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Executive Summary:
There has always been a need for forensic accounting to investigate fraudulent activities for
accountants and law enforcement professionals. Although there are initiatives in accounting
education which focuses on the importance of accounting instructions and these initiatives
also teaches students on how to learn accounting education and emphasize continuous
lifelong learning and out-come based assessment. Forensic accounting is a complex whole
of accounting, auditing, economics, business concepts and legal concepts and procedures to
issues in question. An increased public interest in forensic accounting particularly in fraud
investigation has encouraged the accounting profession to consider issuing new standards on
fraud detection. This study aims to examine the current coverage of forensic accounting, its
role of forensic accounting education and the future direction of forensic accounting. To carry
out this research study a survey of the academicians and certified fraud examiners more
popularly known as (CFE)s was made. The results of the survey were described in this study.
It concludes that the demand for forensic accounting education and its practice will continue
to increase. Moreover it also concludes that forensic accounting education should be
integrated into accounting curricula. It should be integrated either as a separate course of
through modules in accounting and auditing courses.

Introduction:
This case study is all about the interpretation of an article that is taken from Managerial
auditing journal, Volume 12, Issue 9, pages 479498, November 1997. This report was
developed by ZabihollahRezaee, E. James Burton, (Middle Iennessee State university,
Marfreesboro,Iennessee,USA).
The growing demand for forensic accounting is a known characteristic of most companies in
the world. Forensic accounting arises from the effect and cause of fraud and technical error
made by human. Forensic accounting may be one of the most effective and efficient way to
decrease and check accounting fraud. Presently, forensic accounting is gaining popularity
worldwide.
This paper explores the level of awareness of forensic accounting among accounting students
in a developing economy context, using Nigeria as a study. Accounting as a social science
plays significant roles in the society. It serves not only as a legitimating device for the market
economic system, but also as a form of social language and certainly a business language,
through which meanings and implications are constructed by social actors in a society. For
example, accounting figures are sources of rewards for management, a basis for investors
decisions and a basis for the assessment of firm performance and grouping in the sense of
profitable and none profitable firms. These numerous needs and interest makes accounting
figures to be extremely susceptible to fraud.
This study focuses on both the supply and demand sides of forensic accounting education,
and attempts to provide information that may be useful for faculty and universities

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considering offering a course in forensic accounting in light of most recent changes in the
business environment and the accounting profession. New insights from both practitioners
and academicians should be useful, as many accounting programs throughout the nation
began to offer forensic accounting related courses to provide a better understanding of this
emerging area of accounting practice. This study contributes to the literature on forensic
accounting by: shedding light on the increasing importance of forensic accounting in the
business and academic communities post-Enron, Andersen, and other reported financial
scandals; presenting new evidence from a sample of academicians and practicing CPAs
regarding the emphasis on forensic accounting education and practice; and analyzing the
opinions obtained from both academicians and practitioners pertaining to the new interest in
forensic accounting and the ever changing priorities in the key forensic accounting issues and
topics, which set the future direction and role of forensic accounting education.

Main Issue:
The increasing interest in fraudulent financial activities especially forensic accounting
convinced the researchers to study the current coverage and future direction and role of
forensic accounting in the society.


Theme of the Study:
The theme of the study is to identify the issues in overall forensic accounting practice in real
life. The main objective of the study is to examine the impact of forensic accounting on fraud
detection. The specific objectives are to:
1) Find out the manner in which forensic accounting affect fraud detection.
2) Ascertain if forensic accounting will curb fraudulent activities.


Analysis and Interpretation:
This section of the study has been mapped out to aid the presentation and discussion of
empirical results. As it were, the study attempts to examine empirically the impact of forensic
accounting on fraud detection such variables as: Theft of cash/suppression of lodgment,
miscellaneous fraud, falsification of accounts, cashiering fraud, forged cheques with forged
signature computer operators fraud. The method of Ordinary Least Squares (OLS)
estimating regression equations and was employed. The choice of this technique arises as a

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result of the fact that, it is subject to some crucial assumption of the error-term and this
provides the best (minimum variance), unbiased linear estimator (BLUE PRINT) of the
parameter estimates of a single equation model. This again arises from the fact that the best
linear unbiased estimator of the unknown parameters is obtained by minimizing the residual
(error) sum of squares.


