Free ACFE CFE-Investigation Practice Exam with Questions & Answers

The digital forensics section of the Fraud Examiners Manual stresses:

No single forensic tool can recover everything.

Each has strengths and weaknesses.

Therefore, it is best to use a combination of tools during analysis.

Additionally, the examiner must look for both inculpatory and exculpatory evidence, while maintaining data integrity.

This aligns exactly with answer B.

Nonpublic records include banking, tax, credit, phone, credit card, and health care records.

Business entity organisational filings (corporate constitutions, articles of incorporation) are generally public records and can be obtained from the government.

Therefore, reviewing a company’s business filings does not require access to nonpublic records.

The Fraud Examiners Manual states:

“Records obtained from financial institutions are perhaps the single most important financial source available to a fraud examiner for tracing purposes”.

These records reveal deposits, withdrawals, transfers, and are essential in asset tracing.

The Fraud Examiners Manual states:

“The primary concern when analysing digital evidence is to maintain the integrity of the data at all times. Fraud examiners must be careful with computer equipment because a careless investigator might inadvertently alter important evidence”.

Examiners must look for both inculpatory and exculpatory evidence.

The Fraud Examiners Manual defines double-negative questions as those containing two forms of negation in a single clause. They are confusing and “often suggest an answer opposite to the correct one.” The example given is almost identical to the question here:

“Didn’t you suspect that something wasn’t right?”.

Thus, Sylvia’s question is a double-negative question, which should be avoided.

The 2014 International Fraud Examiners Manual provides:

“Fraud examiners can use a correlation analysis to determine the relationships between different variables in raw data… For example, there should be a strong correlation between the independent and dependent variables because there is a direct relationship between them. Hotel costs should increase as the number of days travelled increases.”

CFE Prep – Investigations echoes this:

“Using the correlation analysis function, fraud examiners can determine the relationships between different variables in the raw data. For example… Hotel costs should increase as the number of days travelled increases.”

Thus, the most useful analysis is Correlation analysis.

CFE interviewing guidance distinguishes among open, closed, and leading questions used during the fact-gathering portion of an interview. Closed questions require a precise, specific answer—commonly “yes/no,” but also specifics such as dates, amounts, and times. The question “What year did you start working in the accounting department?” seeks a specific date-like fact (a particular year) rather than inviting a narrative explanation. That is the hallmark of a closed question: it restricts the response to a narrow factual point and does not encourage expansive detail. By contrast, open questions (e.g., “Please describe the procedures to me”) are designed to elicit a broader, more descriptive answer. Leading questions are framed to suggest the answer and are often used to confirm information already known, whereas Quincy’s question does not embed a suggested response—he is simply requesting a specific historical fact. Therefore, under CFE definitions, this question is most accurately classified as closed.

The manual defines:

“Open questions are those worded in a way that makes it difficult for the respondent to answer ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ The typical open question calls for a monologue response and can be answered in several different ways.”

Example given: “Please tell me about your job.”

Allison’s question (“Why did you choose to do business with that vendor?”) invites explanation, not a yes/no response — making it an open question.

The Fraud Examiners Manual stresses that interview notes should be kept separately for each interview, even if the session is electronically recorded, because recordings can fail or be challenged. Verbatim transcripts are not expected, and impressions of guilt should never be included. Best practice is to keep clear, accurate, separate records for every interview .

Textual analytics is used to extract investigative insight from unstructured data—communications and documents that are not stored in standard database fields—such as emails, chats, memos, and other narrative text. CFE investigative guidance explains that textual analysis applies linguistic methods and statistical techniques to identify themes, anomalies, and linkages within large volumes of text. Its purpose is not to determine truthfulness or deception with certainty (Option A), because text analytics cannot reliably “detect lies” in a definitive way. Nor is its primary objective to guarantee discovery of a confession (Option B); admissions can appear, but that is not the defining function of the approach. Option C aligns more with flow-of-funds visualization or link/relationship charting for financial movements rather than analyzing language content. Instead, textual analysis is performed to categorize and structure text so patterns, sentiments, recurring topics, and relationships between people and events become visible—helping examiners prioritize leads, identify risk indicators, and focus investigative testing on communications most indicative of potential fraud.