The purpose of this paper is to offer a brief analysis of the function of accounting in resolving disputes between legal entities and in detecting illegal activities of individuals or organised groups in economic transactions which involve organised records and have material consequences. Property-related disputes between economic subjects and criminal activities related to these date from the earliest stages of development of commercial transactions among people. It was only in the 19th century that data and information based on an accounting system became irreplaceable basis for making relevant court decisions at courts, initially only occasionally and in individual cases, and almost invariably in modern times. Bearing in mind the scope of disputes and white-collar crime in economy and social activities, accounting has become an instrument of vital importance in detecting numerous criminal activities. Disputes between business subjects appear in the material sphere of their activity and criminal acts are always related to property, in the broadest possible sense of the term. Given the fact that accounting provides the only comprehensive register of property values, their changes and property relations among economic subjects that result from economic processes, it is the only valid source of all relevant information on these events, and the purpose of this paper is to point out to its significance.