Four Keys to Being a Successful Forensic Accountant

Many people ask me what it takes to be considered a good forensic accountant. Surprisingly many of the attributes that make someone a good forensic accountant are not typically sought out in the business world. For example, one of the most important things is that you think differently than the rest of the people. You need to have to understand on a PhD level many aspects of finance, accounting and business. You need to understand statistics, marketing, accounting, finance, and pretty much everything else. Your writing skills and mathematical skills need to be second to none. I Typically like to see someone who went to a good public or state college, followed up with a Masters in Finance and additional coursework at a good ivy school like Harvard University. The third thing is you need to have physical stamina and have been tested especially during early years from age 8 to 18.  It is important to have played competitive sports such as football, soccer, wrestling and mixed martial arts The fourth thing is time travel. You need to be able to travel forward and backward in time. A lot of what we do requires us to go back and figure out what happened decades or even hundred years in the past and then carry that forward to the future.