Part of the expanding PassProfessor catalog: The Certified Fraud Examiner examination from ACFE is the new three-section examination launched on June 2, 2026: 310 multiple-choice questions in three separate closed-book sittings through Prometric, requiring ≥75% in each of the three sections. PassProfessor’s CFE program follows the June 2026 Candidate Handbook outline across its 44 content domains, weighted to ACFE’s published per-domain question counts, with 1,500 original practice questions and an explanation for every question.
The CFE is the flagship credential of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners — and the examination most candidates are studying for no longer exists. ACFE replaced its old four-section exam with a new three-section exam on June 2, 2026, following its 2024 job analysis study, and the old exam has been retired. PassProfessor’s Certified Fraud Examiner program is in the works as part of the expanding PassProfessor catalog, built only to the new examination: three sections, 44 content domains, and a passing standard that must be met section by section. It carries 1,500 original practice questions with an explanation for every question.
Which examination is this?
This page covers one credential only: the Certified Fraud Examiner examination from ACFE, in the form that launched on June 2, 2026. It is not the retired four-section examination — Financial Transactions and Fraud Schemes, Law, Investigation, and Fraud Prevention and Deterrence, at 100 questions each — which is no longer available. Candidates who passed sections of the old exam keep those passes for five years under ACFE’s transition rules, and the companion guide explains how old passes map onto the new sections. Everyone preparing now should prepare to the new outline. ACFE alone awards the credential; this program is preparation for its examination.
What will the program cover?
Practice mapped to the published outline, section by section and domain by domain. The program is built on the content outline in ACFE’s June 2026 Candidate Handbook — all 44 domains, weighted to ACFE’s published per-domain question counts — so preparation time lands where the examination puts the emphasis, and results can be read one section at a time, the way the credential itself is decided.
Original questions, written from the outline outward. Every question is an original PassProfessor practice question written to the published domains and current authoritative sources. None is an actual examination item, a recalled item, or another provider’s material. Questions test substance — how a scheme works, which control answers it, what the law requires in a situation — never recall of a statute’s section number.
Each scheme learned three ways. Section 1 domains pair every scheme’s mechanics with its prevention and detection measures, and the practice follows that pairing: how the scheme works, which control prevents it, and which red flag or analysis detects it.
An honest structure note. The real examination is three separate closed-book sittings, taken on separate occasions through Prometric. This program’s timed simulation is a single combined practice run at exactly half the real examination’s scale — 155 questions in 195 minutes — and this page says so plainly. The three section drills, one per section, are where readiness against ACFE’s per-section standard is judged.
The real exam at a glance
| Fact of record | Detail |
|---|---|
| Credential | Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) |
| Certifying body | ACFE (Association of Certified Fraud Examiners) |
| Current examination | The new three-section examination launched June 2, 2026; the old four-section examination is retired and no longer available |
| Format | Three sections, each a separate closed-book, closed-notes timed examination of multiple-choice questions: Fraud Schemes and Financial Crimes (120 questions, 2.5 hours), Fraud Investigations and Legal Issues (120 questions, 2.5 hours), and Fraud Prevention and Deterrence (70 questions, 1.5 hours) — 310 questions and 6.5 hours in total, taken as separate sittings |
| Delivery | Computer-based through Prometric, at test centers or by ProProctor remote proctoring |
| Passing standard | ≥75% in each of the three sections. There is no combined or averaged score; unanswered questions count as incorrect |
| Results | Prometric emails a Score Report Assessment within 24 hours (usually within an hour), with per-domain proficiency benchmarks; ACFE does not disclose which items were answered correctly or incorrectly |
| Retakes | Up to 5 attempts per section; a 30-day waiting period applies after the third attempt; retake fee $110 per failed section |
| Eligibility | ACFE associate membership in good standing, plus 40 eligibility points to sit the exam; certification requires 50 points plus a minimum of 2 years of fraud-related professional experience |
| Exam application fee | $480 per the June 2026 Candidate Handbook — fees are set by ACFE, so confirm the current amount at acfe.com |
| Maintenance | 20 CPE credits per year — at least 10 directly related to fraud detection and deterrence, and 2 in ethics |
How will practice map to the examination?
| Exam section (June 2026 examination) | Real exam | Practice questions | In the simulation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fraud Schemes and Financial Crimes | 120 questions · 2.5 hours | 580 | 60 |
| Fraud Investigations and Legal Issues | 120 questions · 2.5 hours | 580 | 60 |
| Fraud Prevention and Deterrence | 70 questions · 1.5 hours | 340 | 35 |
What does Fraud Schemes and Financial Crimes cover? (120 questions; 580 practice questions)
The schemes section: twenty domains covering how occupational and external fraud is actually committed. Its largest domain is asset misappropriation through fraudulent disbursements at 13 percent — billing schemes, payroll schemes, expense reimbursement schemes, check tampering and register disbursements — followed by procurement fraud at 8 percent and money laundering at 7 percent. Around those anchors sit accounting concepts and financial statement fraud; asset misappropriation of cash receipts, including skimming, cash larceny and unrecorded sales; inventory and other assets; corruption, including bribery, conflicts of interest and economic extortion; theft of data and intellectual property; identity theft; financial institution, securities, payment, insurance, health care, consumer, bankruptcy, tax and government fraud; and cyberfraud. Every domain is examined together with the controls that prevent the scheme and the red flags and analyses that detect it.
