Teesside teams up with Capita

The University of Teesside has teamed up with Capita PLC to offer a new part-time course in Corporate Fraud Investigation.  The one-year University certificate, entitled Corporate Fraud Investigator, starts in October.  It is ideal for staff who work in fraud investigation in a corporate environment, or who wish to do so.

Inspiration for the course came from Les Dobie, a Training & Development Manager for Capita Investigation Services, part of Capita PLC, a FTSE 100 company.  Capita Investigation Services supply end-to-end fraud management services to the commercial and public sectors.

Les is responsible for the technical quality of service and the professional development of all investigations staff. He enrolled on the University’s Certificate in Fraud Management to increase his own professional knowledge and transfer it to the workplace.  Les said: “I increased my general fraud knowledge and gained a much greater awareness of the ethical dimension of fraud investigation. As a consequence, I have been able to develop with the University an in depth, ethically based Fraud Investigator course unique to my business sector.  The programme is being recognised by Capita's existing and potential customers as market leading.”

The year-long course is made up of two modules:

• Corporate Fraud Investigations
• Corporate Fraud Investigation Management.

Fred Hutchinson, Principal Lecturer in Accounting and Subject Group Leader for Fraud Programmes said: “The Certificate was devised to train staff in the various disciplines and procedures of fraud investigation to meet the competency and regulatory requirements of the Financial Services Authority.  It will be attractive to team leaders from banks, building societies, insurance companies and the security industry.  Students will look at how fraud relates to the economy and methods to investigate fraud, such as legislation.  Capita is a large UK organisation which has never worked with a university in this way before so this is a prestigious partnership.”

The course is a mixture of classroom and distance learning and is also accredited by the Counter Fraud Professional Accreditation Board. Qualified individuals will be able to use the formal title of Accredited Counter Fraud Specialist.  This will enable them to work as a fraud investigator in the private investigator sector, the public sector and the regulated financial services sector.  The course also provides a progression route to higher level fraud and economic crime management courses at the University.  For more details call 01642 342807, e-mail tbspg@tees.ac.uk, or check the University’s web site at www.tees.ac.uk

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