Table 1 Response rate by respondent group
Academicians
Chairperson Faculty CFE practitioners Total
Questionnaires mailed 259 518 500 1277
Usable responses 78 118 213 405
Response rate (per cent) 30.1 22.7 42.4
Overall (academicians) (per cent) 25.2 32.0



Table 2. Demand for forensic accounting practice and education: future demand for an
interest in forensic accounting
Percentages CFE practitioner
Academicians Chi-square
Significance p<
Increase 82.9 94.2 3.29 0.001
Decrease 17.1 5.3
Remains the same 0.00 0.5





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Table3.
Demand for forensic accounting practice and education: perceptions towards forensic
accounting education
Main response
Statement Academicians CFE practitioners F-value significant p<
a. The present accounting curriculum is not
Sufficiently responsive to societys demand
For forensic accounting education and practice 3.362 4.308 2.250 0.001
b. The accounting curriculum should provide
forensic accounting coverage 3.500 4.318 1.220 0.163
c. College and universities should encourage
and advise students on career opportunities
in forensic accounting 3.695 4.156 1.250 0.117
d. The certified Fraud Examiners(CFE)
designation demonstrates a strong
commitment to the study and practice of
forensic accounting 3.908 4.185 1.140 0.397
e. By 2000, the CFE will become as important
for forensic accountants as the CPA is currently
for public accountants 2.4/1 3./04 1.350 0.044
f. With respect to recruiting, employers
would prefer to hire students who have
received forensic accounting training 2.697 3.516 1.140 0.381






Table 4
Forensic accounting education coverage (in percentages)
Forensic accounting
Would best be integrated
Into the accounting
Curriculum by:
Academicians CFE practitioners Chi-square significant p
Offering a separate forensic accounting course 21.800 62.900 4.830 0.001
Integration forensic accounting into current
Accounting and auditing courses 68.500 36.100
Should not be integrated at all 9.700 1.000

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Table 5
Perceived benefits of forensic accounting education
Benefit Academicians CFE practitioners F-value significant p<
Satisfy societys demand for forensic
Accounting education and practice
Including fraud investigation 3.367 4.038 1.700 0.001
Meet the requirements of new legislative
Initiatives (e.g the Trade way commission
(1987) the financial fraud and disclosure
Act 1992; and the AICPA Fraud task force 1994)3.4/1 4.101 1.400 0.022
Strength the credibility of financial reporting 3.443 4.100 1.400 0.019
Promote responsible corporate governance 3.376 3.981 1.330 0.047
Make students more desirable in the marketplace 3.144 3.788 1.450 0.010





Table 6
Perceived obstacles to forensic accounting education (responses from academicians)
Mean response
Perceived obstacle Academicians Chairperson F-value significant p<
Lack of faculty interest 3.599 3.700 1.60 0.036
Lack of administrative interest and support 3.708 3.800 1.08 0.748
Lack of student interest 2.775 3.214 1.07 0.759
Lack of instructional materials including textbooks 3.759 3.700 1.00 0.984
Lack of financial resources 3.842 4.225 1.30 0.241
Lack of authorities standards and guidelines 3.245 3.203 1.14 0.538
Lack of flexibility in curriculum content 3.825 3.729 1.04 0.826






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Generation of Questions:
. Forensic accounting is defined as the practice of rigorous data collection and analysis in the
areas of litigation support consulting, expert witnessing, and fraud examination. Analyzing
the study, we can raise a number of questions. Answering the following question we can help
on digging up the undisclosed topics; the study is expected to answer the following questions:
1) To what extent does forensic accounting effect fraud detection?
2) To what extent does forensic accounting curb fraudulent activities in a firm?
3) How do you integrate forensic accounting education into your curriculum?
4) If you do not currently offer any forensic accounting coverage, when are you planning to
do so?
5) Should accounting programs integrate forensic accounting education into their curriculum?

