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The purpose of this paper is to develop an insight into the skill sets that forensic accounting practitioners need to possess to succeed in the practice of forensic accounting.

The present paper is based on a literature review.

Forensic accounting education is multi-disciplinary. It encompasses auditing, accounting, statistics, information technology (IT), legal rules and human skills. It is similar to auditing, yet different. Hands-on statistical tools act like an additional equipment for quick delivery of the output when data are large. Proficiency in using IT tools is a must to detect cybercrimes. Human skills are gaining importance because of social engineering attacks. Forensic accountants must be acquainted and updated with the relevant laws. Various investigative skills and knowledge are also essential in forensic accounting.

Forensic accounting education can be developed as a separate discipline for proper regulation of forensic accounting profession. In that case, the need for development of separate forensic accounting standards may arise. This issue needs to be dwelt upon by the academia and professional bodies.

The paper will enable the universities/institutes to design the appropriate curricula, assigning due consideration to the required knowledge and skill sets in forensic accounting education.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the association between three corporate governance (CG) idiosyncrasies, namely audit committee characteristics, external audit quality (AQ), board diversity and firm performance (FP) in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) nations.

The study used a sample of 200 listed nonfinancial firms in the SAARC nations from 2012 to 2021. The System Generalized Method of Moment model was applied to the data consisting of 2000 firm-year observations. The Generalized Estimating Equation population-averaged model was also employed for added robustness. The study employed Tobin's Q as the measure of FP.

The findings revealed that amongst the CG variables tested, external AQ exhibited a significantly positive relationship with Tobin's Q. Significant negative influences on FP have been demonstrated by the variables of audit committee meeting and board's independence. Furthermore, gender diversity, CEO duality, audit committee strength and independence failed to record any significant association.

This study is one of the first to investigate the association between CG idiosyncrasies and FP in the SAARC nations. The study findings have important implications for policymakers and regulators in the region.