Investigative Skills for Risk Management Training Course

Participants can establish proportionate governance, authority and safeguards for internal investigations.

• Investigation charters defining mandate, authority, reporting lines and decision rights
• Scope statements setting allegations, entities, time periods and exclusions
• Privilege considerations and early engagement with legal counsel
• Confidentiality protocols, need-to-know access and secure case communications
• Data protection principles governing personal data collection and retention
• Whistleblower protection, retaliation risks and welfare considerations
• Escalation thresholds for regulators, law enforcement, insurers and boards

Participants can convert allegations into testable hypotheses and a sequenced investigation plan.

• Allegation decomposition into actors, actions, assets, timing and locations
• Hypothesis testing using competing explanations and disconfirming evidence
• 5W1H questioning framework for defining facts requiring verification
• Evidence maps linking allegations, sources, tests, owners and deadlines
• Chronology analysis identifying gaps, dependencies and critical decision points
• Decision gates for expanding, narrowing, pausing or closing enquiries
• Risk-based resource allocation across high-value and high-harm allegations

Participants can identify, preserve and assess evidence without compromising its integrity.

• Evidence categories: documentary, digital, physical, testimonial and financial records
• Chain-of-custody logs recording collection, transfer, storage and access
• Metadata, version history and provenance when reviewing electronic documents
• Relevance, reliability, corroboration and authenticity tests for each source
• Document holds preventing deletion, alteration or routine records destruction
• Source evaluation using reliability and credibility grading
• Evidence registers recording item identifiers, descriptions, locations and investigative value

Participants can analyse financial and operational data for anomalies requiring further enquiry.

• ACFE Fraud Tree categories linking schemes to financial evidence
• Benford's Law as a screening indicator, not proof of fraud
• Duplicate payment testing using supplier, invoice, amount and date fields
• Related-party indicators across vendor master data, bank accounts and addresses
• Round-sum, threshold-splitting and weekend transaction pattern analysis
• Three-way match exceptions involving purchase orders, receipts and invoices
• Ratio and trend analysis locating unusual movements in expenses and margins

Participants can plan and conduct structured interviews that obtain reliable factual accounts.

• PEACE model: planning, engagement, account, closure and evaluation
• Interview objectives distinguishing information gathering from allegation testing
• Cognitive interviewing techniques supporting detailed witness recall
• Open, probing and challenge questions sequenced without leading
• Rapport, active listening and neutral language during sensitive conversations
• Contemporaneous notes, interview records and participant confirmation procedures
• Deception indicators treated as prompts for corroboration, never conclusive proof

Participants can manage multiple risks, stakeholders and changing facts during sensitive investigations.

• Complexity mapping across people, processes, systems, third parties and jurisdictions
• Stakeholder analysis identifying interests, influence, confidentiality needs and decision authority
• Third-party investigations involving agents, suppliers, distributors and joint ventures
• Cross-border considerations: records access, employment law and local counsel
• Cultural and power dynamics affecting reporting, interviews and retaliation risk
• Parallel proceedings involving audits, grievances, litigation and regulatory enquiries
• Case review meetings testing assumptions, progress, risks and next actions

Participants can distinguish individual misconduct from the control and governance conditions that enabled it.

• 5 Whys analysis tracing incident causes beyond immediate errors
• Fishbone diagrams examining people, process, technology, governance and incentives
• Control design versus operating effectiveness in investigation findings
• Root cause statements supported by evidence rather than assumption
• Fraud risk factors mapped to preventive, detective and corrective controls
• Management override indicators within approvals, journal entries and exceptions
• Control remediation priorities based on likelihood, impact, cost and ownership

Participants can prepare clear, evidence-based findings and recommendations for decision-makers.

• Findings reports separating facts, analysis, conclusions and recommendations
• Allegation matrices linking each claim to supporting and contradictory evidence
• Standards of proof and burden considerations for internal decisions
• Chronologies presenting material events, evidence sources and unresolved gaps
• Executive summaries focused on exposure, findings, actions and decisions required
• Recommendation design assigning owners, deadlines, controls and assurance activities
• Board and committee reporting for sensitive, material or systemic matters

Participants can translate investigation lessons into risk treatment actions and an individual application plan.

• ISO 31000 risk treatment options: avoid, reduce, transfer and accept
• Corrective action plans addressing findings, owners, dates and verification
• Lessons-learned reviews identifying recurring schemes and weak signals
• Case closure criteria covering evidence, decisions, records and communications
• Post-investigation monitoring testing whether remediation remains effective
• Personal application plan selecting one investigation process improvement
• Professional boundaries for referring specialist forensic, legal or digital work