Quick answer:Forensic accounting degrees usually cover fraud examination, litigation support, financial investigation and evidence handling. Graduates are counted under accountants and auditors, at a median of $83,680 with about 124,200 openings a year, or under detectives and criminal investigators, at $93,790 with a -0.7% projection (BLS OEWS, May 2025; BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34). This is one of the thinnest program codes on the site, and the page is written accordingly.
What the Coursework Usually Covers
Fraud examination - the common schemes, how each one shows up in the records, and the red flags that precede them
Forensic accounting method - tracing funds, reconstructing incomplete records, and quantifying loss
Litigation support and expert testimony - report writing, discovery, deposition, and the standards an opinion has to meet in court
Internal control and audit - the design failures that let a scheme run, and the controls that would have caught it
Investigative interviewing and evidence - documentation, chain of custody, and interview technique
Digital forensics and data analytics - transaction testing at scale, anomaly detection, and working with electronic records
Widely recognized industry certifications in fraud examination are commonly pursued alongside or after the degree and are often what employers screen on. Ask whether a program’s coursework aligns to any of them.
Why This Page Exists Separately
CIP 43.0405 is the financial forensics and fraud investigation program code. Only 39 institutions awarded it at degree level in 2024 (IPEDS Completions, 2024), and it is the thinnest supply of any program on this site.
The more interesting fact is where the code sits. CIP 43 is the investigation and protective services family, not the business family, so forensic accounting is classified alongside criminal justice programs rather than alongside general accounting, which sits in CIP 52. That is not a filing quirk. It reflects a real difference in what the degree teaches: evidence handling, interviewing and testimony are investigative skills, and they are not in an accounting core.
Before this page existed, the search landed on the general accounting page and returned a school list of institutions that mostly do not award this credential. Separating it means the list below is the 39 that do.
At 39 institutions the supply is thin nationally. The state and metro pages below sort that same national pool by location and carry state wage data. Because the delivery is online, a program counts as reachable from your state without a campus there, which is what keeps a state page honest at this supply level.
Before you request information anywhere, ask whether the program is built as a standalone major or as a concentration on an accounting base, since the two lead to different places. With that filter set, compare online forensic accounting programs enrolling now:
Colleges Offering This Degree
Every school listed is verified in federal IPEDS data both to award this degree and to offer programs that can be completed entirely by distance education at this level. Whether this exact degree is delivered fully online varies by school, so confirm the format before you apply.
How we rank schools – graduation rate, graduate earnings, cost and retention.
Advertising plays no part.
This page lists 10 schools, closest group first, then ordered by
BOC Score with the highest at the top.
10 of them carry a score.
LOCAL RANK
Location / proximity to this page
Defines the local group
Graduation rate how often students finish
30%
Median earnings, 10 years after entry whether it paid off
25%
Average net price what students actually pay after aid; lower ranks higher
20%
Retention rate how many come back for year two
15%
Fully online availability whether you can study while working
10%
Scores come from IPEDS (2024) and the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard.
Earnings are for all graduates of a school, not one program, so treat them as a signal
about the institution rather than about this subject.
Sponsored listings are paid placements and are labelled as such; they are separate from
this ranking and never change it. Read the full methodology.
Forensic accounting is one of the most heavily marketed specializations in business education and one of the least visible in federal data. There is no SOC code for it. Nobody is counted as a forensic accountant, which means every wage figure you see attached to the title comes from a survey or a job board rather than from the government.
What the federal data does show is the two categories the work is counted in.
Accountants and auditors, at a median of $83,680 across employment of 1,449,500, growing 4.6% with about 124,200 openings a year. This is where the large majority of forensic practitioners sit: in firm advisory practices, corporate internal audit and consulting. The mean of $94,750 running above the median tells you the upper tail is long, and specialized investigative work is one of the things that populates it.
Detectives and criminal investigators, at a median of $93,790 across employment of 114,430, with a projection of -0.7% and about 7,800 openings a year. This is the badge route, and it is a much smaller and flatter market. Agencies do hire financial investigators, but the number of such seats is small and entry usually runs through an agency hiring process rather than through a degree program.
The practical reading: treat this degree as a way to move up inside the accounting profession rather than as a way into law enforcement. The first path has 124,200 openings a year behind it. The second has a negative projection and a hiring process the degree does not control. Individual outcomes may vary.
Who This Suits
Accountants who want out of compliance work. This is the core audience. Someone already doing audit or reporting who finds the investigative parts the most interesting is exactly who these programs are designed for, and the master’s level is the usual entry point.
