Excel for Auditing and Fraud Examination Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Internal Auditors, Fraud Examiners and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 16 Nov 2026 Course code SD-A-140

Before you join: Participants should be comfortable working with Excel worksheets, formulas, sorting, filtering and basic tables.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Audit and fraud teams often receive ledger extracts that are too large, inconsistent or poorly documented for manual review. Excel can turn those extracts into defensible audit evidence, but only when data handling, calculations and review trails are controlled. This course addresses common failures: unreconciled populations, formulas that cannot be checked, duplicate-payment tests that miss near matches, and exception lists with no link to criteria or supporting records. Participants learn to move from raw transaction files to focused testing, clearly documented findings and repeatable monitoring routines.

The course covers audit-ready workbook design; Power Query imports and transformations; reconciliation; formula-based control tests; ISA 530 sampling; PivotTables, Power Pivot and analytical review; and fraud-oriented tests including Benford's Law, outlier analysis, duplicates, gaps and related-party indicators. Participants build tests for procure-to-pay, payroll, expense claims, revenue and journal entries. They also learn to assess exceptions against approval limits, three-way-match requirements and segregation-of-duties rules, then record work performed in evidence trails, exception registers and audit finding formats. The emphasis is on tests that another reviewer can rerun, inspect and challenge.

Delivered over five instructor-led days, the course combines short technical briefings with realistic audit and fraud examination cases. Each training day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides about 6.5 contact hours. Participants work through transaction-based analysis, sampling decisions, exception investigation and reporting choices with instructor feedback. They leave with an audit analytics workbook pack containing reusable test structures, sampling documentation, exception registers and an application plan for current assignments. The course is available in classrooms in more than 50 cities or live online, and participants receive a certificate of completion.

What you will be able to do

  • Build audit-ready Excel workpapers with traceable source data and review evidence
  • Transform and reconcile transaction extracts using Power Query and control totals
  • Design formula-based tests for approval, timing, threshold and master-data exceptions
  • Select and document samples using ISA 530 random, systematic and stratified methods
  • Analyse transaction populations with PivotTables, Power Pivot and analytical review procedures
  • Detect fraud indicators using Benford's Law, outlier analysis, duplicate testing and gap analysis
  • Document audit exceptions using evidence trails, finding structures and risk ratings
  • Prepare a repeatable Excel testing plan for audit and fraud examination assignments

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Reusable audit analytics workbook structures
  • Faster transaction population testing
  • Documented fraud indicator analyses
  • Defensible sampling workpapers
  • Clearer audit finding reports

For your organisation

  • More consistent audit testing documentation
  • Earlier detection of payment anomalies
  • Reduced manual transaction review time
  • Stronger evidence for control findings
  • Repeatable monitoring tests for high-risk processes

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can structure controlled Excel workpapers that preserve source data and support reviewer traceability.

  • Audit workpaper structure using source, calculation, output and review sheets
  • File naming, version control and read-only source-data preservation
  • Excel Tables, structured references and defined names for traceable analysis
  • Cell comments, hyperlinks and cross-references supporting audit evidence trails
  • Formula auditing tools: Trace Precedents, Trace Dependents and Evaluate Formula
  • Workbook protection, locked cells and controlled input areas

Participants can prepare complete and reconcilable transaction populations for audit analysis.

  • Importing CSV, text and ledger extracts with Power Query
  • Data types, locale settings and date parsing before analysis
  • Removing blanks, nonprinting characters and inconsistent vendor names
  • Appending monthly extracts and merging master-data tables by keys
  • Reconcile record counts, control totals and hash totals after transformation
  • Document query steps and refresh parameters for repeatable tests

Participants can create transparent Excel tests for common control and transaction exceptions.

  • IF, IFS and SWITCH tests for policy-rule exceptions
  • SUMIFS, COUNTIFS and AVERAGEIFS profiling by entity, approver and period
  • XLOOKUP and INDEX-MATCH comparisons between transactions and master data
  • Date arithmetic identifying late postings, weekend payments and split periods
  • Conditional formatting flagging threshold breaches, duplicates and missing approvals
  • Error handling with IFERROR and data-validation exception categories

Participants can select, document and evaluate audit samples using appropriate sampling methods.

  • ISA 530 concepts: population, sampling unit, risk and tolerable misstatement
  • Random samples generated with RAND, RANK and reproducible seed records
  • Systematic sampling using interval calculations and random-start selection
  • Stratifying high-value items before targeted and representative sample selection
  • Monetary-unit sampling calculations for book-value weighted selections
  • Sample documentation recording population, method, exceptions and projection basis

Participants can summarise large transaction sets and identify unusual trends, concentrations and relationships.

  • PivotTables summarising transactions by vendor, cost centre and month
  • PivotChart trends exposing unexpected movements and concentration patterns
  • Slicers and timelines isolating periods, locations and approval groups
  • Power Pivot data models joining large tables through relationships
  • DAX measures calculating transaction counts, totals and exception rates
  • Analytical review using ratios, trend analysis and reasonableness tests

Participants can apply recognised fraud analytics to prioritise transactions for further examination.