Conclusion:
The past two decades have witnessed significant changes in the business environment
including globalization, technological advances and now with reported high-profile financial
scandals, ways to improve public trust and investor confidence in financial reports. Emerging
regulatory, social, economic, ethical, and legal challenges facing corporate America that
contribute to an increasing demand for forensic accounting should encourage accounting
programs to place more focus on this area of accounting. We conducted a nationwide survey
of academicians and practitioners to determine the importance, relevance, and delivery of
forensic accounting education. Results should aid in setting the future direction and role of
forensic accounting practices and education. Results indicate that (1) the demand for and
interest in forensic accounting is expected to continue to increase; (2) more universities are
planning to provide forensic accounting education; (3) both groups of respondents viewed
forensic accounting education relevant and beneficial to accounting students, the business
community, the accounting profession, and accounting programs; (4) the majority of 49
suggested forensic accounting topics are considered as very important for integration into the
accounting curriculum by both groups of surveyed academicians and practitioners; and (5)
the relative importance of these topics varies between the two groups, however, there is a
general consensus as to the importance of these topics in forensic accounting. Forensic
accounting is a fast-developing accounting area, especially given todays fraudulent business
practices and financial scandals, litigious business environment, and regulatory initiatives.
Forensic accounting education has not received adequate coverage in the accounting
curriculum as demanded by the marketplace. Forensic accounting courses have emerged in
the same fashion as international accounting courses in the 1980s, and e-commerce courses in
the 1990s, with individual faculty and accounting programs designing courses based on their
interests, skills, philosophies, and demands. We suggest that accounting programs assess the
structure, content, and delivery of forensic accounting education in the context of the results
presented in this study, and to continue to explore innovative teaching methods and a more
integral approach to the coverage of forensic accounting education. The coverage of forensic
accounting in the accounting curriculum should assist graduating accounting students to
successfully pursue their careers and ease the transition from the classroom to a professional
career.

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Policy Prescriptions:
The level of forensic accounting education continues to be falling relative to the quality of
accounting system. Knowledge of forensic accounting techniques by accountant and auditors
will certainly make some positive impact in the nations fight against corruption. Firstly, the
researcher is an indigene of this part of the country and therefore has sufficient familiarity
and knowledge of the culture and values of the area which is important in the design of the
survey instrument. Secondly, in order to enhance the validity of the study, the researchers
choose two federal universities and the other university.

Directions for Future Research:
This study is subject to the limitations of any survey research.
First, the apparently homogeneous subjects (accounting faculty and CPA practitioners) may
have systematic biases in their perceptions as to the relevance and coverage of forensic
accounting in the accounting curriculum. While this should not negate interest in the results,
the generalizability of findings beyond that population may be limited.
Second, a non-response bias may be present in the results. It is not possible to determine how
non-respondents would have answered. However, as a test of non-response bias, late
responses were compared to early responses, assuming that late responses are similar to non-
responses (Solomon 1990). There were no significant differences in the responses of early
respondents and late respondents.
Third, the 49 forensic accounting topics reported in Table 7 are derived from the extensive
review of related literature and content analysis of the selected 21 forensic accounting syllabi.
It is possible that these topics do not represent all of the topics that should be covered in
forensic accounting education. The list of selected topics is by no means all-inclusive, even
though respondents were asked to add topics not covered in the list and some respondents
commented that several topics overlap.
Finally, results should be applied with care due to the sample size (153 academicians and 105
practitioners) and response rate (15.4 percent and 10.7 respectively). As suggested by one of
the respondents, future research should examine the feasibility of integrating forensic
accounting as modules into a graduate capstone course to assist accounting programs to either
plan a 45-hour semester course in forensic accounting or integrate these modules into a
variety of accounting and auditing courses.
Future research should also examine other curriculum design issues not adequately addressed
in this study, such as who is best suited to teach a forensic accounting course (e.g., tenured
faculty, clinical faculty, 19 practitioners)?; should such a course be a required or elective
offering?; where is a forensic accounting course more relevant (e.g., undergraduate,
graduate)?; and is a forensic accounting course best appropriate to be taught in the accounting

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program or team taught with coordination and cooperation with other disciplines (e.g.,
finance, law)?

References:
American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (1999). Education requirement for entry
into accounting profession. New York: AICPA.

Crumbley, D. L. 2001. Forensic accounting: Older than you think. Journal of Forensic
Accounting, 11.2, 181202.
Crumbley, D. L., L. E. Heitger, and G. S. Smith. 2003. Forensic and Investigative
Accounting. Chicago: Commerce Clearing House.
Doost, R. K. (1999). The missing links in accounting education. Managerial Auditing
Journal, 14(3), 93114. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/02686909910259077
Gierlasinski, N., Carnes, K., & Fuhriman, R. (1998). Teaching fraud awareness to students.
Proceedings of the American Accounting association Western Regional Meeting, AAA,
NewYork. [Online]
Available:http://www.transparency.org/policy_research/surveys_indices/cpi/2010
Peterson, B. K., & Reider, B. P. 1999. Fraud education of accounting students: A survey of
accounting educators. The National Accounting Journal, Winter, 2330.
Sodders, L. (2005). New forensic field offered: accountancy specialty at California State in
high demand, especially with FBI. The Daily News of Los Angeles, Lexis-Nexis Pace
University.
Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. The Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor
Protection Act. Available at http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/corporateresponsibility.
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