In my prior article, Forensic Accounting, I gave some insight into the specialty of forensic accounting. This article explains the education required to become a forensic accountant and how to get good practical experience in the area of forensic accounting.
Recommended educational and certification
- A Bachelor's degree with at least 24 accounting hours is usually the minimum required educational standard. Master's degree with a concentration in accounting or licensure as a Certified Public Accountant - even better.
- Become a Certified Fraud Examiner by taking and passing the CFE exam
- Become a member of the American College of Forensic Examiners.
More information about these organizations can be found by clicking on the related links at the bottom of this page.
As far as getting good practical experience in the area of forensic accounting, I highly recommend initially seeking employment working for one of the many USA governmental agencies that employ auditors and accountants: FBI, CIA, Treasury Department, Deparment of Justice and Homeland Security to name just a few. The amount of training and experience in fraud accounting that you will receive from the USA government far surpasses any company in the private sector.
However, the training for these positions is not exactly a walk on the beach. Depending on the agency and where you live you might be training for the better part of the first year away from your home with advanced training to follow in subsequent years. Most government employees are on probation for the first year so if you do not test well in training or perform poorly on the job you will be asked to find other employment.
Ok - what about the money? Well, it depends and the best thing to do is to review the accounting and auditor positions at USAJobs to check out all details about the entry level accounting and auditor positions. However, the benefits afforded to government employees are stellar - from retirement benefits to flexible spending accounts to the generous amount of sick and annual leave - you will be hard pressed to find the like in the private sector.
Two additional facts that are important: to work for the USA government you must be a citizen of the United States of America and you are subject to a rigourous background check prior to employment.
