Toronto, ON: As the Fall Semester was coming to end in December, 2024, with the assistance of the professorial team, the ACFE-GTA Chapter awarded Chapter Scholarships to three students in the Seneca Polytechnic Fraud Examination and Forensic Accounting (FEA) Graduate Certificate Program. The scholarship provides each student with access to the ACFE Examination Preparation Package and the CFE Examination, including the course materials, the examination fee, and a year’s membership in the ACFE.

Chakshu Verma, CFE, Chapter Director of Mentorship and Engagement, said "On behalf of the ACFE-GTA Chapter Board of Directors and the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, I offer my sincere congratulations to the three winners:

     Patience Afolabi
     Rujan Bajracharya, and
     Arianna Poon

on this significant achievement. We look forward to three new additions to the ranks of the Certified Fraud Examiners profession. The winners will receive their Scholarship Certificates at a ceremony during the first class of the semester at Seneca on Thursday January 9, 2025."

The three winners will have until September 30, 2025 to successfully complete the CFE Exam. Once the winners have demonstrated their two-year professional/work experience requirement, they will receive their CFE credential from the ACFE.

The Chapter would like to express their sincere thanks to Seneca Polytechnic, The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (headquartered in Austin, Texas), Professor & Program Coordinator Cameron McCaw, CFE, Professor Casse'ne Stephens, CFE, Sara Potkonjak, (Chair of the  School of Accounting & Financial Services, Seneca Polytechnic), and Joe Broccolo, CFE (Manager, ACFE Chapter Development).

Each semester, the ACFE-GTA Chapter makes a 3 hour presentation to the FEA students, engaging in a dialogue on combating fraud worldwide, and one how to pursue and advance in a career fighting fraud in the Canada.

Thanks also go out to the CFEs who assisted in the Seneca class presentation; namely, Jordan McManus, CAMS, CFE (former Member of the Chapter Board of Directors), Elodie Goncalves, CFE, (current Member of the Chapter Board of Directors & Director of Membership), and Chakshu Verma, CFE, (current Member of the Chapter Board of Directors and a 2023 Chapter Scholarship Winner).

The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) is the world's largest anti-fraud organization. Together with more than 95,000+ members, the ACFE works to reduce business fraud, and other financial crime worldwide, as well as inspire public confidence in the integrity and objectivity within the profession. By delivering best-in-class training, offering the CFE credential, and fostering a dynamic, global community of anti-fraud professionals, the ACFE is reducing fraud, corruption, and other financial crime worldwide, and assisting the membership in its detection and deterrence.

Serving Central and Southwestern Ontario, including the Greater Toronto Area and the Golden Horseshoe, the ACFE-GTA Chapter supports the mission of the ACFE by (a) delivering accessible, affordable, best-in-class training to Certified Fraud Examiners, (b) fostering a dynamic and interactive local network of anti-fraud professionals, and (c) encouraging the next generation of anti-fraud professionals through outreach programs to local colleges and universities.

Seneca Polytechnic (rebranded in 2023) opened in 1966 as part of a provincial initiative to establish an Ontario-wide network of colleges of applied arts and technology providing career-oriented diploma and certificate courses as well as continuing education programs to Ontario communities. The province was responding to the increasing need for sophisticated applied learning as technology continued to change the nature of work and the provincial economy. General education was considered an important element in post-secondary education and breadth courses continue to be a part of every program. In 2001, the colleges were granted the ability to offer baccalaureate degrees. Seneca is one of five Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning that can offer up to 15 per cent of its program activity at the degree level.

The Fraud Examination and Forensic Accounting (FEA) Graduate Certificate program recognizes the growth in financial crime and budgetary pressures on law enforcement . As such, many organizations,  large and small, rely on their internal resources to prevent, detect, investigate, and quantify fraud. This eight-month graduate certificate program provides students with in-depth knowledge and computer techniques to investigate fraud, financial disputes, and other irregularities in the business world. Upon graduation from this program, students are strongly encouraged to pursue the Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) designation through the ACFE.