Master
2021/2022
Forensics
Category 'Best Course for Broadening Horizons and Diversity of Knowledge and Skills'
Type:
Elective course (Strategic Corporate Finance)
Area of studies:
Finance and Credit
Delivered by:
School of Finance
Where:
Faculty of Economic Sciences
When:
1 year, 2 module
Mode of studies:
offline
Open to:
students of one campus
Master’s programme:
Strategic Corporate Finance
Language:
English
ECTS credits:
5
Contact hours:
32
Course Syllabus
Abstract
According to the 2020 Global Economic Crime Survey, 47% of companies experienced a fraud in the past 24 months and on average, companies reportedly experienced 6 incidents in the last 24 months. The most common types of fraud include customer fraud, cybercrime, asset misappropriation, bribery and corruption and financial statements fraud. Forensic services help companies discover illicit acts on time, carry out forensic investigations and mitigate risks. Aim of the course is to familiarize students with the theory and practice behind the forensics expertise. During the course we will discuss regulatory frameworks, approaches to and considerations of investigations of crimes committed, apply effective tools for identifying risks and developing and implementing fraud prevention systems. In addition, students will familiarize themselves with the related forensics matters such as corporate intelligence, forensic technology, dispute and litigation support, financial crime, whistleblowing systems, anti-money laundering, sanction and other compliance matters.
Learning Objectives
- Knowledge of regulatory environment and anti-corruption and anti-fraud frameworks: Federal laws of Russian Federation 273 and 115, Foreign Corrupt Practice Act (USA), UK Bribery Act (UK) and other AML & Sanctions, Anti-competitive practices.
- Knowledge of fraud indicators, typical schemes, considerations for financial services and construction industry.
- Knowledge of procedures of reputation and affiliation due diligence, tools for data analysis and other forensic technology solutions.
- Understanding of the role of expert witness during disputes.
Expected Learning Outcomes
- Compliance: get familiar with regulatory environment and anti-corruption and anti-fraud frameworks.
- Construction projects support: apply developed knowledge to forensic services for construction projects. Get familiar with project progress review, review of contractor selection procedures to identify affiliated companies and estimate potential damages, project delay analysis.
- Corporate intelligence: Find, analyse and check publicly available information and data from open market sources to assess the potential and risks of business relationships with third parties, such as suppliers and contractors, clients and partners, investment targets and potential employees.
- Disputes and litigation support: distinguish between litigation and arbitration, distinguish between expert witness and witness of fact, get familiar with expert witness roles, responsibility of expert witness to lawyers, client, tribunal, key considerations such as breach date, “as-is” and “but-for” scenarios, techniques for estimating damage.
- Forensic investigations: learn how to identify warnings of fraud and corruption, get familiar with asset misappropriation schemes.
- Forensic technology solutions: appreciate the role of forensic technology solutions, get familiar with methods and tools used for data analysis and visualization.
- Forensics for financial sector: get familiar with indicators of suspicious transactions, impairment and other risk indicators to identify fraudulent transactions.
- Introduction: Get familiar with phenomenon of fraud, appreciate the extent of fraud in modern economy, get familiar with most frequent types of fraud.
Course Contents
- Introduction. Introduction to financial forensics
- Forensic investigations
- Corporate intelligence
- Forensic technology solutions
- Disputes and litigation support
- Forensics for financial sector
- Construction projects support
- Compliance
Assessment Elements
- Group work in class (1 module)
- Homework (1 module)
- Homework (2 module)
- Test 1
- Test 2 (exam) (distantly)
- Group work in class (2 module)
Interim Assessment
- 2021/2022 2nd module0.15 * Homework (1 module) + 0.15 * Group work in class (1 module) + 0.2 * Test 2 (exam) (distantly) + 0.2 * Test 1 + 0.15 * Homework (2 module) + 0.15 * Group work in class (2 module)
Bibliography
Recommended Core Bibliography
- Thomas W. Golden, Steven L. Skalak, Mona M. Clayton, & Jessica S. Pill. (2006). A Guide to Forensic Accounting Investigation. Wiley.
Recommended Additional Bibliography
- Bhandari, S. (2016). Does Pyrrho signal the rise of the robolawyer? Lawyer, 30(16), 16.
- ENISA ─ European Union Agency for Network and Information Security, & Philip Anderson. (2014). Electronic evidence, a basic guide for first responders : Good practice material for CERT first responders. https://doi.org/10.2824/068545