Procurement Fraud Prevention Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Procurement Managers, Internal Auditors 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-007

Before you join: Participants should understand the basic procure-to-pay cycle, including requisitions, purchase orders, supplier invoices, approvals and payments.

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

Procurement fraud can arise at every point from demand planning to payment: a tailored specification, undisclosed conflict, bid rotation, fictitious supplier, altered bank account or duplicate invoice. The financial loss is often paired with damaged supplier relationships, failed audits, regulatory exposure and weakened confidence in procurement decisions. Preventing it requires more than policy awareness; staff need to identify risk patterns, test controls, investigate concerns and escalate evidence appropriately.

This five-day course develops practical methods for preventing, detecting and responding to procurement fraud. Participants map procure-to-pay fraud schemes using the ACFE Fraud Tree, build risk-and-control matrices, assess tender and supplier risks, design segregation-of-duties controls and analyse spend data for warning signs. The course also addresses conflicts of interest, collusion indicators, supplier due diligence, evidence handling, investigation planning, reporting and corrective action.

Instruction combines focused briefings with realistic cases involving public tenders, infrastructure contracts, supplier onboarding, emergency purchases and accounts payable anomalies. Participants work with fraud risk registers, control matrices, tender documentation, supplier records and transaction data. They leave with a procurement fraud prevention pack containing reusable templates, a prioritised risk assessment and a 90-day improvement plan suited to their own procurement environment.

The course is suited to procurement, finance, internal audit, compliance, investigations and contract-management professionals who already work with purchasing processes or financial controls. It is relevant to public bodies, banks, NGOs, multinationals and large corporates managing material supplier spend.

What you will be able to do

  • Map procure-to-pay fraud schemes using the ACFE Fraud Tree
  • Build a procurement fraud risk-and-control matrix
  • Assess tender, supplier and payment risks using defined scoring criteria
  • Design preventive and detective controls for key procurement fraud scenarios
  • Identify bid-rigging, conflict-of-interest and supplier due-diligence warning signs
  • Apply spend analytics tests to detect duplicate payments and anomalous transactions
  • Plan an evidence-based procurement fraud investigation and escalation
  • Produce a 90-day procurement fraud control improvement plan

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Recognise procurement fraud indicators before losses become material
  • Produce defensible fraud risk assessments for procurement categories
  • Challenge weak tender, supplier and payment controls with evidence
  • Use transaction tests to prioritise suspicious procurement activity
  • Contribute confidently to investigations, reporting and remediation

For your organisation

  • Reduced exposure to bid rigging, kickbacks, false vendors and duplicate payments
  • Clearer fraud controls across requisition, sourcing, contracting and payment
  • Better supplier screening and bank-detail change verification
  • Earlier detection through targeted spend analytics and exception reporting
  • Stronger audit evidence, incident response and corrective action tracking

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can identify major procurement fraud schemes and locate their points of exposure within the procure-to-pay cycle.

  • Procure-to-pay fraud schemes mapped using the ACFE Fraud Tree
  • Fraud triangle pressures, opportunities and rationalisations assessed against procurement roles
  • Bid rigging, kickbacks, split purchases and false invoicing distinguished
  • Control failures traced from requisition through payment and vendor changes
  • Public-sector tender manipulation compared with private-sector supplier collusion patterns
  • Fraud risk appetite aligned with materiality, authority and escalation thresholds

Participants can produce a prioritised procurement fraud risk assessment with clear ownership and treatment actions.

  • Process maps identify fraud exposure at requisition, tender, award and payment
  • Risk-and-control matrices connect threats, controls, owners and test evidence
  • Likelihood-impact scoring calibrated with velocity, detectability and control maturity
  • Residual-risk ratings documented after control design and operating-effectiveness assessment
  • Heat maps prioritise high-value categories, emergency spend and sole sourcing
  • Risk registers assign treatment actions, deadlines, accountable owners and indicators

Participants can design and assess controls that prevent or detect procurement fraud at key process stages.

  • Segregation-of-duties matrices separate supplier creation, approval, receipt and payment
  • Three-way matching tolerances prevent invoice manipulation and duplicate payment release
  • Delegated authority limits address split orders and retrospective approvals
  • Competitive bidding controls specify exceptions, approvals, documentation and review
  • Change-control workflows govern bank details, master data and contract amendments
  • Control design tests distinguish preventive, detective and corrective measures

Participants can recognise tender manipulation, collusion and conflicts of interest and apply appropriate checks.

  • Conflict-of-interest declarations tested against beneficial ownership and evaluator relationships
  • Bid-rigging indicators include cover bids, rotation, suppression and market allocation
  • Specification tailoring detected through restrictive criteria and supplier-specific language
  • Evaluation audit trails preserve scoring rationale, changes and panel independence
  • Single-source justifications challenged using market testing and exception evidence
  • Debarment, sanctions and related-party checks inform tender eligibility decisions

Participants can apply supplier due diligence and onboarding controls proportionate to fraud risk.

  • Supplier onboarding verifies legal identity, ownership, tax and bank details
  • Beneficial ownership screening identifies undisclosed links to employees and officials
  • Sanctions, adverse-media and debarment searches documented before supplier approval
  • Bank-account change verification uses independent callback and dual authorisation
  • Contract clauses require audit rights, disclosure duties and termination triggers
  • Supplier risk tiers determine review frequency, evidence requirements and monitoring

Participants can apply practical data tests to identify and prioritise procurement fraud indicators.

