Insegnamento a.a. 2025-2026

20984 - FORENSIC ACCOUNTING AND FRAUD EXAMINATION

Department of Accounting


Class timetable
Exam timetable

Course taught in English
Go to class group/s: 31
ACME (6 credits - II sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/07) - AFC (6 credits - II sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/07) - AI (6 credits - II sem. - OP  |  12 credits SECS-P/07) - CLELI (6 credits - II sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/07) - CLMG (6 credits - II sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/07) - DES-ESS (6 credits - II sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/07) - DSBA (6 credits - II sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/07) - EMIT (6 credits - II sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/07) - ESS (6 credits - II sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/07) - FIN (6 credits - II sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/07) - GIO (6 credits - II sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/07) - IM (6 credits - II sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/07) - MM (6 credits - II sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/07) - PPA (6 credits - II sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/07)
Course Director:
PAUL DEMERE

Classes: 31 (II sem.)
Instructors:
Class 31: PAUL DEMERE


Suggested background knowledge

PREREQUISITES

Students should have a basic knowledge of financial accounting principles and a basic understanding of Microsoft Excel.

Mission & Content Summary

MISSION

The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners estimates that the average company will lose 5% of its revenue to fraud, adding up to around $5,000,000,000,000 dollars lost per year. Fraud can occur in any part of a company, in companies both large and small, in companies in every part of the world, and in every industry, making it a universal and costly problem that every business must navigate. This course is designed to familiarize students with fraud, including how and why fraud occurs and the types of fraud that are most costly to businesses. Beyond that, this course will discuss tools to detect, investigate, and prevent fraud with the goal of equipping students with the knowledge necessary to help businesses effectively navigate fraud threats and mitigate fraud risks.

CONTENT SUMMARY

This course will provide a survey of forensic fraud examination and introduce students to the tools used to detect, investigate, and prevent fraud. Topics covered within this course would include:

  • A review of the business environment in which fraud occurs
  • The behavioral psychology of fraud
  • Governance and internal control tools to prevent fraud
  • The process of fraud investigation, including fraud detection, collecting evidence for legal actions, interviewing witnesses and suspects, and communicating findings
  • How specific frauds work and specific tools to detect and prevent them:
    • Fraud schemes related to cash receipts, cash payments, and payroll
    • Inventory and non-cash asset frauds
    • Financial reporting fraud
    • Corruption schemes
    • Tax evasion
    • Other frauds (e.g., valuation and insurance fraud, money laundering, ESG reporting fraud, cyber-security threats)

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILO)

KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING

At the end of the course student will be able to...

This course should teach students to:

  • Understand different types of fraud and relevant forensic investigation tools within a variety of business contexts
  • Understand the environments and pressures that lead to fraud and identify these risk factors
  • Design analytics to detect fraud and address fraud risks
  • Investigate suspicious activity through interactive simulations and cases
  • Provide evidentiary support for fraud investigations

APPLYING KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING

At the end of the course student will be able to...

At the end of this course, students should be able to:

  • Describe different types of fraud and the specific forensic investigation tools used to detect, investigate, and prevent those frauds
  • Identify the environments and pressures that lead to fraud and prepare relevant preventative and detective controls
  • Design analytics to detect fraud and address fraud risks
  • Investigate suspicious activity through interactive simulations and cases
  • Provide evidentiary support for fraud investigations

Teaching methods

  • Lectures
  • Guest speaker's talks (in class or in distance)
  • Practical Exercises
  • Individual works / Assignments
  • Interaction/Gamification

DETAILS

In addition to lectures, this course may include one or more guest lectures from experts in fraud investigation, corporate governance, or analytics. There will also be an interactive fraud simulation project to be completed individually and a presentation on a fraud case. Some lectures may be supplemented with interactive case studies to be analyzed in class. The projects and cases are designed to help students gain experience with the techniques needed to identify and investigate fraud in different business contexts.


Assessment methods

  Continuous assessment Partial exams General exam
  • Written individual exam (traditional/online)
     x
  • Individual Works/ Assignment (report, exercise, presentation, project work etc.)
 x    
  • Active class participation (virtual, attendance)
 x    

ATTENDING AND NOT ATTENDING STUDENTS

ATTENDING

Student assessments will consist of:

  1. A final exam to gauge student understanding of key principles
  2. The individual fraud simulation project to test applied knowledge of fraud investigation techniques
  3. An individual presentation of a fraud case study evaluated using the themes discussed in class
  4. Engagement in in-class case studies, guest lectures, and general class participation

 

NOT ATTENDING

Same as attending – in-class participation will be substituted through writing brief memos which will be graded on the same scale as in-class participation.


Teaching materials


ATTENDING AND NOT ATTENDING STUDENTS

Handouts and cases as provided on Blackboard

 

Access to the fraud case simulation (details will be provided on Blackboard)

Last change 11/11/2025 18:06