In 2004, West Virginia University (WVU), with funding from the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Justice Programs “ National Institute of Justice, assembled a task force to explore the development of a model curriculum.
Chaired by Professors Dick Riley, Bonnie Morris, and Max Houck, all of WVU, the work of the NIJ Model Curriculum Development Project began with the assembling of a Planning Panel composed of educators and professionals. The Planning Panel's job was to define the scope of the project and identify experts from across the nation to serve on the Technical Working Group on Education in Fraud and Forensic Accounting (TWG). Together, the 14 members of the Planning Panel and the 32 members of the TWG represent a diverse group of experts from various fields including academia, professional associations, law enforcement and regulatory agencies, public accounting, and corporations. Included on the Planning Panel were ACFE founder and Chairman Joseph T. Wells, CFE, CPA, and former ACFE Regent and Higher Education Committee Chair Mary-Jo Kranacher, MBA, CFE, CPA.
Beginning in early 2004, and over the next two years, the members of the Planning Panel and the TWG worked together to develop a final exposure draft report to deliver to the Department of Justice. (Kranacher detailed much of the early work of the Planning Panel and the TWG in the January/February column.) In December of 2005, the report "Education and Training in Fraud and Forensic Accounting: A Guide for Educational Institutions, Stakeholder Organizations, Faculty and Students," was delivered to the National Institute of Justice.
The model curriculum, described in the report, is voluntary and highly flexible. It can be used as a guide for implementing fraud examination/forensic accounting courses for undergraduate, graduate, or certificate programs. The curriculum was devised to ensure that entry-level graduates have the requisite knowledge, skills, and abilities to launch successful careers focused on fraud identification and deterrence.