How should you prepare for Fraud Schemes and Financial Crimes? Learn each scheme three ways — mechanics, prevention, detection — and give fraudulent disbursements the deepest work, because one domain in eight questions comes from it. Practise recognising the scheme inside a short fact pattern before weighing the options: the credited answer usually turns on which scheme the facts describe, or on which control should have interrupted it.
Do not study schemes as vocabulary. A definition memorised in isolation will not help when the same scheme arrives dressed as a vendor file, a payroll register or a refund queue.
What does Fraud Investigations and Legal Issues cover? (120 questions; 580 practice questions)
The examination section: sixteen domains on running a fraud examination lawfully and proving its findings. The heaviest domains are collecting evidence at 11 percent, interview theory and application at 9 percent, legal issues in conducting investigations at 8 percent and non-criminal actions at 8 percent, with the law related to fraud, basic principles of evidence and criminal prosecutions at 7 percent each. The section spans planning and conducting a fraud examination — including predication, the reason an examination is justified at all — sources of information, data analysis and reporting tools, tracing assets, admission-seeking interviews, covert operations, report writing, an overview of the legal system, and testifying. Legal content tests elements and application: what must be proved, which burden applies, what privilege protects, and how the chain of custody is preserved — never a statute’s section number.
How should you prepare for Fraud Investigations and Legal Issues? Treat this section as applied judgment rather than memorisation. Work scenarios in sequence — predication first, then evidence, then interviews, then the report and the courtroom — and for each situation ask what a careful examiner does next, and what doing it wrongly would cost the case.
Sequence is the skill here: evidence gathered before predication, or an admission sought before the documentary record exists, fails in the scenario exactly as it fails in practice.
What does Fraud Prevention and Deterrence cover? (70 questions; 340 practice questions)
The prevention section: eight domains on stopping fraud before it starts, and the shortest sitting at 70 questions in 1.5 hours — but with the most concentrated weights on the examination. Fraud risk assessment alone is 20 percent of the section, fraud prevention programs 16 percent, ethics for fraud examiners 15 percent and fraud risk management 14 percent, with auditors’ fraud-related responsibilities at 11 percent, understanding financial crime at 10 percent, corporate governance at 8 percent and management’s fraud-related responsibilities at 6 percent. The section draws on durable, well-established research findings about occupational fraud — tips as the most common detection method, and typical duration and loss patterns — and on the distinction between assessing fraud risk and managing it.
How should you prepare for Fraud Prevention and Deterrence? Keep assessment and management separate in your notes: assessing risk means identifying schemes, judging likelihood and impact, and weighing existing controls; managing it means governance, prevention programs, response and monitoring. Ethics scenarios deserve deliberate practice — at 15 percent of the section, they are examined as a discipline, not as common sense.
Because this section is short and concentrated, a weak grasp of risk assessment alone can put a fifth of the section out of reach — drill it first, not last.
How is the CFE exam scored?
ACFE’s standard is ≥75% in each of the three sections, stated exactly that way. Passing is decided section by section: a section below that mark must be retaken even if the other two are strong, because there is no combined or averaged score to carry it, and unanswered questions count as incorrect. Prometric emails the Score Report Assessment within 24 hours — usually within an hour — with per-domain proficiency benchmarks, though ACFE does not disclose which individual items were answered correctly or incorrectly. A failed section may be attempted up to five times in total, a 30-day waiting period applies after the third attempt, and each retake of a failed section costs $110. Passed-section results remain valid for five years from the last passed section for certification purposes.
Who can sit for the CFE, and what does it certify?
You must be an ACFE associate member in good standing, of high moral character, and bound by the ACFE Code of Professional Ethics. ACFE then scores your background on its published points system: 40 points are required to sit the exam, and certification requires 50 points plus a minimum of two years of fraud-related professional experience. Under the June 2026 Handbook, a bachelor’s degree or higher is worth 40 points, an associate degree 20 points, and each completed year of college without a degree 10 points (24 credit hours count as one year); an approved professional certification counts 10 points; and fraud-related experience earns 10 points per two years, up to 50 points at ten years. Two years of fraud-related experience may substitute for each year of academic study. Points and experience can be completed up to five years after passing the last section. ACFE’s points calculator at acfe.com is the authority on your own total. The exam application fee is $480 per the June 2026 Handbook — confirm the current amount at acfe.com. CFEs maintain the credential with 20 CPE credits per year, at least 10 directly related to fraud detection and deterrence and 2 in ethics.
