Forensic Accounting and Auditing Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Internal Auditors, Forensic Accountants and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 7 Nov 2026 Course code SD-FFC-001

Before you join: Participants should understand basic accounting records, including general ledgers, invoices, bank reconciliations, financial statements and internal controls.

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

Fraud investigations fail when allegations are poorly scoped, evidence is not preserved, interviews are mishandled or findings cannot be supported by records. Finance, audit, compliance and investigation teams must distinguish error from deception, identify how a scheme operated, quantify exposure and present conclusions that withstand management, legal and regulatory scrutiny. This course addresses financial statement fraud, corruption, asset misappropriation, procurement abuse, payroll fraud, false invoicing and management override.

Participants learn to structure a forensic examination from allegation intake through reporting and remediation. They assess fraud risk using the Fraud Triangle and Fraud Tree, map control weaknesses using COSO, test ledgers and transaction populations, identify anomalous journal entries and payments, preserve documentary and digital evidence, conduct fact-finding interviews and calculate losses. The course also addresses ISA 240 fraud responsibilities, professional scepticism, investigation planning, chain of custody, report writing and communication with legal counsel, audit committees and external auditors.

Teaching combines focused instructor briefings with financial records cases, group analysis, interview simulations, evidence-review tasks and fraud response planning. Cases reflect realistic issues in banks, public bodies, multinationals, NGOs and commercial organisations. Participants leave with a reusable forensic case file structure, fraud risk-control matrix, data-testing plan, evidence matrix, interview plan and investigation report outline. The five-day instructor-led course is available in classrooms in more than 50 cities or live online. Training runs from 08:30 to 16:30, providing about 6.5 contact hours each day, and participants receive a certificate of completion.

The course is suited to professionals who already work with financial records, controls, audits, investigations or compliance matters and need a disciplined method for examining suspected misconduct.

What you will be able to do

  • Assess allegations using predication criteria, fraud schemes and defined examination objectives
  • Map fraud risks and control gaps using COSO and risk-control matrices
  • Perform financial statement and transaction analysis to identify fraud indicators
  • Apply Benford's Law, duplicate testing and relational analysis to financial data
  • Preserve documentary and digital evidence using chain-of-custody procedures
  • Conduct fact-finding interviews using the PEACE interview model
  • Plan forensic investigations with hypotheses, timelines, loss calculations and case logs
  • Draft evidence-based forensic reports with findings, limitations and remediation actions

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Recognise financial fraud indicators before losses increase
  • Conduct better structured workplace fact-finding interviews
  • Analyse suspicious transactions using repeatable forensic tests
  • Prepare defensible investigation records and evidence schedules
  • Contribute credibly to audit committees and misconduct investigations

For your organisation

  • Earlier detection of payment, payroll and reporting irregularities
  • Better preserved evidence for disciplinary, civil or criminal action
  • More focused audit testing of fraud-prone transactions and controls
  • Clearer investigation reporting for management, legal counsel and regulators
  • Control remediation linked directly to identified fraud root causes

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can assess a fraud allegation, classify the suspected scheme and define a proportionate examination scope.

  • Fraud Triangle, Fraud Diamond and behavioural red flags in allegation assessment
  • Allegation intake records facts, sources, dates and immediate preservation actions
  • Fraud Tree classification distinguishes corruption, asset misappropriation and financial statement fraud
  • Materiality, opportunity and concealment assessed before defining examination scope
  • Predication thresholds separate reasonable suspicion from unsupported workplace allegations
  • Case objectives align loss determination, disciplinary action, recovery and prosecution

Participants can identify fraud vulnerabilities and map controls to relevant fraud risks.

  • COSO control components mapped to procurement, payroll, revenue and journal entries
  • Segregation-of-duties conflicts identified through process narratives and access matrices
  • Walkthroughs trace transactions from initiation through approval, posting and reconciliation
  • Control overrides tested using exception reports, audit trails and user privileges
  • Risk-control matrices connect fraud schemes, controls, evidence and test procedures
  • Root-cause analysis distinguishes control design failures from operating failures

Participants can identify accounting patterns associated with financial statement manipulation and management override.

  • Horizontal, vertical and ratio analysis identify unusual reporting relationships
  • Revenue recognition tested against contracts, cut-off evidence and subsequent credit notes
  • Journal-entry testing targets management override, round amounts and late postings
  • Related-party transactions traced through registers, ledgers, confirmations and beneficial ownership records
  • Cash, inventory and receivables anomalies reconciled to source documentation
  • Financial statement manipulation schemes linked to incentives, pressures and concealment methods

Participants can select and apply data tests that identify anomalous transactions requiring investigation.

  • Benford's Law screening identifies unexpected first-digit and second-digit distributions
  • Duplicate-payment tests compare suppliers, invoices, amounts, dates and bank accounts
  • Stratification isolates high-value, unusual-timing and threshold-avoiding transactions for review
  • Keyword searches identify split purchases, false descriptions and override language
  • Relational analysis maps links among employees, vendors, addresses and bank details
  • Sampling plans distinguish exploratory testing from statistically supportable audit conclusions

Participants can collect, preserve and document evidence in a manner suitable for internal investigation.

  • Chain-of-custody logs document collection, transfer, storage and access to evidence
  • Digital evidence preservation uses forensic images, hash values and write blockers
  • Document authenticity assessed through metadata, sequence gaps, alterations and source corroboration
  • Working papers distinguish fact, inference, assumption and unresolved contradiction
  • Evidence matrices link allegations, elements, sources, reliability and corroboration
  • Privilege and confidentiality boundaries considered before collecting employee communications

Participants can plan and conduct fair, structured interviews while preserving the reliability of evidence.

