Forensic Accounting

Article found at: http://www.theforensicexaminer.com/articles/news/11/15/Fishbowl-the-Forensic-Accountant-A-Closer-Look-at-the-Skills-Forensic-Accounting-Education-Should-Emphasize

     The article was about the skills a good forensic accountant needs, but first it told exactly what a forensic accountant does. Forensic accountants are tasked with tracing the bank accounts of criminals and terrorists to find where they have hidden stolen money or were they are hiding. They also try to figure out whether or not a person or company has committed fraud. Companies also hire forensic accountants to evaluate their assets before making a big decision.

     The article then went on to describe qualities that a good forensic accountant needs and cited a survey of forensic accounting practitioners and educators. The skills they seemed to think were most important for a for forensic accountant were deductive analysis, critical thinking, unstructured problem solving, investigative flexibility, analytical proficiency, oral communication, written communication, specific legal knowledge, and composure. It ended with suggestions on how these skills can be integrated into a forensic accounting curriculum.

     I liked this article in general because it gave a good summary of what exactly a forensic accountant is and what they need to do that job well. It also gave good suggestions on how to teach forensic accounting. The one thing I didn’t like was the way they presented the survey results. It got very repetitive as those surveyed all answered the questions in exactly the same way. They made a new paragraph for each question and all the paragraphs seemed the same.I choose this article because I don’t know much about forensic accounting and I wanted to know more. It impressed me because I didn’t realize how important forensic accounting is for things like tracking down terrorists.