The School of Business at SUNY Old Westbury will offer a brand new Master of Science in Forensic Accounting in the fall of 2018. The announcement of this new graduate program even made it to the pages of Accounting Today which quoted our president, Dr. Calvin Butts:
“We are very excited at being able to expand for Long Island our high-quality stable of graduate business programs,” stated president Dr. Calvin O. Butts, III. “An Old Westbury education in accounting has for decades prepared our graduates to excel when they sit for the state’s certified public accountancy exam. Now, by combining our existing undergraduate and graduate programs with our new program in forensic accounting, we are offering among the most comprehensive services in the preparation for the CPAs of tomorrow.”
Associate Professor,
Director of Graduate Business Programs
The Catalyst was able to speak with the Director of Graduate Business Programs, Dr. Cary Lange about this graduate program which will be “the first graduate degree of its kind to be offered on Long Island.”
The Catalyst: What is Forensic Accounting?
Dr. Lange: It is a rapidly growing field, in which most accounting firms have dedicated departments who are–at least certain staff members–to the umbrella of this field. Not only forensic accounting covers exposing financial fraud and trying to help clients to determine ways to avoid having financial fraud committed, it also extends to areas like computing insurance losses. Like if a business has a catastrophe of a flood or a fire and can’t open their doors for a month, how much business did they lose? That is something forensic accountants compute. It also extends to the business evaluation areas in which is in great demand for estate planning purposes and purposes of divorce. Forensic Accounting takes in a lot of different areas not just crime.
The Catalyst: How did the idea of offering a masters program start?
Dr. Lange: Dr. David Glodstein is the primary author of the proposal to submit this program to SUNY. He has been involved in the forensic accounting area for many years. He [deals] mostly in the area of computing in insurance losses. It took a good 2-3 years for the idea of creating the proposal to getting it approved by SUNY-SED.
The Catalyst: What are the requirements for this new upcoming program?
Dr. Lange: It is a 30-credit program which consists of 10 classes. It can be completed by full-time students in three semesters (fall, spring and summer). Also, it could be done by working adults in a part-time basis over the course of more than one year.
The Catalyst: If students are interested in this new program, who do they have to reach out to?
Are you interested? Speak with Dr. Cary Lange by emailing him at langec@oldwestbury.edu. Also you can go to his office hours which are Tuesday and Thursday 3:00 pm to 5:30pm in NAB, RM 1055 or by appointment. He will happy to give you information about the new master’s program and its courses.
