Internal Compliance Investigations Training Course

Participants can establish investigation governance that protects independence, confidentiality and legal interests.

• Investigation charters defining mandate, independence, reporting line and resources
• Legal privilege protocols agreed with counsel before substantive fact gathering
• Conflict checks for investigators, decision makers, witnesses and external advisers
• RACI matrix for oversight, approvals, notifications and remedial ownership
• Documenting management direction without compromising investigator independence or impartiality
• Data protection, employment law and cross-border transfer constraints
• Whistleblower confidentiality, anti-retaliation controls and protected disclosure handling

Participants can build a proportionate investigation plan with clear hypotheses, evidence priorities and controls.

• Investigation plan linking allegations, elements, evidence sources and milestones
• Fraud triangle used to frame pressure, opportunity and rationalisation hypotheses
• Proof matrix mapping each allegation to facts, documents and witnesses
• Sequencing enquiries to protect evidence, confidentiality and interview integrity
• Time, cost and resource estimates supported by decision gates
• Risk register covering retaliation, tipping-off, data loss and business disruption
• Communication protocol for need-to-know updates and stakeholder requests

Participants can preserve, register and assess evidence in a manner suitable for internal review and challenge.

• Legal hold notices specifying custodians, repositories, retention suspension and acknowledgements
• Chain-of-custody log recording collection, transfer, storage and access
• Hash values and forensic images used to demonstrate digital evidence integrity
• Collecting paper records, access logs, CCTV and physical exhibits
• Evidence register distinguishing originals, copies, extracts and working papers
• Secure review environments and access permissions for sensitive case material
• Authenticity, relevance, reliability and provenance tests before relying on evidence

Participants can scope and review digital evidence while maintaining proportionality, traceability and data controls.

• Scoping email, chat, shared-drive and mobile-device data sources
• Keyword lists, Boolean search strings and date filters for collection
• Technology-assisted review concepts, including deduplication, threading and near-duplicate detection
• Metadata analysis identifying authorship, timestamps, file paths and deletion activity
• Structured data extraction from ERP, expense, vendor and payment systems
• Preserving personal data while applying proportionality and minimisation principles
• Documenting search decisions for reproducibility, challenge and disclosure

Participants can identify and investigate financial anomalies using targeted tests and transaction analysis.

• Benford's Law, ratio analysis and trend testing for anomaly detection
• Duplicate-payment tests using invoice numbers, amounts, dates and vendor fields
• Related-party screening through ownership records, addresses and bank accounts
• Funds-flow analysis tracing payments through accounts, entities and intermediaries
• Expense claim testing against policy limits, receipts and travel records
• Journal-entry analysis targeting manual postings, period-end entries and unusual users
• Quantifying loss, exposure and potential recovery using defensible assumptions

Participants can plan and conduct structured interviews that obtain reliable information fairly.

• PEACE framework for preparation, engagement, account, closure and evaluation
• Cognitive interviewing techniques for accurate recall without contaminating accounts
• Witness interview plans built from allegation elements and available evidence
• Question funnels moving from open prompts to controlled clarification
• Handling reluctant, vulnerable or represented interviewees within agreed protocols
• Testing accounts against documents without disclosing unnecessary case information
• Contemporaneous notes, interview records and participant corrections preserved securely

Participants can manage people-related risks while maintaining fair and confidential investigation processes.

• Trauma-informed and culturally aware approaches to complainant and witness contact
• Retaliation risk assessments and protective measures following protected disclosures
• Presumption of innocence, procedural fairness and consistent treatment principles
• Separate fact-finding from disciplinary decision-making and sanction recommendations
• Confidentiality limits explained without making assurances investigators cannot keep
• Managing conflicts between employee privacy, disclosure rights and investigation needs
• Support referrals, welfare check-ins and communication boundaries throughout investigations

Participants can reach evidence-based findings and identify the control failures that enabled misconduct.

• Burden and standard of proof applied under internal investigation policies
• Fact chronologies separating established evidence, inference and unresolved questions
• Corroboration analysis weighing consistency, plausibility, motive and documentary support
• Allegation-by-allegation findings using substantiated, unsubstantiated or inconclusive classifications
• Root cause analysis using five whys and control failure mapping
• Distinguishing individual misconduct from process weakness and supervisory failure
• Quality assurance review for accuracy, fairness, completeness and defensibility

Participants can prepare clear investigation reports and brief decision makers on material findings and risks.

• Investigation reports structured around mandate, methodology, facts, findings and recommendations
• Neutral language that separates evidence, analysis, conclusions and management action
• Executive summaries presenting material issues, decisions required and residual risks
• Appendices indexing evidence, interviews, chronology and relevant policies
• Disclosure-ready writing that avoids speculation, advocacy and unsupported assertions
• Oral briefings for boards, audit committees, counsel and senior management
• Record retention schedules for reports, evidence and decision documentation

Participants can close investigations properly and track remedial actions through to verified completion.

• Corrective action plans assigning owners, deadlines, controls and verification measures
• Control remediation mapped to root causes, risks and process owners
• Disciplinary, regulatory and recovery decisions tracked through defined governance
• Lessons-learned reviews identifying policy, training, monitoring and culture actions
• Case closure criteria covering evidence disposition, notifications and records retention
• Post-investigation monitoring indicators testing remediation effectiveness and recurrence risk
• Personal application plan for an active or anticipated investigation