2nd Major In Financial Forensics
Accounting professionals are increasingly playing an important role in detecting and preventing fraudulent schemes in order to safeguard organisations against losses due to financial crimes.
The Second Major in Financial Forensics will equip students who are interested to work in this area with the critical skills to combat illegal financial activities and fraud.
Hear from Accountancy Student Stefanus Kevin as he Shares More About our 2nd Major in Financial Forensics
Course Requirements
Students will acquire three domains of knowledge, and they are advanced accounting technical competency, technology and analytics capability, and fundamental legal understanding in related areas. Students will study five compulsory courses, and pick three elective courses from a list of courses.
COMPULSORY COURSES
Build a strong foundation in understanding fundamental data management concepts such as database design and implementation in current business information systems, and some basic concepts related to unstructured data.
Acquire a sound foundation in internal audit within the context of governance, risk management and business practices. Deepen your understanding and appreciation of internal audit with real world industry illustrations and sharing of professional internal audit engagements.
Learn the key issues in domestic and international financial crime; the major types of financial crime; how evidence is obtained and used to charge offenders in the court; and efforts to combat international financial crime.
Acquire fundamental knowledge on how to investigate financial fraud - the types of fraud schemes, evidence collections and the use of technology for forensic investigation, and apply proven methodologies to conduct financial fraud investigations.
Explore how financial statement data and non-financial metrics can interact to forecast events, detect financial discrepancies and frauds, predict corporate default, optimize operations, and determine business strategy.
ELECTIVES (ANY 3 COURSES)
The elective courses listed below may not be offered every term. More electives may be launched in the future.
Master computing the time complexity of algorithms and compare algorithms using their Big-O time complexity. You will design and implement a pseudocode of an algorithm to solve a given problem.
Learn to apply data analytics in audit based on an underlying risk-based methodology with real-life examples. Through group projects, you will conceptualise the application of audit analytics in real-life companies through development of prototype dashboards with guidance provided by audit partners from Deloitte.
Examine IT systems and environment used to support the business processes common across various industries. Recognize how IT affects flows of business transactions, identify relevant technology elements, and assess risks arising from IT elements.
Explore the fundamentals of blockchains and smart contracts in the context of financial services. Examine the similarities and differences of public and private blockchains, and experience developing, deploying and executing smart contracts.
Learn programming fundamental concepts and computational thinking skills through Python, and explore basic data structures including arrays (lists in Python) and hash tables (dictionaries in Python).
Learn how to automate and improve accounting processes. You will also use a visualisation software to analyse, model and present complex data via interactive dashboards for decision-making in the accounting context.
Grasp the basics of coding in Python, as well as various data wrangling and data visualization techniques using Python, and learn to model real data using machine learning techniques.
Examine the role of non-lawyers, such as Chartered Accountants, as expert witnesses in the dispute resolution process. The course culminates in a mock trial where you will have the opportunity to cross examine experts.
Learn to identify insights from vast amount of data that most of the financial institutions have to help them answer specific business questions and to forecast possible future financial scenarios.
The Financial Forensics Work-Study Elective is an extended internship attachment programme at OCBC Bank in Singapore under the SMU Financial Forensics Work-Study Programme. Students will have the opportunity to work in one or more divisions at the bank: Group Finance, Group Legal and Compliance, and Group Audit.
Acquire fundamental knowledge and technical skills for protecting computing and networking systems against various cyber-attacks. Classroom instructions will be integrated with hands-on exercises and group projects.
Learn the different types of restructuring and insolvency procedures most suited to each situation, the legal implications and effects on the business entities, and the practical/commercial issues to consider when business entities enter into the restructuring or insolvency mode.
Examine the evidential rules, theories and policies that trial judges, lawyers and litigants deal with in a court hearing - the issues of admissibility of evidence, modes of proof, the manner of production of evidence, and the burden of proof.
Understand how quantum computing differs from classical computing and the main applications, with emphasis on FinTech/Banking applications, e.g., trade, investments.
Gain understand and apply Robotic Process Automation (RPA) as a transformative tool in the realm of accounting. Through hands-on lab sessions, you will acquire fundamental skills to ultilise various RPA tools.