Forensic Accounting (Taught)

Overview
Explore financial crime investigations and work with business legal teams on this forensic accounting Master’s. Prepare for your career as a forensic accountant, or in internal auditing or compliance, whether you’ve studied accounting in the past or not.

Develop your knowledge and critical analysis skills as you investigate where things have gone wrong in business.

You’ll study financial crime, law and fraud as you focus on business crime prevention and prepare for case discussions with lawyers. You'll apply your learning in topical case studies and develop your understanding of what to look for in financial accounts in industry.

To start, you'll explore topics including data modelling, accountancy basics and valuations. You’ll then discover forensic investigation and fraud examination, as well as corporate governance and ethics, and learn to be an expert witness in our replica courtroom.

By learning from experienced lecturers and industry guest speakers you’ll gain a better understanding of the industry as a whole, and have opportunities to network with guests and fellow accountancy students from across the department.

You'll graduate ready for your forensic accounting or compliance career. To get the most out of this course you should be analytical and curious, and keen to specialise in forensic accounting.

Accredited by:
This course is accredited by the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA). This means that you won't have to take some of the CIMA exams if you want to be CIMA certified after you graduate. You'll have completed part of your professional qualification by doing this degree. Find out more about these exceptions on the CIMA website.

We're a member of the Anti-Fraud Education Partnership with the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners.

What you'll experience
On this course, you'll:

• Discover forensic accounting, law and policy

• Use real-world case studies

• Apply your learning in practical assessments in our replica court room

• Learn how to prevent financial crime

• Prepare to support businesses in industry

• Network with and learn from industry guest speakers

• Use materials from the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners

• Benefit from our partnerships with various accounting and audit partners and our work with the Financial Reporting Council

Careers and opportunities
This Master’s degree will help you to specialise in forensic accounting and build on your business or accountancy studies at undergraduate level.

You'll benefit from CIMA exam exemptions after you graduate. This means you'll have fewer exams to sit to become an accredited forensic accountant.

What can you do with a Forensic Accounting degree?
When you graduate, you'll be well placed for a career in dispute and litigation support, fraud examination, or forensic accounting and regulatory investigations.

Your degree can open doors to roles with:

• Forensic accounting

• Business accounting

• Compliance

• Internal auditing

We'll provide you with as much support as possible in finding employment through close industrial contacts, careers events, recruitment fairs and individual advice.

Course Modules

The University of Portsmouth is passionate about creating career-focused modules that do more than support your studies, they empower your academic journey and prepare you for what comes next.

We design modules that have:

• Clear themes and skills development as you progress through each year
• Assessments that feel meaningful, often based on real-world tasks rather than isolated exams
• Career-enhancing opportunities such as placements, live projects, enterprise and volunteering

For a full list of the modules you will study on this course, please visit the link to the course page.

https://www.port.ac.uk/study/courses/postgraduate-taught/msc-forensic-accounting#modules

Professionally accredited courses provide industry-wide recognition of the quality of your qualification.

• Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business
• Chartered Institute of Management Accountants