Certified Accountants' Perceptions of Forensic Accounting Education: The Case of Bahrain

摘要

The main purpose of this study is to report the perceptions of certified accountants regarding the awareness, demand, benefits, relevance and contents of forensic accounting education in a developing country, Bahrain. A certified accountant is one who holds any professional qualification in accounting and is employed by an auditing firm in Bahrain. A questionnaire survey was used to collect the data and a total of 80 certified accountants completed and returned the questionnaire. Using descriptive statistics and factor analysis, the results show that all respondents are familiar with forensic accounting and they expect demand on forensic accounting to increase in the future. The most important benefits of forensic accounting are: strengthen the credibility of financial reporting, promote responsible corporate governance and prepare students to engage in fraud examination. Twenty six topics derived from relevant literature were proposed to be included in a forensic accounting course. The respondents perceive all topics as important and the topics that received the highest rating are: bribery and corruption investigation, corporate governance and analytical review procedures. The study recommends that colleges and universities in Bahrain should incorporate forensic accounting in their accounting programs. The preparers of accounting programs should recognise the value of practitioners' inputs when developing the contents of forensic accounting because their views can improve the relevance of programs and foster graduates' marketability.