Bookkeepers who have already caught something.Bookkeeping is where most small-business fraud is first noticed, usually by someone who could not explain why the numbers felt wrong. That instinct is the raw material of the field, and the degree gives it method and vocabulary.
Investigators who need the financial side. People already in claims investigation, compliance or regulatory work often hit a ceiling at the point where a case turns on the books. This coursework is the standard fix.
Credit transfer is decided by the receiving institution and genuinely varies, so request a written transfer evaluation before you enroll.
What These Careers Pay
Accountants and auditors earn a median $83,680 across 1,449,500 jobs and are projected to grow 4.6%; detectives and criminal investigators earn $93,790 across 114,430 jobs with a projected change of -0.7% (BLS OEWS, May 2025; BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34).
Forensic Accounting at a Glance
Metric
Detail
Source
Median annual wage
$83,680
BLS OEWS, May 2025
Wage range
$56,020 (10th pct) - $144,090 (90th pct)
BLS OEWS, May 2025
Employment
1,449,500 accountants and auditors
BLS OEWS, May 2025
Projected change (2024-34)
4.6%, about 124,200 openings per year
BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34
Typical credential
Bachelor’s, with master’s common for the specialization
Program catalogs
Institutions awarding
39
IPEDS Completions, 2024
Geo coverage
State, metro and city pages - see Programs by State below
Site structure
SOC codes covered
13-2011 accountants and auditors; 33-3021 detectives and criminal investigators
BLS OEWS, May 2025
The Two Destinations Compared
Role
Median
75th percentile
Employment
Projected change
Accountants and auditors
$83,680
$109,810
1,449,500
4.6%
Detectives and criminal investigators
$93,790
$120,520
114,430
-0.7%
All wage and employment figures BLS OEWS, May 2025; growth figures BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34.
The investigator row pays more at both the median and the 75th percentile, which is why the badge route gets the attention. The accountant row has roughly thirteen times the employment and a positive projection, which is why it is the realistic plan. A reasonable way to read the pair is that forensic accounting is an accounting career with investigative content, not an investigative career with accounting content, and the programs that are honest about that are the ones worth shortlisting.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much do forensic accountants make?
There is no separate federal wage series for forensic accountants. They are counted under accountants and auditors, which shows a national median of $83,680 with a top 10 percent at $144,090 or more, across employment of 1,449,500 (BLS OEWS, May 2025). Forensic work generally sits in the upper half of that range, but the federal data does not isolate it.
How many schools offer a forensic accounting degree?
39 institutions awarded CIP 43.0405 at bachelor's or master's level in 2024 (IPEDS Completions, 2024). That is one of the thinnest program codes covered on this site, and the state and metro pages below sort that same small national pool by location.
Is forensic accounting a growing field?
The two occupations behind it move in opposite directions. Accountants and auditors are projected to grow 4.6% through 2034 with about 124,200 openings per year; detectives and criminal investigators are projected to change by -0.7% with about 7,800 openings per year (BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34).
Do forensic accountants work for law enforcement?
Some do. Federal and state investigative agencies employ financial investigators, and detectives and criminal investigators show a median of $93,790 across employment of 114,430 (BLS OEWS, May 2025). Most forensic accounting work, however, is done in public accounting firms, consulting practices and corporate internal audit rather than in a badge role.
Is forensic accounting the same as forensic science?
No. Forensic science is laboratory work on physical evidence. Forensic accounting is documentary and analytical work on financial records, and it is coded in the federal program taxonomy under investigation rather than under laboratory science.
Should I take this instead of a general accounting degree?
Usually not as a first credential. General accounting is the broader base and is awarded by far more institutions. Forensic accounting works best as a specialization layered on top, which is why a large share of the 39 institutions award it at master's level.
Can you study forensic accounting online?
Yes. The coursework is records analysis, interviewing method and evidence handling, with no laboratory requirement. Confirm the delivery format for a specific program before you apply.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 - Accountants and Auditors (SOC 13-2011), Detectives and Criminal Investigators (SOC 33-3021)
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections, 2024-34
U.S. Department of Education, IPEDS Completions, 2024 - CIP 43.0405
About this guide: Researched and written by the TradeCareerPath Editorial Team. Our editorial team researches and sources every trade school and career guide using federal labor and education data, including BLS OEWS and Employment Projections, DOL apprenticeship records, IPEDS, College Scorecard, and state licensing boards. We follow the editorial standards documented at /editorial-policy/.
