BA (Hons) Forensic Accounting

Your first year on the Forensic Accounting degree includes financial and management accounting, an introduction to finance, Statistical techniques and data analysis for accounting, the business environment, and business and corporate law. Year two covers the principles of forensic accounting, financial crime investigation and develops your knowledge of financial reporting and management accounting. You will study financial management and undertake a specialist employability module, where you will have the opportunity to gain the CIMA-accredited Sage Accounting Certificate. Sage is the UKs biggest accounting software provider.

You will specialise further in your final year, with modules on forensic accounting and the expert witness, and fraud examination. You can also choose optional modules from a range of subjects, including advanced financial reporting, business analysis, and cases in auditing and taxation.

Year One - Forensic Accounting degree 

Your first year includes the core disciplines of financial accounting, management accounting, an introduction to finance, quantitative techniques for accounting, the business environment, and business and corporate law. You can also gain the CIMA accredited Sage Accounting Certificate. Sage is the UKs biggest accounting software provider. For students who do not have prior relevant work experience, the employability module incorporates a live brief where you will work on a real life problem and have the opportunity to interact with external organisations, enabling you to become instantly more employable, learning both profession-specific as well as more general work-related skills.

• Financial Accounting

• Management Accounting

• Data Analysis and Computerised Accounting

• Business Environment for Forensic Accounting

• Personal Financial Planning

• Business and Corporate Law

Year Two - Forensic Accounting degree 

Year two covers the principles of forensic accounting and develops your knowledge of financial reporting and management accounting. Youll study financial management, audit and undertake a specialist employability module where you will develop your Excel spread-sheet skills, work on some of the softer skills that employers require and benefit from an impressive range of guest speakers. 

• Financial Reporting

• Management Accounting for Planning and Control

• Financial Management (Optional)

• Audit and Fraud Risk Management

• Principles of Forensic Accounting

• Financial Crime Investigation

• Cases in Audit (Optional)

• Work Placement Year

Year Three - Forensic Accounting degree 

Youll specialise further in your final year, with modules on forensic accounting and the expert witness, and fraud investigation. You can also choose optional modules from a range of subjects, including advanced financial reporting, business analysis, taxation and cases in auditing.

Core modules

• Advanced Financial Reporting (Optional)

• Information for Decision Making and Financial Management (Optional)

• Taxation (Optional)

• Strategic Business Partner (Optional)

• Professional Development in Forensic Accounting

• Fraud Examination

• The Expert Witness and Financial Crime

• Cyber Crime and Valuation

• Risk and Governance (Optional)

Option availability will be subject to student demand

Foundation Year

The BA (Hons) Forensic Accounting is also available as a four year course including an integrated Foundation Year, and is designed for students who do not currently meet admissions criteria for direct entry onto the degree.

You will start by completing a foundation year, which provides well structured support, allowing you to develop your skills and knowledge before continuing onto the three year degree programme. For more information please email [email protected]  

Our student-focused approach is a great way to engage with the subject, the tutors and your fellow students. You will be taught through workshops, seminars and innovative e-learning techniques. Alongside teaching from qualified accountants with years of industry experience, you will also learn from staff in the Faculty of Advanced Technology. With access to the latest forensic hardware and software in their specially configured labs, you will benefit from our staff who investigate cases for local and national police forces, business, and government.

As well as our links with ACCA, you will benefit from regular presentations from guest lecturers representing many aspects of the profession. Throughout your course you will get practical experience of the accounting, auditing, and general software packages you will use after you graduate another skill to add to your CV.

Most modules are assessed by a combination of examination and coursework. There is a variety of coursework helping you develop your employability skills through the use of IT, preparing written reports, and giving presentations.

The entry criteria below shows the qualification range within which the University will make offers. The University has a Contextual Admissions Policy, therefore, whilst most offers we make are at the top of the range, under the Policy we take certain aspects of an application into consideration and eligible UCAS applicants can receive a personalised offer or have results considered individually when you receive them.Here is a link to our Contextual Admissions Policy Statement. 

Combinations of qualifications are acceptable and other qualifications not listed here may also be acceptable. 

Please note that whilst this course does not require a DBS Check for entry, some professions will not consider candidates who have certain types of criminal convictions.    Therefore, if you have a criminal conviction and you are considering a particular career path we would recommend that you check with the relevant professional body or refer to their recruitment policy to make sure that your conviction will not disadvantage you.

Typical A-Level Offer

Typical Welsh BACC Offer

Typical BTEC Offer

Typical IB Offer

Typical Access to HE Offer

Additional Requirements

International Entry Requirements

Forensic accountants are in demand all over the world. Thanks to a shortage of people with relevant specialist skills, graduates from the Forensic Accounting course can expect to be well paid for their talents. Forensic accountants work for accounting firms, banks, insurance companies and law firms. You will also possess general accounting skills, so you will have the same career opportunities as accounting and finance graduates.

To give you a head start following graduation the University organises an annual employability conference for its accounting students. Previous attendees have included PwC, Eversheds, JK Accountancy, Civitas Law and Watkins & Gunn.

Our Careers and Employability Service

As a USW student, you will have access to advice from the Careers and Employability Service throughout your studies and after you graduate.

This includes: one-to-one appointments from faculty based Career Advisers, in person, over the phone or even on Skype and through email via the "Ask a Question" service. We also have extensive online resources for help with considering your career options and presenting yourself well to employers. Resources include psychometric tests, career assessments, a CV builder, interview simulator and application help. Our employer database has over 2,000 registered employers targeting USW students, you can receive weekly email alerts for jobs.

Our Careers service has dedicated teams: A central work experience team to help you find relevant placements; an employability development team which includes an employability programme called Grad Edge; and an Enterprise team focused on new business ideas and entrepreneurship.