplies its context.

Schedules, Charts and Summaries

A schedule or chart explains financial records by showing the selected transactions and the calculation connecting them. Its evidentiary use depends on the applicable rules and the purpose for which it is presented. Filing a spreadsheet does not itself admit its contents as evidence.

Section 50 of the Evidence Act 1995 provides a summary procedure in uniform Evidence Act jurisdictions, including NSW and Commonwealth courts. A party applies for a direction because the documents’ volume or complexity prevents convenient examination. The party must serve the summary with its preparer’s name and address, and give other parties a reasonable opportunity to examine or copy the underlying documents.

The Commonwealth provision sets out those conditions. Queensland has its own evidence regime. Do not assume that uniform s 50 applies there.

Cite every schedule figure to its source page so another reader can reproduce the total and see the transaction context. Define whether a total measures outgoing payments, recipient credits or net movement. Counting both sides of an internal transfer can double the apparent movement. The flow-of-funds method helps distinguish those legs, while account link analysis explains the account relationships a chart displays.

FinTrace saves investigators and forensic accountants hours of statement conversion and review. Its searchable Excel ledger and findings report put the supporting PDF filename and page beside the analysis, helping you build cited schedules across large bundles. Suspicious transactions are clearly flagged, with their underlying statement evidence at hand. The service supplies statement analysis for your brief. It does not give opinion evidence.

Map source filenames to the exhibit register when compiling the brief. Preserve the original reference and add the brief’s exhibit and pagination fields. The precise admissibility route for the statements and derived material is addressed in bank statements as evidence.

Privilege Log Example

Keep withheld documents in a separate privilege log so their existence and asserted grounds remain visible without revealing the advice. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission’s privilege guidance asks for an itemised schedule when privilege is claimed in its investigations. Its procedure does not govern every criminal brief.

This fictional pattern identifies two withheld items. The descriptions record the claim without reproducing the communication. A claim still needs a factual basis and can be disputed.

Record the privilege holder and the person assessing the claim in the restricted register. Separate attachments that require their own assessment. An underlying bank statement does not become privileged simply because it is sent to a lawyer. Keep legal advice and continuing private instructions out of the evidentiary narrative.

Chain-of-Custody Event Example

Record each transfer separately, including who released and received the records, the time and the source. This fictional event table uses elapsed times. In a real register, enter the actual timestamp and time zone.

Each entry documents an assertion about handling. The table does not independently prove custody or that the named person performed the event. Retain the portal receipt, transfer acknowledgements and any integrity records supporting those assertions. A matching file fingerprint supports byte identity. It does not establish who created the bank record or whether its contents are true.

Showing Where the Records Came From

Show how each bank record entered the investigation by recording its producer, acquisition authority and handling history. Retain the notice, warrant or subpoena, proof of service where relevant and the bank’s response or production letter.

For voluntary production, record who supplied the documents and how they obtained them. For compulsory production, connect the returned records to the authority’s requested accounts and periods. Identify the person who received the files and any later copying, extraction or renaming. Keep the source bundle intact so the working exhibit can be traced back to it.

Before service, select a schedule row and follow its citation to the exact transaction. Recalculate a chart total from its schedule rows, then locate the production record for each source account. The expected result is one consistent chain from the figure to the bank page and its acquisition record.

If a citation lands on the wrong page, compare PDF page positions with printed statement labels and repair the mapping. If a transfer total is inflated, check whether both account legs were counted. If an account period is missing, record the gap and seek the outstanding production. Complete these checks before delivering the indexed financial material to the prosecutor.