CFE Certification in 2027: Requirements, Exam, Fees and Programs That Prepare You

The CFE certification is a fraud-fighting credential from the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners. You earn it by joining the ACFE, reaching 50 qualifying points, holding two years of fraud-related work, and passing a three-section exam. This guide walks you through each requirement, the real fees, and the forensic accounting programs that line up with the exam.

What Is the CFE Certification?

A Certified Fraud Examiner is trained to prevent, detect and investigate fraud. The ACFE describes CFEs as professionals who prevent, detect and deter fraud, and it’s the only body that can award the credential. The ACFE says it has more than 95,000 members, though not every member is a CFE.

That last part trips people up. Associate members aren’t required to become CFEs. You can join, learn, and decide later.

The credential isn’t a license. What it does is show an employer that you’ve met one standard set of rules and passed one standard exam.

What Are the CFE Certification Requirements?

The ACFE lists five requirements. You’ll meet them in this order.

Notice that experience and the exam don’t have to come in a fixed order. The ACFE FAQ says you can sit the exam without two years of experience, as long as you reach 40 points. You just won’t be certified until the experience is in place.

How Do the Qualifying Points Work?

Points come from three places: education, fraud-related work and approved certifications. The ACFE’s point system is where you check yours.

How Does a Degree Count?

A bachelor’s degree earns 40 points, and no specific field of study is required. That’s worth sitting with for a second. A forensic accounting degree and a criminal justice degree earn the same points toward the credential. What a forensic program adds is the material you’ll be tested on, which we get to below.

Any points you claim for education must come from an accredited institution.

What if You Don’t Have a Degree?

You can substitute experience for study. The ACFE counts two years of fraud-related experience for each year of academic study. It gives this example: two years of full-time college earns 20 points, and you’d still need four more years of professional experience to cover the education side.

One academic year equals 24 completed credit hours, and education points top out at 40.

Can Other Certifications Add Points?

Yes. Approved certifications are worth 10 points each, and the Certified Public Accountant (CPA) is on the ACFE’s list. But they can’t replace the fraud-related experience requirement. Use the ACFE’s calculator to see how your degree, your years of work and any certifications get you to 50.

What Counts as Fraud-Related Experience?

Fraud-related experience means full-time work where most of your responsibilities connect to preventing, detecting or deterring fraud. The ACFE defines a full year as 40 hours per work week. Part-time work might not earn full points, and overlapping jobs can’t be double counted.

The ACFE’s Board of Regents has approved eight categories.

If your job isn’t on the list but your duties include preventing, detecting or investigating fraud, it may still count.

A holder of the CPA, Certified in Financial Forensics (CFF) and CFE credentials, posting in an older thread on Reddit’s r/Accounting, described who tends to earn the CFE: “mostly cops, insurance investigators, internal auditors, loss prevention specialists.” That fits the ACFE’s own list. You don’t have to be an accountant to qualify.

How Do You Earn the CFE Certification Step by Step?

The ACFE calls it five steps.

1. Join the ACFE. You have to be a member before you can earn the credential. Membership also gets you an average 20 percent savings on ACFE training, events and products.

2. Prepare for the exam. The ACFE offers three routes: a self-paced online prep course, an instructor-led three-day review course (in a classroom or virtual), or studying on your own with the Fraud Examiners Manual, which is the source of all exam content.

3. Apply. You submit proof of education, proof of work experience and three professional recommendations through the ACFE’s online portal. Apply at least 60 days before your intended exam date.

4. Take the exam. After your application is approved, you have a 60-day window to schedule and finish all sections.

5. Get certified. The ACFE’s Certification Committee reviews your application, results and proctored sessions. The final review takes up to three weeks, and you can’t speed it up.

The initial application review usually takes 5 to 7 business days, and it can’t be rushed either. Gather your transcripts and line up your three recommenders early.

What Does the CFE Exam Cover?

The exam has three sections, each a separate timed test made of multiple-choice and true/false questions.

Each section is closed book and closed notes, and you must answer at least 75 percent correctly to pass it. You can test from home with a live remote proctor or at a Prometric testing center, and your score report arrives within 24 hours.

The ACFE launched a new version of the exam on June 2, 2026, based on a 2024 job task analysis. If a study guide or forum post talks about a different number of parts, it’s describing the old exam. Our CFE exam guide goes deeper on the sections.