  • PEACE interview model structures planning, rapport, account, closure and evaluation
  • Cognitive interviewing obtains detailed accounts without contaminating witness recall
  • Question funnels move from open prompts to specific challenge questions
  • Admission-seeking interviews test explanations against documents, timelines and known facts
  • Deception indicators treated as leads requiring corroboration, never proof
  • Interview notes preserve exact language, demeanour observations and exhibit references

Participants can incorporate fraud considerations into audit planning, testing and communication.

  • ISA 240 responsibilities translated into fraud risk assessment and responses
  • Professional scepticism documented when management explanations conflict with evidence
  • Fraud risk factors assessed at financial statement and assertion levels
  • Unpredictability incorporated into audit procedures, locations, timing and sample selection
  • Management override procedures cover journals, estimates and unusual significant transactions
  • Communication protocols address audit committees, legal counsel and external auditors

Participants can plan a defensible investigation and quantify potential financial loss.

  • Investigation plans define allegations, hypotheses, milestones, roles and decision points
  • Hypothesis testing compares competing explanations before reaching findings
  • Timeline analysis reconstructs transaction sequences, communications and approval events
  • Loss calculations separate actual loss, attempted loss, recovery and consequential costs
  • Asset tracing follows funds through accounts, entities, nominees and property records
  • Case management logs actions, exhibits, deadlines and disclosure obligations

Participants can prepare clear, evidence-based reports for management, legal and governance audiences.

  • Finding statements distinguish substantiated, unsubstantiated and inconclusive allegations
  • Report structures present mandate, methods, facts, analysis, conclusions and limitations
  • Schedules reconcile questioned transactions to ledgers, documents and calculated losses
  • Plain-language writing avoids legal conclusions outside the investigator's authority
  • Visual timelines and link charts make complex evidence intelligible
  • Quality review checks accuracy, attribution, consistency, disclosure and confidentiality

Participants can recommend proportionate response and control remediation actions after an investigation.

  • Incident response plans coordinate containment, evidence preservation, communications and recovery
  • Disciplinary, civil and criminal referral options assessed with legal counsel
  • Control remediation prioritises root causes, residual risk and accountable owners
  • Whistleblowing channels assessed against confidentiality, retaliation safeguards and escalation routes
  • Fraud risk registers assign treatment actions, dates, owners and assurance
  • Personal application plans identify one investigation improvement and one control action

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

What you take back to work

  1. Forensic allegation assessment template
  2. Fraud risk-control matrix
  3. Financial transaction testing plan
  4. Evidence chain-of-custody checklist
  5. PEACE interview planning worksheet
  6. Forensic investigation report outline

Who should attend

  • Internal Auditors — assess fraud risks and design targeted audit responses
  • Forensic Accountants — structure investigations, analyse evidence and report findings
  • Financial Controllers — detect irregular reporting, payment and journal-entry patterns
  • Compliance Managers — investigate misconduct and strengthen fraud response arrangements
  • Risk Managers — connect fraud scenarios to controls, ownership and residual risk
  • Finance Managers — recognise financial crime indicators within accounting operations

Skills and tools covered

Fraud risk assessmentForensic data analysisEvidence preservationInvestigative interviewingLoss quantificationForensic report writing

Tools and standards

ACFE Fraud Tree, COSO Internal Control—Integrated Framework, ISA 240, Benford's Law

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to introduce forensic methods, standards and decision points, followed by guided analysis of financial records and fraud scenarios. Participants work in groups to assess allegations, test transaction patterns, build evidence trails and evaluate control failures. Interview simulations develop questioning, listening and documentation skills. Facilitated discussions examine how findings should be communicated to management, legal counsel and audit committees. Each participant develops an application plan for improving one investigation process and one fraud control area in their work.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should understand basic accounting records, including general ledgers, invoices, bank reconciliations, financial statements and internal controls. Experience in finance, audit, risk, compliance, investigations or operational management is useful because discussions use realistic business records and control processes. Participants should be comfortable reading transaction data and discussing evidence objectively. Prior forensic accounting experience is not required. No legal qualification, programming ability, specialist forensic software or previous interview training is required. The course explains the investigation methods, audit concepts and data-testing techniques used during the programme.

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

You should understand basic accounting records, financial statements and internal controls. Prior forensic accounting, legal or data analytics experience is not required.

Bring a laptop if attending online or if your provider requests one for classroom analysis activities. You may also bring anonymised examples of fraud risks or investigation challenges, subject to your organisation's confidentiality rules.

It is designed for internal auditors, accountants, finance managers, compliance staff, risk professionals and personnel involved in misconduct investigations. It is particularly relevant for people who review transactions, controls or financial reporting.

Internal auditing courses focus broadly on assurance, risk and control evaluation. This course focuses specifically on suspected fraud, including evidence handling, transaction testing, interviews, loss calculations and investigation reporting.

You can use the templates to triage allegations, plan examinations, test suspicious payments and document evidence. The methods also support improvements to fraud risk assessments, audit programmes and control remediation plans.

Each day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 with about 6.5 contact hours. Time is divided between forensic accounting methods, fraud cases, transaction analysis, evidence work, interview simulations, reporting and response 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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