Certified Fraud Examiner: An insight

Background

Different kinds of frauds are going on in everyday life. Though these activities are going on for
thousands of years, the recent discovery of huge corporate frauds like those in Enron, Worldcom,
and others have increased the importance of detecting and preventing frauds. All these frauds
cost billions of dollars. For an example, insurance frauds only constitute for about $600 billions.
Hence, there is a high need for those personals who can detect fraud. One of the most anticipated
and thought of professionals who can help in detection, prevention, deterrence, and investigation
of frauds are Certified Fraud Examiners (CFE). The paper summarizes the qualification,
certification process, and examination content for CFE examination.

Qualification

The basic qualifications that have to be met by a candidate of CFE are being an associate
member of ACFE in good standing, meeting other requirements (to be discussed later in the
paper), having high moral character, and agreeing to abide by all the codes of professional ethics
as specified by the Certified Fraud Examiners.

Academic Requirements

The academic requirement for application for CFE is a bachelors’ degree in any field of study.
But, each year of academic qualification can be met by two years of professional experience.

Professional Requirements

The professional requirement includes a two-year professional experience in the one of the fields
like accounting and auditing, criminology and sociology, fraud investigation, loss prevention, or
law. Nevertheless, if the work experience relates to one of these but is actually not one of these
subjects, this can be included in the application and the committee determines whether the
requirement has been met.

Point System

The CFE website also keeps a log of point chart. After filling the different information, points are
awarded. For example, a one year experience in the related field provides five points. There has
to be a total of 50 points to qualify. Nevertheless, 40 points are also eligible points subject to
some more requirements.

Certification Process

The certification process includes four steps. These processes are described as follows:

1. The applicant has to be an Associate member of ACFE in good standing.

 2. A certification application with the proof of education with the recommendation from
professionals should be submitted.
3. An applicant should pass the CFE examination. ( The examination will be discussed later
in the paper)
4. The final approval is the fourth and final step in the process. After the completion of the
application and the other processes, the final approval is required.

Examination Content

The CFE examination contains four basic parts. These include criminology and ethics, financial
transactions, fraud investigation, and legal elements of fraud.
Criminology and ethics tests the knowledge of criminological concepts. It also includes
administration of criminal justice, theories of fraud prevention, crime information sources,
ethical situations, and other related topics.
The financial transaction tests the accounting related frauds. This includes the areas of
basic accounting, internal control to deter fraud, and other related topics.
Fraud investigation includes the parts like interview, note taking, obtaining public
information records, tracking illicit transaction, and other similar fields.
Legal elements of fraud is an area designed to check the applicant’s familiarity with legal
ramifications during conduct of fraud exams, rules, and other basic legal applications.

A closer follow up to the topics illustrated here can be obtained from the Association of Certified
Fraud Examiners website www.acfe.org.