Graduate Programs
Course Curriculum
Option One Details
Students will complete four courses during the summer (two courses in each of two four-week sessions separated by a one-week break). All four courses are taught using actual and simulated case materials. Students are required to perform actual investigative tasks and report their findings. Accordingly, with this type of hands-on approach, students are required to attend class and complete assignments in Morgantown.
The four courses are:
ACCT 581 Fraud Investigation: Types of fraud, documents, sources of evidence, and analysis of internal and external fraud schemes with an emphasis on the skills needed to identify and investigate fraud.
ACCT 582 Fraud Data Analysis: Digital prevention and deterrence, digital evidence, digital detection and investigation including data mining, digital presentation and reporting tools, cyber-crime and electronic case management tool
ACCT 583 Fraud Criminology/Legal Issues: The auditor’s/ fraud examiner’s responsibility to detect fraud, investigative techniques, interviewing skills, legal concepts, evidence management, criminology, and ethics.
ACCT 584 Advanced Fraud Investigation: Major case investigation of complex frauds and financial crimes and an emphasis on forensic and litigation support investigations. The course requires testimony of case investigative results in a moot court setting. Topics include terrorism financing, organized crime, drug trafficking, conspiracy, RICO and money laundering.
The program includes two in-class case investigations and two investigative assignments that students must complete on their own. Both require students to present and defend their work in front of practicing professionals as follows:
“Pitch to Prosecutor” Exercise in Accounting 581 - Supported by the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C) and the IRS Criminal Investigations Unit
Students complete one major case investigation (MCI) over the course of study in Acct 581. The purpose is to provide students with experience in performing basic investigative tasks and analysis. These projects involve analyzing simulated case information based on actual frauds / financial crimes as well as related corporate and business records to determine if fraud has occurred. Students mimic investigative processes used in conducting analytical reviews, soliciting information from clients, and reporting suspicious activity for a fictitious client / target company.
The exercise culminates in a ("Pitch to Prosecutor") exercise where students “pitch” the results of their investigations to a "prosecutor" to see if the case merits taking it to the next level. The "prosecutor" is a role played position by a qualified professional with experience in the area. The job of the prosecutor is to listen to the presentation, ask appropriate questions and then critique the team on the areas where they excelled, met expectations, or were deficient. Students have 20-25 minutes for their presentation and the prosecutor has 5-10 minutes for Questions and Answers. The critique by the prosecutor has a major impact on the student's grade for this portion of the case investigation.
Prosecutors are expected to come to the pitch "blind," meaning that they are responding to a request for a meeting by an investigative team. The prosecutor has no advance preparation. The prosecutor simply attends the pitch meeting, listens, asks questions, and evaluates whether the case should be moved forward and formal action taken against the alleged perpetrator(s). Students must utilize a variety of communication tools during the exercise including direct and indirect financial analyses, Excel spreadsheet financial analyses that highlight important case points, PowerPoint, link charts, flow diagrams and time lines, and the hypothesis-evidence matrix.
“Moot Court” Exercise (Capstone Experience) in Accounting 584 Supported by attorneys from the IRS and Steptoe & Johnson, PLLC
This course includes an integrative capstone experience using simulated actual case material as a basis for conducting an investigation throughout the course. In order to complete the assignments, students must integrate and draw upon the knowledge and skills developed in the other three courses, including the use of digital tools and techniques, developed in Fraud Data Analysis.
The purpose of this integrated exercise is to provide students with experience in performing complex investigative tasks and analyses. (These cases are complex financial crimes / frauds that include money laundering, RICO, mail fraud, wire fraud, tax fraud and conspiracy. The cases are usually centered on organized crime, drug trafficking or terrorism financing.) These projects involve analyzing real-world case information (public data and open source research techniques) as well as corporate and business records to determine if fraud or a financial crime has occurred. Students mimic investigative processes found in practice by conducting analytical reviews, soliciting information from clients, and reporting suspicious activity for a fictitious client company. Finally, the capstone experience culminates when students testify to their findings in a moot court scenario using direct and in-direct financial analyses, other Excel spreadsheet financial analyses that highlight important case points, link charts, flow diagrams and time lines and the hypothesis-evidence matrix. The role of “judge” in the moot court exercise is played by practicing attorneys with related professional experience.
Additionally, ACCT 581 and ACCT 582 must be completed before taking ACCT 584, Advanced Fraud Investigation.
Part-time Students under Option 1. The program may be completed on a part-time basis. Students participating on a part-time basis will require two summers. In session 1 of the first summer, part-time students may take either ACCT 581 or ACCT 582. In session 2 of the first summer, ACCT 583 must be completed. In session 1 of the second summer, part-time students will take ACCT 581 or ACCT 582, whichever was not completed previously. In session 2 of the second summer, ACCT 584 must be completed.
An alternative approach would be to complete the first four-week session during the first summer of enrollment and the second four-week session during the second summer of enrollment.
