Forensic Accounting 101
Fraud. Embezzlement. Probate. All concerns to a forensic accountant like Stephen Pedneault. And now those things can be interests for his students at the University of Connecticut School of Business in Storrs.
Pedneault, 41, who runs his own firm, Forensic Accounting Services in Glastonbury, has been named adjunct professor at the school and will teach an online forensic accounting class starting with the summer 2008 semester. It’s something that he hopes will help get young people into the field.
“It’s something that I envisioned doing down the road, but UConn came to me last summer and we got started right away,” Pedneault said.
Pedneault, an East Hartford resident, got an associate’s degree in criminal justice from Manchester Community College with plans to work for the FBI. In 1989, he got a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Eastern Connecticut State University and kept his goal to be involved in a federal agency.
That plan almost came to fruition as Pedneault was interviewing at the Hartford office of criminal investigations for the Internal Revenue Service. His college plan came to an abrupt halt, however, when President Reagan combated the federal deficit by freezing federal employee hiring.
Plan two for Pedneault in 1993 was joining Haggett Longobardi, where he stayed until 2005 as a free agent accountant. He then started his own firm.
“It was a huge decision because I always found myself working for bigger organizations,” Pedneault said. “I learned so much I felt I should step out on my own and do the same thing. It felt like graduation.”
Now Pedneault will juggle teaching and running his two-person firm when classes start.
“I have guest lectured at high schools and colleges and actually just got a call for an accounting program at Western New England,” Pedneault said. “It’s exciting to be embarking on this experience with students because I haven’t had to teach or be in a college class for 20 years.”
The course, Foundations of Forensic Accounting, has been the culmination of months of planning. Pedneault hopes that students will be exposed to all the things that forensic accounting entails including learning how to interview, taking notes and reading body language.
“I want students to really enjoy their experiences,” he said. “It would be great if they thought of it not just as a way to get their three credits and move on.”
Along with juggling the responsibilities, Pedneault can be seen volunteering on an ambulance on the weekends.
He can see himself getting more involved in teaching as time goes on.
“I want to teach what I know and to build my firm with younger people who really want to do this and learn it,” he said.
Emily Boisvert is a Hartford Business Journal staff writer.
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