CFE Credential Eligibility

Below are five requirements to earn your Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) credential.

CFE Credential Eligibility
To find out if you qualify to earn your CFE credential, read through the five requirements below. For each requirement that you have not achieved, there are recommendations on what steps you can take next to earn your CFE credential.
CFE Requirements

1. ACFE Membership

You must be an Associate Member of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) to take the CFE Exam and earn the CFE credential.

Join the ACFE
The ACFE is a diverse, active, global community of professionals who share a passion for preventing, finding and fighting fraud in all forms. If you're ready to join us in our mission, become a member of the ACFE.
CFE Requirements

2. The Eligibility Points System

You must have a minimum of 40 points in the eligibility points system to take the CFE Exam and a minimum of 50 points to be certified.

Calculate Your Eligibility

You can earn points for education and fraud-related work experience.

Many CFE credential applicants have a minimum of a bachelor's degree (or equivalent) from an institution of higher learning, earning 40 qualifying points. No specific field of study is required. If you do not have a bachelor's degree, you may substitute two years of fraud-related professional experience for each year of academic study. For example, if you successfully attended college full-time for two years, you would earn 20 points and still need an additional four years of professional experience to meet the education requirements. Any points claimed for education must be from an accredited institution of higher learning.

Fraud-related work experience may also be used to earn points. There are more details in the next section about what types of work experience are accepted. Use our points calculator to determine if you meet the points requirement. Remember, you need 40 points to take the CFE Exam and 50 points to become certified.

CFE Requirements

3. Two Years of Fraud-Related Work Experience

You must have at least two years of professional experience in a field related to the detection or deterrence of fraud.

Calculate Your Work Experience

At the time you are certified, you must have at least two years of professional experience in a field either directly or indirectly related to the detection or deterrence of fraud. If you do not have two years of professional experience, you can still take the CFE Exam as long as you have a minimum of 40 qualifying points. Once you have the 50-point minimum and two years of professional experience, you can be awarded the CFE credential.

The ACFE’s Board of Regents has approved the following categories as acceptable fraud-related experience.

Please note, if your work experience does not fall into one of the categories below but your job responsibilities include the prevention, detection or investigation of fraud, your experience may still qualify.

Fraud-Related Work Experience

  • Accounting and Auditing
    Activities pertaining to the preparation or audit of financial statements; the review and analysis of records, data or transactions for anomalies indicative of suspicious activity or material misstatements that could indicate fraud; or the evaluation of processes or controls related to the prevention or detection of fraud or other misconduct 
  • Compliance and Ethics
    Work involving compliance with and enforcement of rules, laws, regulations and policies, including the development of ethics programs, policies or other efforts aimed at establishing an ethical organizational culture
  • Corporate Security and Loss Prevention
    Functions focused on safeguarding organizational assets and resources from fraud, theft, cybercrime and other risks
  • Fraud Investigation
    Investigation of suspected financial misconduct or similar crimes, including the collection and documentation of evidence and tracing and recovery of assets for victims of such crimes
  • Fraud Prevention and Fraud Risk Management
    Development and maintenance of programs, policies, procedures and controls intended to prevent, assess and mitigate fraud and fraud risk
  • Fraud-Related Legal Services, Litigation Support and Consulting
    Involvement in fraud-related legal actions, as well as consultation on matters related to fraud or financial crime
  • Proactive Fraud Detection
    Monitoring activities or use of tools designed to detect suspicious activities indicative of fraud or financial misconduct
  • Teaching, Writing or Researching on Fraud-Related Topics
    Creation, editing or presentation of content related to the fraud examination body of knowledge
CFE Requirements

4. The CFE Exam

You must pass the CFE Exam in order to earn the CFE credential.

Details of the CFE Exam

The CFE Exam tests your knowledge of the three major areas that comprise the fraud examination body of knowledge: Fraud Schemes and Financial Crimes, Fraud Investigations and Legal Issues and Fraud Prevention and Deterrence.

CFE Requirements

5. The Code of Professional Ethics

You must agree to abide by the ACFE’s bylaws and Code of Professional Ethics in order to be an Associate Member of the ACFE and maintain your CFE credential.

Read the ACFE Code of Ethics
All members of the ACFE are expected to be of high moral character. When you join the ACFE as an Associate Member, you are asked to agree to the Code of Professional Ethics. You will be asked again when you apply for the CFE Exam. And you must abide by the Code of Professional Ethics throughout your tenure as a CFE.

Still Have Questions?

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