Heed the call to educate the next generation

In 1988, my father, who was the inspector general for the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation at the time, called me and told me about a new organization, the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, that was founded by a former FBI agent, Joseph T. Wells. I’d followed in my father’s footsteps in becoming a Certified Public Accountant, and I owned a CPA firm then. I had spent five years with a Big 8 (now Big 4) accounting firm prior to forming my own firm. So, once again, I followed in my father’s footsteps and joined the ACFE, and I’ve been an active member since. This led to developing a successful 30-plus year career specializing and practicing in forensic accounting and fraud examination.

Because I was an early adopter in the field, I’ve been able to practice in all the disciplines of forensic accounting and fraud examination, including investigating high-profile fraud cases, serving as an expert witness in commercial litigation and matrimonial disputes, conducting business valuations for closely held businesses and managing bankruptcy cases for bankruptcy trustees. Fast forward to 2020, and the ACFE selects me as its Educator of the Year.

After a long career, you might ask, why aren’t you retired, laying on a beach and playing golf? Why are you teaching this stuff at a university? Good question!

Lifelong desire to teach

I’ve enjoyed occasionally teaching as an adjunct professor at various universities over the years and speaking at continuing professional education conferences. But in the fall of 2015, I plunged headlong into higher-ed when I joined the faculty of the Richard J. Bolte, Sr. School of Business at Mount St. Mary’s University (the Mount).

I had a lifelong desire to transition from a lengthy career in the accounting profession to teaching full time. (My father was also a university professor.) In 2015, I hadn’t planned on leaving my firm quite yet, but the Mount opportunity was too good to pass up. I decided to come back to my alma mater to teach and build a premier forensic accounting and fraud examination program.

Undergraduate and graduate students are rushing to join higher-ed forensic accounting, which is the fastest-growing area of the accounting profession. I wanted to build a program that would attract high-quality students eager to get into this lucrative and challenging field. I also wanted to leave a legacy for the Mount well after I’m gone to greener pastures.

Limited full-time faculty

Colleges and universities around the globe are striving to develop forensic accounting programs. Many U.S. universities offer one- or two-year forensic accounting programs at the graduate level (graduate certificate or master’s degree) and might offer one or two courses in forensic accounting at the undergraduate level.

Because forensic accounting only became a formal discipline in the late 1980s, the pool of academic candidates that can teach it and fraud examination part time, and especially full time, is limited. Most graduate programs rely heavily on adjuncts who are mainly practitioners in private practice willing to teach a class at the local university.

“If a school is launching a program in forensic accounting or some other cutting-edge field,” says Robert D. Reid, who spent five years as the chief accreditation officer for the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, “there probably are very few PhD faculty who are capable of teaching in that area. Students would benefit from having teachers who are, in essence, creating that industry.” (See The Faculty Piece, by Sharon Shinn, BizEd, AACSB International, Jan. 1, 2018.)

So, I set out to develop both an undergraduate major and graduate certificate program in forensic accounting and fraud examination. I embraced the challenge and put in hundreds of hours developing the initial curriculum and courses. I created the course design, content, syllabi, lectures, assignments and exams from materials I developed over my career and supplemented them with academic and practice resources, and case studies.

I consulted with other forensic accounting educators plus read and evaluated every forensic accounting textbook that had been published to date. The curriculum closely follows the 2007 National Institute of Justice Special Report, Education and Training in Fraud and Forensic Accounting: A Guide for Educational Institutions, Stakeholder Organizations, Faculty, and Students, developed under a cooperative agreement with West Virginia University’s – Forensic Science Initiative and the Technical Working Group for Education in Fraud and Forensic Accounting.

The Mount’s rigorous forensic accounting programs and related courses use a case study analysis approach to examine subject matter with students. They’re reading and studying real-life cases and developing robust written reports and oral presentations to develop communication skills required to be a successful forensic accountant and fraud examiner.

At the undergraduate level, historically, the forensic accounting major has attracted the top one-third of the accounting majors who elect to double major in forensic accounting. I often tell my students: To be a good forensic accountant and fraud examiner, you must be a very good accountant.

In my first lecture in the initial forensic accounting course, “Forensic Accounting: Do you Have What it Takes?” I try to convey to students that double majoring in accounting and forensic accounting/fraud examination will entail hard work and effort, but the payoff will be worth it.

I recount how devoting myself to this discipline in the field of accounting has been extremely rewarding to me personally. More importantly, I feel I’m truly contributing to society in a meaningful way. Our university mission statement states “… Mount St. Mary’s graduates ethical leaders who are inspired by a passion for learning and lead lives of significance in service to God and others.”

I try to convey forensic accounting and fraud examination in a simple, straightforward manner. I created a one-page document that I believe simply states what a forensic accountant and fraud examiner does. (I’d be glad to send it to you if you contact me at my email address below.) I’m biased, but five years later, I believe the Mount  is on the cutting edge in U.S. higher education accounting programs offered in the U.S.

Heed the call

I believe I was called to be one of those teachers Robert Reid refers to in the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business article. Just as my father passed the torch to me back in 1988, I felt the calling to help train the next generation of fraud fighters and forensic accountants.

I hope other ACFE members will feel the same calling to educate and train the next generation of forensic accountants and fraud examiners. We need you!

Lawrence J. Hoffman, CFE, CPA/CFF, is an assistant professor of accounting and forensic accounting at Mount St. Mary’s University. He’s also director of both the university’s forensic accounting program and the Center for the Advancement of Forensic Accounting Education. He’s the ACFE 2020 Educator of the Year. Contact him at hoffman@msmary.edu.