(Bachelor of Science Degree)
Economic crimes are a major and costly societal problem in America. Presently there are few individuals who have the skills to prevent, detect, or investigate this kind of crime. This major is designed to prepare practitioners to understand this evolving technological problem of business fraud and computer crimes. By combining accounting, management, computer science, and economics courses with criminal justice courses in economic crime investigation and law, students will be sufficiently prepared for an entry level position in this field.
Utica University offers an on-ground undergraduate program in Fraud and Financial Crime Investigation; there is also an undergraduate online program for transfer students who have already earned an associate’s degree or the equivalent college credits. In addition, there is an online master’s program in Financial Crime and Compliance Management. For more information on the master’s program, consult the Utica University’s graduate catalog.
Learning Objectives
A student who completes this program will demonstrate the following either orally and/or in writing:
- Identify the primary components of economic crime detection, investigation and prevention.
- Understand and discuss criminology theories explaining the causation of economic and white collar crime.
- Understand and discuss accounting principles as they apply to fraud examinations and investigations.
- Identify the key economic crime and criminal typologies as they apply to characteristics of specific economic crime acts.
- Prepare an original empirical research project contributing to the body of knowledge of a select component of financial investigation, public official corruption or white collar crime.
- Apply criminal law and regulations related to fraud in public and private sector organizations.
- Understand and discuss the impact of the development and implementation of private and public sector ethics programs on the prevention of economic crime.
- Understand and explain the role of technological advances on the field of economic crime investigation.
Special Requirements
Students in criminal justice - economic crime investigation are required to achieve a cumulative grade point average of at least 2.5 (on a 4.0 scale) across major, major-related, major elective, and major concentration courses by the first semester of their junior year and to maintain that average thereafter.
