Forensic accounting is a branch of accounting that specializes in objective verification of accounts and auditing records as accurate and truthful.

Forensic Accountants rigorous accounting methods, various IT programs and more complex analysis tools to determine the accuracy of records, to find theft, corruption and money laundering, among other criminal and security issues.

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Or more simply, they are the ones who find where the bad guys are hiding money using  accounting, math, computers  and good old detective work. It’s a fascinating blend of Accounting and detective work.

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The forensic accountant is in demand today because these types of accountants are often asked to provide expert testimony on various civil and criminal cases usually involving the auditing of large corporations and companies.

Naturally, forensic accounting requires extensive training. Apart from the four year college education in accountancy, a forensic accountant must also get additional training or lessons for forensic accounting. There are some colleges and universities today that offer forensic accounting as a major for accountants, while there are others who offer forensic accounting as a type of specialization or post graduate study. In any case, the basic four year accountancy course usually needs to be supplemented if you want to work as a forensic accountant.

Because objective verifications is one of the primary tasks that a forensic accountant does, you need to know techniques on checking and verifying accounts and audits to look for:

  • identity theft
  • money laundering
  • stock market manipulation
  • fraud, and many more.

Because these types of techniques are usually learned over a long course of experience in working in the field, most of the forensic accountants have already established themselves as basic accountants, before even moving to the field of forensic accountancy. Only recently have universities begun to create accountancy degree programs that are tailored and geared towards forensic accounting, mostly because forensic accounting is becoming one of the hottest and most needed specializations in the field of accounting.

If you want to become a forensic accountant, you should have patience, attention to details, organization skills, and persistence, apart from being well-versed in accounting lingo and knowing all of the techniques in accounting. Because you are dealing with larger corporations who have their own accounting departments, it is crucial that you are at the top of your game. Most forensic accountants are usually known as Certified Fraud Examiners.

In order to get this title, you need to be a licensed and certified public accountant, after which you will need to take an examination from the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners. Once you have passed the standards and requirements from the Examiners Association, you will be given the license to practice as a Certified Fraud Examiner.