Three quarters of commercial disputes could be resolved out of court by using expert determination, according to Daniel Djanogly, partner in the forensic accounting team at Kingston Smith LLP. In fact, the top twenty accountancy firm believes that expert determination could save UK businesses over £100 million each year.

Expert determination, as the name implies, involves a decision by an expert on matters within the expert’s area of expertise. It is a legally binding, confidential process that can offer an effective means of settling a technical issue or dispute.

According to Daniel Djanogly, “Businesses have a tendency to rush into litigation when a serious dispute arises. However, expert determination is an attractive alternative and is, in fact, a far quicker and cheaper means of settling a dispute.   The cost of taking a commercial dispute to court could be at least four times as much as the cost of having it resolved through the expert determination route.”
 
As expert accountant, Djanogly is in a position to resolve disputes about the valuation of shareholdings; corporate acquisition disputes about finalisation of completion accounts or breaches of warranty; joint venture disputes relating to expenditure share or profit share; and a wide range of partnership disputes. His experience includes claims for loss of profits arising from breach of contracts or negligence.

Djanogly, who is also a Chartered Arbitrator, continues, “Expert determination is far less adversarial than litigation and can, therefore, help the disputing parties to maintain business relationships in a confidential forum away from the public gaze. The process is inherently less rigid and can be tailored to the requirements of the disputing parties so that a satisfactory result is produced. Indeed, the parties may wish that the matter is run as a suitably tailored arbitration to obtain the support of the Arbitration Act 1996.”