In the textbook, they discussion a forensic accounting needing good critical thinking,
reasoning or problem-solving skills, and good communication (Rufus et al, 2015). In the
additional reading they discuss being analytical, detail oriented and ethical as traits for a
forensic accountant stated by attorneys (Davis et al, n.d.). Academics also feel analytical and
ethical are important but also rated highly are skepticism, persistent and inquisitive as
essential traits (Davis et al, n.d.). CPA's feel that analytical is important but put inquisitive
higher than detail oriented and ethical (Davis et al, n.d.). From my short time working in
accounting, I think all of these and so many more would be important for the forensic aspect
of the job. I have always loved a mystery or puzzle, trying to figure something out is almost
calming to me. That is one of the biggest draws for me in this line of profession. I also feel
that I am both analytical and detail oriented and that it would assist me in this career path.
When I interviewed for my current position, staff accountant, they asked why I was
continuing my education towards forensic. My answer is the same as it has been since I
started this journey, I like to ask why. I would drive people nuts asking for background on
things in my previous career (pharmacy technician for a cancer center and hospital). I had a
healthy amount of skepticism because I had seen pharmacists dose meds incorrectly and I had
to be detail oriented in order to mix chemotherapy correctly. But what made me very good at
my position was that I asked why are we giving this dose? why are we giving this drug? I was
able to catch errors that the pharmacists had overlooked. I felt that these traits would serve me
well as a forensic accountant also. I also learned to be thick skinned because not all
pharmacists were okay with a lowly technician questioning them. If it saved someone's life, I
figured I could hurt a few feelings along the way.
To be a successful forensic accountant, you must possess three skills: critical thinking,
reasoning, and communication. Critical thinking is defined many ways. One way to define it
is by saying critical thinking is when individuals use their judgement from observations and
develop conclusions from it to solve a problem. Critical thinking is important in forensic
accounting because you need to look at the data and draw scientific conclusions from it.
Reasoning involves developing conclusions from facts. You must understand what is going
on with behaviors and events. The last skill is communication. Communication is needed so
that you can articulate your findings to your audience. d Your audience could be your client, a
judge or jury. The communication must be simple so that everyone can understand your
findings.
I have always been interested in forensic accounting. I like analyzing data to determine what
occurred. I have my enrolled agent certification, so I would be interested in being a Tax
Compliance Officer, Internal Revenue Agent, or Criminal Investigator. d d
Rufus, R., Miller, L., Hahn, W. (2015) Forensic Accounting. Pearson Education
Rufus, Miller, & Hahn refer to forensic accountants as researchers and problem solvers. There
are many characteristics/skills needed to be a successful forensic accountant. The first is
curiosity. Forensic accountants need to be able to look beyond the issue at hand and try to find
the “why” behind it. Forensic accountants also need critical thinking and reasoning skills.
Reasoning can be deductive (drawing a logical conclusion) or inductive (drawing conclusions
from patterns). Additionally, forensic accountants need to be able to communicate clearly and
effectively. Simple things like tone of voice can have a big impact in a courtroom (Rufus,
Miller, & Hahn, 2015).
I would love to eventually work forensic accounting for a law enforcement agency. I find
fraud detection (an investigative service) and financial crimes fascinating. I can see myself
pursuing a career as a forensic analyst or fraud investigator.
To be a successful forensic accountant you must have the following traits; critical thinking,
reasoning, and communication (Rufus, 2015). Critical thinking allows the accountants to
looks beyond the numbers and conventional processes to detect and prevent fraud. Reasoning
allows the forensic accountant to view the fraudulent activity from the perpetrator’s
perspective to better understand the case. Communication is also important as a forensic
accountant because the facts of the case must be conveyed in a fashion that parties without an
accounting background can understand. Another characteristic I find important is ethics
(Davis). Ethics is important across the entire accounting field, not just in forensics. As any
type of accountant, you are required to comply with the laws that govern their work.
Participating in unethical behaviors as a forensic accounting can seriously damage or ruin
your reputation.
My personal favourite portion of the forensic accounting field would have to be interrogation
interviews. I believe these interviews are exhilarating because often the perpetrator does not
hold up well under pressure. The confessions are usually very dramatic to watch. I am also
interested in learning how to facilitate one of these interviews.
