Waynesburg University Bachelor of Science in Forensic Accounting: Our 2027 Review

Waynesburg trains forensic accountants to a courtroom standard, and you'll see it in the schedule. Criminal law, criminal procedure, white collar crime and a mock trial sit right beside the accounting core. Add a forensics laboratory, internships with Pittsburgh-area firms and an optional five-year path to a Master of Business Administration (MBA), and you get a degree built around real investigative practice.

Waynesburg University is a private nonprofit university in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, with about 1,100 undergraduates. The Bachelor of Science in Forensic Accounting is a 124-semester-hour degree that teaches you to identify and investigate fraudulent financial activity, develop evidence and give expert evidence at trial.

The school says you'll be trained to the legal standard of "suitable for use in a court of law." It's one of four forensic programs on campus, so you'll study alongside students headed into other forensic fields.

The Department of Business Administration holds specialized accreditation for its business programs from the IACBE. If you're a forensic accounting major, you can complete an internship with the cooperation of public and private accounting firms in the Pittsburgh area and earn college credit.

Through the Schneider Downs partnership, two to three students intern each summer, and the majority receive full-time employment offers when the internship ends. Alumni have gone on to roles such as audit associate and detection and investigation associate.

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

• You picture yourself testifying, since the program prepares you to give expert evidence at trial.
• You like the legal side of the work, with courses in criminal law, criminal procedure and white collar crime.
• You want Pittsburgh-area experience, through internships with public and private accounting firms.
• You want a master's degree too, with an integrated five-year Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Master of Business Administration path.
• You prefer a small campus where, as one alumna puts it, people make time to know you.

The major blends accounting with criminal justice. Introduction to Forensic Accounting: Fraud Examination is the anchor course. It covers financial statement analysis, scrutiny of financial records, trace techniques, reporting irregularities and fraud examination approaches. You'll prepare field exercises in common fraud cases such as bankruptcy, insurance, covert examinations, trading practices and money laundering schemes.

The criminal justice courses give the investigation its legal frame. White Collar Crime looks at crime by corporations and white collar criminals: how it's defined, who commits it, who it affects and how society responds.

Criminal Law introduces substantive criminal law, and Criminal Procedure covers arrests, search and seizure, bail, adjudication and plea bargaining, with emphasis on constitutional protections. Those two lead into Law and Evidence, which covers the rules of evidence, burdens of proof and examination of witnesses, and ends with a mock trial.

The accounting side includes Federal Income Taxes I and II, Auditing and Accounting Systems, Advanced Accounting and Cost Accounting. So you'll finish with a full accounting foundation as well.

Courses the School Names

• Introduction to Forensic Accounting: Fraud Examination (ACC 425)
• White Collar Crime (CRJ 345)
• Criminal Procedure (CRJ 328)
• Law and Evidence (CRJ 406)
• Criminal Law (CRJ 219)

Standout Features

• Curriculum includes criminal justice training in law, white collar crime and criminal procedure
• Five-year BSBA/MBA option with a 160-credit curriculum
• Hands-on resources in Hanna Hall including advanced computer labs and the Waynesburg University Trading Room
• One of four forensic programs at the university, with a specialized forensics laboratory

Full-time tuition for the Fall 2026 to Spring 2027 year is $30,980. The university says the average student receives about $17,000 a year in institutional aid. It describes its cost as about $12,000 less than other private, nonprofit four-year colleges. You can ask the financial aid office to walk you through the aid package that fits your situation.

This is a campus program in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, so you'll learn in person with your professors and classmates. Business students use the resources of Hanna Hall, including advanced computer labs and the Waynesburg University Trading Room. And forensic students also have access to a specialized forensics laboratory that puts modern evidence-gathering techniques in your hands.

The bachelor's degree is 124 semester hours. If you want a graduate degree as well, the integrated five-year option runs a 160-credit curriculum that earns both the bachelor's and the master's within a streamlined five years.

The full rubric is on the methodology page.

• Brenna Pennington, a 2017 forensic accounting graduate, writes that she accepted a full-time audit associate job during spring of her junior year, through the Pittsburgh Accounting Consortium.

  Source: Waynesburg University website

• Pennington also says she loves that people at Waynesburg take the time to know you and care about your professional development.

  Source: Waynesburg University website

• Joshua Miller, a forensic accounting graduate and 2021 valedictorian, was offered a detection and investigation associate position with PNC in Pittsburgh.

  Source: Waynesburg University website

• Program director William Stough says the Schneider Downs partnership gives students tax and audit experience that classrooms can't duplicate.

  Source: Waynesburg University website

• How are the Schneider Downs summer internships chosen, and when should a forensic accounting major apply?
• What does the forensics laboratory let students do, and which courses use it?
• How does the mock trial in Law and Evidence work, and who plays the roles?
• What field exercises will I prepare in ACC 425 Introduction to Forensic Accounting?
• How does the five-year Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and MBA path work, and when do I choose it?
• Which institutional aid awards are available for an incoming forensic accounting major?

• Best Forensic Accounting Programs Rank 15 of 22, bachelor's
• Best Bachelor's Programs Rank 15 of 22, bachelor's
• Best Programs in Pennsylvania Rank 1 of 3, bachelor's

• Purdue University Global

  Bachelor of Science in Accounting and Analytics, Forensic Accountancy Concentration

  Indiana $371 per quarter credit Score 62.1

• University of Northwestern Ohio

  Bachelor of Science in Accounting, Forensic Accounting

  Ohio $305 per quarter credit Score 62.7

• Davenport University

  Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting, Accounting Fraud Specialty

  Michigan $716 per credit Score 62.9

• University of Central Oklahoma

  Bachelor of Science in Forensic Accounting

  Oklahoma Score 63.5