Seton Hill University Master of Business Administration, Forensic Accounting and Fraud Examination Specialization: Our 2027 Review

This Master of Business Administration (MBA) pairs a full business core with a four-course fraud sequence, so you leave with management skills and an investigator's toolkit. Courses run eight weeks, six admission points open each year, and you choose whether to finish in one year or two.

The school designed the curriculum to count toward Certified Public Accountant (CPA) licensure and to prepare you for the CFE and Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) credentials.

Seton Hill University, a private nonprofit school in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, offers forensic accounting and fraud examination as one of six MBA specializations. The others are business analytics, cybersecurity risk management, healthcare administration, leadership and management, and project management. The specialization focuses on understanding, investigating and deterring fraud, and the school built it to meet growing demand for forensic and fraud specialists.

It's 30 graduate credits, and you can earn more than one specialization on a single MBA, with each one listed on your transcript. If you only want the fraud courses, you can take them as a 12-credit certificate at Seton Hill too.

The business school and MBA carry accreditation from IACBE, and the university is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. The school says the curriculum helps you earn academic credits toward CPA licensure and helps prepare you for the CFE and the CIA.

All MBA faculty have substantial business experience and professional certifications as well as academic credentials. You'll also get the award-winning Career and Professional Development Center as a student and after you graduate.

Where this degree can lead: Forensic Accounting Jobs, Certified Fraud Examiner Certification.

• You're an accountant chasing licensure, since the integrated curriculum is designed to earn you academic credits that help you become a licensed CPA.
• You're a manager who wants a business degree with a fraud edge, because the MBA core adds risk management, ethical leadership, supply chain and analytics.
• You like a flexible pace, with a one-year path at two courses a term or a two-year path at one.
• You're changing careers from another major, since the school says other majors are considered and you can run prerequisite coursework alongside your first MBA classes.
• You want to stack interests, because you can add a second specialization to the same MBA.

You'll take four required courses in the fraud sequence. Financial Transactions and Schemes covers hundreds of common employee fraud schemes, including financial statement fraud, asset misappropriation, bribery and corruption. Forensic and Fraud Legalities looks at civil and criminal systems and the laws around financial crime.

Forensic and Fraud Investigation teaches you to plan an examination, analyze documents, interview suspects, and use data analysis and digital forensics to trace illicit transactions. Fraud Prevention and Deterrence asks why people commit fraud and how to stop it, touching on white-collar crime, cybercrime, occupational fraud and fraud risk assessment.

Around those sit the MBA core courses: Risk Management in a Global Economy, Strategic Marketing and Sustainability, Leading Change with Organizational Ethics, Global Supply Chain Management and Leveraging Business Analytics and Artificial Intelligence. The program stresses collaborative learning and applied teaching techniques such as case studies, simulations and analysis of work situations.

You finish with a capstone, Global Business Strategy. You'll analyze a publicly traded company and present your findings to a panel of Seton Hill faculty and senior business leaders from area companies.

Courses the School Names

• Financial Transactions & Schemes
• Forensic & Fraud Legalities
• Forensic & Fraud Investigation
• Fraud Prevention & Deterrence

Standout Features

• Can be combined with other MBA specializations; each is listed on the transcript
• Curriculum earns academic credits toward CPA licensure and helps prepare for the CFE and CIA
• Six start dates a year, at every eight-week course start
• Students can finish in one year at two courses per term or stretch to two years at one course per term

Seton Hill lists MBA degrees at $1,015 per credit for 2026-2027, and your specialization is 30 credits. A University Services Fee of $375 per semester applies once you take 12 credits or more.

If you take 1 to 11 credits, the fee is $30 per credit. The school says loans, payment plans and military benefits are available, and you can submit the application online for free.

Admissions can walk you through how those options apply to your plan.

30 credits at $1,015 a credit comes to $30,450 in tuition, before fees.

Each course takes eight weeks, and admission is open six times a year, at every eight-week course start. You decide how many courses to take in a term. If you take two every term, you can finish in one year. If you take one each term, you can finish in two.

The program page is headed Online MBA, and the catalog adds that you can take classes in the evenings, on Saturdays, or online. You'll also have the Wukich Center for Entrepreneurial Opportunities as a resource. You'll need a bachelor's degree from an accredited institution, with business-related majors preferred, plus a resume, personal statement and recommendation.

The full rubric is on the methodology page.

• Program Director Douglas Nelson says instructors can point out from experience the complexities leaders meet in practice and share how to spot and limit those risks early.

  Source: Seton Hill University news

• Seton Hill's program page features a forensic accounting MBA graduate who became the first from the program to earn the CFE.

  Source: Seton Hill University website

• Which of the six yearly admission points is next, and how should I plan my first two courses?
• What does a week in an eight-week course look like if I'm working full time?
• Do I need prerequisite coursework, and can I take it alongside my first MBA classes?
• How do the specialization credits line up with the 150 hours many states ask for before the CPA exam in my state?
• Can I add a second specialization, and how does that change the credit total?
• Who presents on the capstone panel, and which companies have joined it?
• If I start with the certificate, how do the credits move over to the MBA?

• Best Forensic Accounting Programs Rank 18 of 27, master's
• Best Master's Programs Rank 18 of 27, master's
• Best Online Programs Rank 14 of 20, master's
• Fraud Examination Programs Rank 6 of 10, master's
• MBA With Forensic Concentration Rank 3 of 6, master's
• CFE Exam Prep Programs Rank 10 of 13, master's
• Cheapest Programs Rank 15 of 15, master's
• Accelerated Programs Rank 11 of 13, master's
• For Working Adults Rank 10 of 13, master's
• Best Programs in Pennsylvania Rank 4 of 5, master's

• Forensic and Fraud Examination Graduate Certificate

  Graduate Certificate, Graduate Certificate

  Fully Online $1,015 per credit Score 77.1

• Roosevelt University

  Master of Science in Accounting Forensics

  Illinois Score 67.7

• Colorado State University Global

  Master of Professional Accountancy, Fraud Investigations and Forensic Accounting Emphasis

  Colorado $675 per credit Score 67.3

• Purdue University Northwest

  Master of Accountancy, Forensic Accounting Data Analysis Concentration

  Indiana Score 70.0

• Colorado State University Global

  Master's Degree With a Fraud and Financial Crimes Specialization

  Colorado Score 70.8