Forensic Accounting Education in Accounting Curriculum: Academicians and Practitioners Opinions

Increasing number of white collar crime frauds detrimental effects around the world prompted academicians and accounting professional bodies to venture into the specialized field of forensic accounting to teach the skills needed to prevent, detect, and combat fraud in universities. The aim of this study is to report opinions of academicians and practitioners regarding the different aspects of forensic accounting education in Iranian universities accounting curriculum. This research is a survey which was carried out by sending a questionnaire to the academicians and practitioners and analysing the obtained results from this information. The results indicated that the large majority of the respondents are familiar with forensic accounting and they consider that forensic accounting services is necessary in Iranian public sector. Also, both groups of respondents expect demand to increase for forensic accounting services in the future and perceive the importance of forensic accounting education benefits and its services in the public sector. Regarding how the forensic accounting education is, majority of the academicians have suggested that a separate course of forensic accounting be offered at the undergraduate level. Additionally, the findings revealed that academicians and accounting practitioners in most cases have similar opinions regarding the importance of topics in a forensic accounting education, forensic accountants skills needed, teaching techniques and obstacles to including forensic accounting in the accounting curriculum however, in some cases, there are significant differences in their opinions.