An accountant on Reddit’s r/Accounting said they studied for and took the exam in two to three months while working through tax season, though that was before the 2026 update. The first section includes basic accounting principles, and the second covers the legal system and expert testimony. Whatever your background, one of the three will feel new.

What Does the CFE Certification Cost?

The ACFE publishes most of the bill. Membership dues are the exception, and the ACFE gives those through a dues calculator based on your situation.

The Silver package includes the prep course, with more than 500 lessons and nearly 1,400 study questions, plus the online Fraud Examiners Manual. Gold and Platinum add a study guide and an on-demand review course.

If you’re a senior or graduate student, look at the student package. It costs $449 instead of the $899.20 standard members pay for the Silver course, includes that course and one year of membership after you pass, and needs an active student membership.

One more fee rule is worth knowing: if the ACFE finds you ineligible, it refunds your application fee less a $100 processing fee. We break down every line in our CFE exam cost guide.

How Do You Keep the CFE Credential?

You maintain it with dues and 20 CPE credits each year. At least 10 of those must relate directly to detecting and deterring fraud, and 2 must relate to ethics. ACFE courses and events earn CPE, though they earn no qualifying points toward the credential.

If your membership lapses, the recertification rules depend on how long.

Put a reminder on your calendar so the credits don’t pile up in December.

Which Forensic Accounting Programs Prepare You for the CFE Exam?

This is the part most CFE guides skip. The credential doesn’t care what your degree is in, but the exam covers fraud schemes, investigation and prevention, and some programs teach exactly that. Plenty of programs say so on their own pages, and many are fully online. Our CFE exam prep ranking sorts them by forensic coursework, cost and outcomes.

The ACFE also runs the Anti-Fraud Education Partnership, with nearly 300 colleges and universities. Partners commit to a 3-credit fraud examination course and get case studies and a digital copy of the Fraud Examiners Manual at no fee. Carlow University, Florida Atlantic University, Murray State University and York College of Pennsylvania are partners.

A few examples of what that looks like in practice:

• Tiffin University built its online MBA in Forensics and Fraud Examination with the ACFE’s help. The school says its coursework parallels the exam content and draws on the ACFE’s manual. At $755 a credit, the online format is asynchronous, with no set class times.

• Murray State University offers an online MBA with a forensic accounting concentration. It’s 30 credits at $18,180 in total tuition. Murray State is a partnership school, and students who sit the exam can use the ACFE student package.

• Carlow University runs a one-year online MS in Fraud and Forensics in a cohort model, at $800 a credit. The school lists CFE exam preparation among its benefits.

• York College of Pennsylvania offers an online Master of Accounting in Fraud and Forensics, 30 credits. The college lists the CPA, CFE and Certified Forensic Accountant among the credentials you can prepare for.

• Purdue University Global has an online bachelor’s in accounting and analytics with a forensic accountancy concentration. Its catalog says concentration courses may help support CFE preparation, and tuition is $371 a quarter credit.

• Southern New Hampshire University offers an online bachelor’s in accounting with a forensic accounting and fraud examination concentration at $354 a credit across 120 credits. Concentration courses cover fraud types, financial statement fraud, interviewing and investigating with computers.

• Michigan Technological University has a nine-credit graduate certificate in forensic accounting that, in its words, better equips students to pass professional certifications such as the CFE.

Which one fits depends on where you are. If you already hold a bachelor’s degree, a master’s in fraud examination or a graduate certificate is the shorter path. If you’re starting out, a bachelor’s earns the 40 points and can give you the fraud coursework too.

Is the CFE Certification Worth It?

It depends on the job you want. The ACFE’s 2024 compensation survey reports that CFEs earn a 32 percent premium over non-certified colleagues, and we cover what that does and doesn’t mean in our CFE salary guide.

Reddit voices are mixed in a useful way. The same CPA, CFF and CFE holder wrote that it’s “worth it if you want to actually beat your head against the wall investigating fraud.” In other words, it pays off when the investigating work is the point.

If you’re after the CPA license first, our CFE vs CPA guide and our guide to the Certified in Financial Forensics credential lay out how they fit together.

The honest downsides are real. You’ll pay for membership, prep and the exam, and you’ll earn CPE every year. The credential matters most for roles that ask for it. But if you want fraud work to be your career, it’s a clear, widely recognized standard. For where the credential shows up, see the fraud examiner career guide.