  • ISA 240 fraud-risk factors linked to financial statement assertions
  • Fraud triangle indicators: pressure, opportunity and rationalisation documented systematically
  • Benford's Law first-digit testing and limits of interpretation
  • Relative-size factor analysis for unusually large or small transactions
  • Z-score outlier detection using mean, standard deviation and thresholds
  • Keyword searches identifying vague descriptions, round amounts and suspicious payees

Participants can identify suspicious transaction patterns using targeted Excel tests and matching methods.

  • Exact and fuzzy duplicate detection using CONCAT, COUNTIFS and match scores
  • Sequence testing for missing invoice numbers and duplicate cheque numbers
  • Gap analysis of payment dates, purchase orders and receiving records
  • Split-transaction tests against approval thresholds and procurement limits
  • Three-way match exceptions across purchase orders, receipts and invoices
  • Employee-vendor matching through addresses, bank accounts and tax identifiers

Participants can turn exception tests into controlled monitoring routines for high-risk processes.

  • Segregation-of-duties matrices mapped from user access and approval data
  • Control exception logs classifying design failures and operating failures
  • Testing approval hierarchies against delegated-authority limits and effective dates
  • Continuous monitoring rules scheduled through Power Query refreshes
  • Exception aging analysis prioritising unresolved items by value and risk
  • Root-cause coding distinguishing process gaps, training issues and misconduct

Participants can report Excel-based findings with clear criteria, evidence, ownership and risk context.

  • Exception registers with unique identifiers, owners, status and evidence links
  • Audit finding structure: condition, criteria, cause, effect and recommendation
  • Materiality and risk ratings applied consistently to investigation results
  • Charts designed for management decisions without obscuring transaction detail
  • Review notes, sign-offs and change logs supporting quality assurance
  • Exporting controlled reports to PDF while retaining source-workbook traceability

Participants can plan an Excel-based audit or fraud examination assignment from scope through reporting.

  • Integrated audit test plan connecting objectives, assertions, data and procedures
  • Scoping a fraud examination while preserving neutrality and confidentiality
  • Evidence handling logs recording source, custodian, date and access
  • Investigative leads distinguished from substantiated findings and audit conclusions
  • Action plans assigning test owners, deadlines, review points and escalation
  • Personal application plan selecting reusable tests for current audit assignments

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Audit-ready Excel workpaper template
  2. Power Query data preparation checklist
  3. ISA 530 sampling documentation template
  4. Fraud indicator test library
  5. Audit exception register
  6. Personal audit analytics application plan

Who should attend

  • Internal Auditors — need repeatable tests and defensible Excel workpapers
  • Fraud Examiners — need transaction analysis methods for identifying investigative leads
  • External Auditors — need efficient population testing and sample documentation
  • Compliance Officers — need evidence-based monitoring of policy and approval breaches
  • Financial Controllers — need stronger review of payments, journals and reconciliations
  • Risk Analysts — need practical methods for testing operational and financial data

Skills and tools covered

Audit data analyticsFraud indicator testingExcel audit workpapersTransaction samplingException reportingControl testing

Tools and standards

Microsoft Excel, Power Query, Power Pivot, International Standards on Auditing 240 and 530

How the course runs

Training methodology

The instructor uses short demonstrations to introduce Excel methods, audit requirements and fraud-testing logic, followed by guided work on realistic transaction extracts. Cases cover procure-to-pay, payroll, expense claims, journals and revenue data. Participants practise selecting populations, reconciling totals, building tests, assessing exceptions and documenting findings. Small-group discussions compare testing choices, evidence quality and investigation boundaries. Instructor feedback focuses on formula reliability, reviewability and whether conclusions are supported by the available evidence. The final sessions convert course methods into individual application plans.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should be comfortable working with Excel worksheets, formulas, sorting, filtering and basic tables. Experience reviewing financial transactions, controls, reconciliations or audit evidence is helpful, whether gained in internal audit, finance, compliance, investigation or external audit. Participants should be able to interpret common accounting records such as general ledger extracts, invoices, purchase orders and payroll reports. Prior use of PivotTables is useful but not essential. No programming, VBA, data science qualification, forensic accounting certification or prior Power Query experience is required.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

Participants should already be able to use basic formulas, sort and filter data, and work with worksheets. The course teaches Power Query, PivotTables, sampling methods and fraud tests from an intermediate starting point.

Participants should bring a laptop with a current desktop version of Microsoft Excel, preferably Microsoft 365 or Excel 2021 or later. Training data and course materials are provided; participants should not bring confidential organisational data unless approved by their employer.

The course is designed for internal and external auditors, fraud examiners, compliance staff, controllers and risk analysts who review financial or operational transactions. It is also suitable for finance professionals assigned to control testing or investigation support.

General Excel courses focus on spreadsheet productivity, while financial modelling courses focus on forecasting, valuation and planning models. This course applies Excel specifically to audit evidence, sampling, control testing, fraud indicators, exception investigation and audit reporting.

Participants can adapt the workbook structures and test library to payment, payroll, expense, journal, revenue and procurement reviews. The application plan identifies priority tests, required data fields, review steps and owners for an upcoming assignment.

Each day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and includes about 6.5 contact hours. Time is divided between technical briefings, instructor demonstrations, transaction-based case work, group discussion, review of outputs and application planning.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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