The evolution of the CFF credential.

• Author: Durkin, Ronald
• Position: Certified in financial forensics

The AICPA Certified in Financial Forensics (CFF) certificate was created through a process of evolution. Although the first certificate was granted in July 2008, the CFF credential currently places second in the number of AICPA specialty certificates awarded to members (the Personal Financial Specialist is the largest, with more than 4,000 certificate holders).

Where are we now?

Currently, more than 3,100 AICPA members in the United States are CFF certificate holders and the number continues to grow. The CFF Credential Committee is completing the development of a body of knowledge, contracting with a university to provide an educational pathway to the CFF credential, and beginning the development of a CFF examination. The committee also has undertaken research on the skills and techniques that should be possessed by those who practice in the forensic accounting area.

There has been much discussion about what forensic accounting services are because it is a relatively new AICPA-recognized specialty niche. The definition generally accepted by those who practice in the area was captured in the business plan for the CFF certificate. The definition is as follows:

Forensic accounting services generally involve the application of specialized knowledge and investigative skills possessed by CPAs to collect, analyze, and evaluate evidential matter, and to interpret and communicate findings in court rooms, board rooms and other legal or administrative venues. Given the relatively rapid growth of this new AICPA credential, it is appropriate that there be some determination of how we got to this point and of what the next steps should be to further enhance the value of the certificate.

How did we get here?

1800s

As with any profession, it is difficult to determine when the practice area originally began. By some indications, forensic accounting can be traced back to the 1800s when James McClelland of Glasgow, Scotland, began a business that, in part, advertised "the making of statements, reports on disputed accounts, and claims for the purpose of laying before arbiters, courts or counsel."(1) Accountants were undoubtedly called to account for transactions prior to this time as they assisted the fact finders or others with their business disputes; this may have been the first time the concept had been described in print. The practice area was not new; it just had not been formally recognized.

1980s

One of the first books on forensic accounting we are aware of, Forensic Accounting: The Accountant as Expert Witness, was written in 1982 by Francis Dykeman, a former Price...