A successful forensic accountant should have the following skills: critical thinking,
reasoning, and communication (Rufus et al, 2015). Critical thinking involves questioning
assumptions and exercising judgement based on knowledge gained from previous
experiences and observations. Reasoning involves drawing inferences and conclusions based
on the known/assumed facts. Using reasoning allows a forensic accountant to understand a
behavior or event. The third skill, communication refers to a forensic accountant’s ability to
communicate results. Forensic accountants should have the ability to explain information or
results in a way that someone with no knowledge or accounting could understand. This is
because forensic accountants can be used as expert witnesses in trials and need to be able to
communicate their findings to the judge/jury in a way they can understand. Depending on
who you ask, there are other skills a forensic accountant should possess including their
investigative ability, ability to identify key issues, auditing skills, investigative intuitiveness,
an ability to see the big picture, etc. (Davis et al).
Forensic accounting in general is something I would really enjoy doing in the future, but I
believe I would enjoy being a forensic analyst with the FBI. I grew up watching crime shows
and mysteries so the idea of trying to figure out if a crime was committed and how has always
sounded really cool. Additionally, my first accounting professor actually had a student go on
to work as a forensic accountant for the FBI and was able to make the arrest after spending
over a year trying to determine how this person was committing the crime. That story was
what showed me there were more areas of accounting than just writing the books and what
got me interested in earning my degree in accounting.
Forensic accountants will exhibit three fundamental skills: critical thinking, reasoning, and
communication (Rufus, Miller, & Hahn, p. 8, 2014). Critical thinking is necessary in forensic
accounting because it introduces not only curiosity but pairs that with skepticism. Reasoning
helps forensic accountants decode and identify patterns, analyze evidence found, and use this
information to draw conclusions (Rufus, et. al., p. 11, 2014). Communication, while
important in every job or career, is especially important for forensic accountants. d It is easy to
talk with colleagues, as you know the same lingo and jargon that are commonly used.
However, as a forensic accountant, information needs to be communicated to many different
parties, in terms that are broadly and easily understood. Forensic accountants must also work
with many different types of people, from all different walks of life, good communication
both oral and written is key.
While the aspect of accounting and auditing has always drawn me in, forensic accounting
caught my eye and grabbed my attention. I have been good with numbers, and have a great
memory with patterns; it is no surprise this field draws me in. The only part that I have trouble
with, no matter how much experience I have had, is interviewing and the likes. I have never
been one to be able to smoothly talk on the spot, so that would be a challenge for me in the
field. However, the analytical part, finding patterns and uncovering mistakes or fraud is
something I would thoroughly enjoy. I have looked forward to this course for a while, and
cannot wait to dive deeper into this education journey.
There are some key characteristics and skills that are needed in order for a person to be a
successful forensic accountant. Critical thinking is among the top skills that a forensic
accountant needs to have. It takes a lot to be able to think outside the box and to think on
different levels. Unstructured problem solving is a very big task to fill. It takes a very special
intelligent, smart, and dedicated person to fill these shoes. Oral communication is very huge,
when it comes to being an accountant because they always have to communicate with
investors, owners, employees, and etc. they mut be able to communicate effectively, honestly,
and precisely. Their opinion matters when it comes to their findings and auditing businesses.
Written communication is also essential because an accountant must know how to properly
write down their findings and give appropriate, honest, and unbiased opinions. The are of
accounting that is most interesting to me is the forensic part. I have worked in law
enforcement for many years and I had to write reports, do investigations, and conduct oral
interviews. I loved this part of my job. I hope to find a job as an accountant and maybe
incorporate some of those skills into that new career.
There are three essential characteristics or skills needed to be successful as a forensic
accountant which includes critical thinking, reasoning, and communication (Rufus, Miller, &
Hahn, 2015). First, critical thinking is essential because the process of a critical thinker
allows for effective investigations and reduces the chance for biases. In addition, critical
thinking attributes to consideration of all known evidence, allows for proper consideration of
evidence, context, and methodologies, and self-awareness, and persistence (Rufus et al,
2015). Secondly, reasoning includes deductive, inductive, and intuitive reasoning because
forensic accounting is evidence-based and requires conclusions (Rufus et al, 2015). The
logicalness of deductive reasoning allows for valid conclusions through the identification of
two or more general assumptions and applies accepted truths to specific scenarios (Rufus et
al, 2015). Yet, inductive reasoning uses patterns through observations to draw a conclusion.
This provides forensic accountants the ability to deal with probabilities and meet the legal
concept of “standard of proof” (Rufus et al, 2015). d Additionally, intuitive reasoning provides
an individual the ability to understand others. d This characteristic needs to be used cautionary
due the nature of the characteristic relying on personal bias and misconceptions can easily
occur (Rufus et al, 2015). d Finally, communication is essential to provide accurate and precise
representations of the forensic accountant’s findings for each scenario (Rufus et al, 2015). In
many cases the information being conveyed by forensic accountants is to individuals that are
not necessarily knowledgeable in the area. d Meanwhile, the expert opinion must be stated in a
legally sufficient manner and based on reliable data, facts, and methodology (Rufus et al,
2015).