What makes this exam demanding?
Three sittings, three separate standards, and no averaging to hide behind. A candidate can be genuinely strong on fraud schemes and still be stopped by the prevention section’s concentrated risk-assessment weighting, or by the investigation section’s insistence on lawful sequence — predication, evidence integrity, interview method — applied under time pressure. The breadth is the other demand: twenty scheme domains in one section alone, from check tampering to cyberfraud, each examined together with its prevention and detection.
How should you use this page while the program is in the works?
- Join the notify list today. Enrollment is not open yet, and the notify list is how you hear the moment it is. While you wait, read the exam guide — it walks all three sections and all 44 domains, and explains eligibility, scoring and study planning in full.
- Check which exam your materials describe. If a resource is organised around four sections, it describes the retired examination. Align every resource to the June 2026 three-section outline before trusting it.
- Total your points with ACFE’s calculator. Eligibility is ACFE’s determination; run your education, certifications and experience through the official calculator early, so a shortfall against the 40 points needed to sit is found while it can still be repaired.
- When the program opens, survey every section first. Early practice should touch each section, so your first section-by-section picture of yourself is honest — readiness for this credential is three separate judgments, not one.
- Finish section by section. Use the section drills to test each section against ACFE’s standard, and use the combined simulation for pacing and stamina across the full body of knowledge.
Frequently asked questions
How many questions are on the CFE exam, and how long is it? 310 multiple-choice questions in total, taken as three separate closed-book sittings through Prometric: Fraud Schemes and Financial Crimes (120 questions, 2.5 hours), Fraud Investigations and Legal Issues (120 questions, 2.5 hours), and Fraud Prevention and Deterrence (70 questions, 1.5 hours).
What score do I need to pass the CFE exam? ACFE’s standard is ≥75% in each of the three sections. There is no combined or averaged score: a section below that mark must be retaken even if the other two sections are strong, and unanswered questions count as incorrect.
Is this program built to the current CFE exam? Yes. The program follows the new three-section examination that launched on June 2, 2026, and the content outline in ACFE’s June 2026 Candidate Handbook. Material built to the old four-section outline describes a retired exam.
I studied the old four-section exam. Does that material still work? The body of knowledge overlaps, but the structure and weighting changed on June 2, 2026: the old exam’s four sections of 100 questions each were replaced by three sections of 120, 120 and 70 questions under a re-weighted outline. Study to the new outline. Old section passes remain valid for five years under ACFE’s transition rules; the companion guide explains the mapping.
Who is eligible for the CFE? You must be an ACFE associate member in good standing and hold 40 eligibility points to sit the exam. Certification requires 50 points plus a minimum of two years of fraud-related professional experience, which can be completed up to five years after passing the last section. ACFE’s points calculator gives the definitive total for your background.
How is the practice simulation scored? The combined simulation presents 155 questions in 195 minutes — exactly half the real examination’s scale — and reports a 70 percent practice benchmark as a study gauge. That benchmark is a PassProfessor study aid, not ACFE’s standard: ACFE’s standard is ≥75% in each of the three sections, and no single combined score can reproduce a per-section standard. Use the section drills to judge readiness section by section.
What happens if I fail a section? You may attempt a section up to five times; a 30-day waiting period applies after the third attempt, and each retake of a failed section costs $110. Results arrive by email from Prometric within 24 hours, usually within an hour, with per-domain proficiency benchmarks.
Are these ACFE’s actual examination questions? No. Every question in this program is an original PassProfessor practice question written to ACFE’s published June 2026 content outline. None is an actual examination item, a recalled item, or another provider’s material.
Does every practice question include an explanation? Yes. The program carries 1,500 original practice questions with an explanation for every question, including the reasoning behind the scheme mechanics, controls and legal principles the examination tests.
What does the CFE exam cost? The exam application fee is $480 per ACFE’s June 2026 Candidate Handbook, and each retake of a failed section costs $110. Fees are set by ACFE — confirm the current amounts at acfe.com.
How do CFEs maintain the credential? With 20 CPE credits per year — at least 10 directly related to fraud detection and deterrence, and 2 in ethics.
When will enrollment open? The program is in the works as part of the expanding PassProfessor catalog. Join the notify list on this page and we will email you when enrollment opens.
Disclaimer
PassProfessor is an independent exam-preparation provider; this program is not endorsed by, affiliated with or sponsored by ACFE. Certified Fraud Examiner and CFE are marks of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, used on this page as a factual reference to the certifying body’s examination. This program is examination preparation only: examination details on this page are drawn from the sources recorded in the companion guide and are current as of November 2026; ACFE’s official publications govern if anything here differs from them. The credential is awarded by ACFE alone when its requirements are complete; this program confers no certification.