Recession-Proof Career: Forensic Accounting and IT Auditing Financial Fraud Increases in Economic Recessions

The business of financial fraud at the corporate level historically spikes as those in desperate need of money manipulate company revenues and assets for personal gain, and the trend is the key reason why a career in forensic accounting and information technology (IT) auditing is not only recession-proof but recession-flourishing, according to Tommie Singleton, Ph.D., associate professor of Accounting at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB).

November 6, 2008

• Just four undergrad programs nationally

• Industry demand grows in recession

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The business of financial fraud at the corporate level historically spikes as those in desperate need of money manipulate company revenues and assets for personal gain, and the trend is the key reason why a career in forensic accounting and information technology (IT) auditing is not only recession-proof but recession-flourishing, according to Tommie Singleton, Ph.D., associate professor of Accounting at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB).

Further solidifying the career track's durability, even in times of relative economic prosperity, are statistics from the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) that have shown an increase in fraud cases in each of the last two years. The ACFE reported accounting fraud at the business and corporate level is estimated by experts to be $994 billion in 2008.

"There is always motivation for financial gain or need behind every fraud case," Singleton said. "So imagine now that the economy is slowing how much more motivation or desperation for financial gain will be out there.

"The cases of fraud will only climb as the country sinks into recession, and with that so will the demand for highly skilled, specialized forensic accountants to help prevent, detect and prosecute those looking to cheat the system," Singleton said.

Singleton said accounting graduates from the UAB School of Business have a unique edge as they enter the workforce. He pointed to UAB's standing as one of just a handful of accounting programs nationwide that offers a degree or concentration in forensic accounting.

"You've probably got 200 campuses out there that offer a single class or two on accounting fraud," Singleton said. "At UAB, students have access to a four-course undergraduate curriculum concentration, and the university is just one of four that I know of that can say that."

Adding to the reputation of UAB's forensic accounting program is its focus on IT auditing, Singleton said. IT auditing courses train forensic accounting students to both understand the digital technologies that fraud suspects use in the commission of their crimes and how to use those same technologies to find the electronic fingerprints of fraudulent activity. Singleton said UAB's national reputation as an IT auditing education leader was cemented when he was invited to co-author an article on the discipline for a 2007 series in the scholarly journal Issues in Accounting Education entitled Model Curriculum for Forensic Accounting.

"A highly skilled forensic accountant should know data mining techniques, how to read and follow digitized account transactions and pull critical information from hard drives that would otherwise remain hidden," Singleton said. 

Singleton said that there is range of opportunities available to forensic accountants, whether with a fraud investigation or examination firm, as a litigation support staffer at a law firm or as part of a corporation's internal auditing office. Specific employers, he said, offer different responsibilities in investigating the life cycle of fraud that starts with prevention and continues into detection, auditing or investigation, evidence gathering and legal implementation.