The career field that most interests me, currently, because of the path that I am on with my
current job. As a CPA, positions that a forensic accountant knowledge plays a role in are
External Auditor, Valuation Analyst, Expert Witness, Consulting Expert, and Fraud
Investigator (Rufus et al, 2015). With each of these positions the characteristics and skills
discussed above provide an individual with a strong foundation to server in each unique
scenario that occurs. d In addition, life experiences aid in the development of these skills which
I have experienced over the last ten years while working under a CPA. Once I become
proficient in one area my boss starts adding more information and investigative tasks which
allows me to incorporate critical thinking and reasoning skills.References:
Rufus, R. J., Miller, L. S., & Hahn, W. (2015). Forensic accounting. Boston, MA:Pearson.
There are three key skills that must be satisfied for one to be a successful forensic accountant.
Those skills include critical thinking, reasoning, and communication (Rufus, Miller, & Hahn,
2015). By forensic accountants possessing critical thinking skills, they are able to be rational
and consider evidence in an unbiased manner, be skeptical, which allows them proper
consideration of evidence, and most importantly, be self-aware as to not let their own feelings
change the course of making the right decisions (Rufus, Miller, & Hahn, 2015). Secondly,
reasoning allows for one to draw conclusions based on the facts that are presented to them.
There are two types of reasoning: deductive reasoning and inductive reasoning. While our
text also discussed intuitive reasoning as being used, one must proceed with caution because
intuitive reasoning is more about feelings and less about factual information (Rufus, Miller, &
Hahn, 2015). Deductive reasoning is drawing conclusions based on premises generally
assumed to be true (Indeed, 2022). For example, if one says that a trunk of a car is large, and
a bike does not fit into it, then you may also deduce that the bike is also large. Inductive
reasoning, simply put, draws conclusions from patterns (Rufus, Miller, & Hahn, 2015). An
example of this could be when autumn comes, leaves change colors and fall to the ground.
Therefore, we can come to the conclusion that this will take place every year because autumn
is one of the seasons that comes every year. The last skill, and probably the most important in
my opinion, is communication. A forensic accountant must be skilled in written and oral
communication. Sometimes, a forensic accountant must report their findings and research to a
judge or jury. Therefore they must make sure their reports of the facts are “clear, concise, and
grammatically correct” to bring the knowledge gap between the expert and the audience to a
close.
As stated above, I would like to go down the career path of a CPA by becoming an auditor. In
our text, an external auditor, along with valuation analysts, expert witness, consulting expert,
and fraud investigator are all careers that can be obtained with forensic accounting skills
(Rufus, Miller, & Hahn, 2015). For example, as an external auditor one must possess
professional skepticism just like a forensic accountant because you are reviewing and
analyzing a company’s process and procedures and the management’s assertion must be
proven.
References
Indeed. (2022, August 17). Deductive Reasoning: Definition, Types and Examples. Retrieved
from Indeed: https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/deductive-reasoning
Rufus, R., Miller, L., & Hahn, W. (2015). Forensic Accounting. Boston: Pearson
Rufus, R., Miller, L., & Hahn, W. (2014). Forensic Accounting, US Edition. Pearson.
Davis, Charles, Farrell, Ramona, Ogilby, Suzanne. Characteristics and Skills of the Forensic
Accountant.
https://web.archive.org/web/20170328231005/https://www.aicpa.org/InterestAreas/ForensicA
ndValuation/Resources/PractAidsGuidance/DownloadableDocuments/ForensicAccountingRe
searchWhitePaper.pdf
Rufus, R.J., Miller, L. S., & Hahn, W. (2015). Forensic Accounting. Pearson Education.
Davis, C., Farrell, R., & Ogilby, S. (n.d.). Characteristics and Skills of the Forensic
Accountant. Wayback Machine.
Rufus, R. J., Miller, L. S., & Hahn, W. (2015). Forensic accounting. Pearson Education
Rufus, R. J., Miller, L. S., & Hahn, W. (2015). Forensic accounting. Pearson.
Davis, C., Farrell, R., & Ogilby, S. (n.d.). Characteristics and Skills of the Forensic
Accountant. AICPA. Retrieved
https://web.archive.org/web/20170328231005/https://www.aicpa.org/InterestAreas/ForensicA