  • Spend analytics profile vendors, categories, approvers, locations and payment timing
  • Duplicate-payment tests compare invoice numbers, amounts, dates and bank accounts
  • Benford's Law screens invoice populations for unusual leading-digit distributions
  • Outlier analysis flags round-sum invoices, threshold splitting and weekend approvals
  • Network analysis reveals shared addresses, directors, bank accounts and contact details
  • Alert triage records rationale, evidence, disposition and investigative priority

Participants can plan and document a proportionate procurement fraud investigation while protecting evidence.

  • Allegation intake protects confidentiality, retaliation safeguards and initial evidence
  • Investigation plans define scope, hypotheses, sources, roles and decision points
  • Chain-of-custody logs preserve document integrity, access history and admissibility
  • Interview sequencing separates rapport, free narrative, challenge and corroboration
  • PEACE interviewing principles reduce coercion and improve reliable account gathering
  • Investigation files distinguish fact, inference, allegation and unsupported conclusion

Participants can report procurement fraud findings clearly and develop corrective and recovery actions.

  • Evidence-based reports state allegations, methods, findings, losses and limitations
  • Root-cause analysis links incidents to process, control, culture and supervision
  • Loss quantification separates overpayment, avoided loss, recovery and remediation costs
  • Disclosure decisions consider legal counsel, regulators, insurers and contractual duties
  • Corrective action plans specify owners, milestones, verification and closure criteria
  • Recovery options cover supplier offsets, civil claims and disciplinary action

Participants can establish procurement fraud oversight, reporting and assurance arrangements.

  • COSO control components translated into procurement oversight responsibilities
  • Fraud risk indicators reported through dashboards, thresholds and escalation routes
  • Internal audit testing samples approvals, supplier records and exception evidence
  • Management information separates confirmed fraud, allegations, control failures and trends
  • Whistleblowing channels assessed for accessibility, protection, independence and follow-up
  • ISO 37001 controls support anti-bribery policy and due-diligence governance

Participants can prepare a practical 90-day plan to address priority procurement fraud risks and control gaps.

  • Procurement fraud exposure prioritised using risk scores, spend and control gaps
  • 90-day action plans sequence quick fixes, owners, resources and milestones
  • Control improvement cases justify investment through loss scenarios and evidence
  • Monitoring measures define baselines, thresholds, review cadence and accountability
  • Stakeholder briefings tailor findings for procurement, finance, legal and executives
  • Personal escalation protocols identify decisions, contacts, records and deadlines

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

What you take back to work

  1. Procurement fraud risk-and-control matrix
  2. Supplier due-diligence checklist
  3. Tender fraud red-flag checklist
  4. Spend analytics test catalogue
  5. Procurement investigation plan template
  6. 90-day fraud prevention action plan

Who should attend

  • Procurement Managers — strengthen controls over sourcing, tendering and supplier decisions
  • Internal Auditors — test procurement controls and investigate exception patterns
  • Finance Managers — reduce duplicate payments, supplier fraud and approval failures
  • Compliance Officers — manage conflicts, anti-bribery controls and escalation processes
  • Contract Managers — identify fraud risks in supplier performance and contract changes
  • Fraud Investigators — assess procurement allegations and preserve relevant evidence

Skills and tools covered

Fraud risk assessmentProcurement control designSupplier due diligenceSpend analyticsInvestigation planningFraud reporting

Tools and standards

ACFE Fraud Tree, COSO Internal Control—Integrated Framework, ISO 37001 Anti-bribery Management Systems, PEACE Investigative Interviewing Model

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings, guided case analysis, group exercises, procurement-document reviews and fraud-response simulations. Participants assess tender files, supplier records, approval trails and payment data using structured templates. Cases cover bid rigging, conflicts of interest, false invoicing, supplier master-data manipulation and emergency purchasing. Facilitated discussions compare control choices, evidence quality and escalation decisions. Each participant develops an application plan based on priority fraud exposures and control gaps in their own role or organisation.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should understand the basic procure-to-pay cycle, including requisitions, purchase orders, supplier invoices, approvals and payments. Experience in procurement, finance, internal audit, compliance, contract management or investigations is expected. Participants should be comfortable reviewing transactional information and internal control documents. Prior fraud-investigation experience is useful but not required. No specialist data-analysis software, legal qualification, accounting designation or prior knowledge of forensic interviewing is required. The course explains the fraud, control and investigation methods used before applying them.

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 understand basic procurement or accounts-payable processes and have professional experience in a related role. Previous fraud investigation, forensic accounting or data-analysis experience is not required.

Bring examples of non-confidential procurement policies, approval limits, supplier onboarding procedures or control concerns if available. Course materials provide the templates and case information needed for all classroom work.

It is designed for procurement, finance, audit, compliance, contract-management and investigation professionals with responsibility for supplier spend or financial controls. Managers responsible for procurement governance will also benefit.

This course focuses specifically on procurement schemes, tender manipulation, supplier fraud, payment anomalies and procure-to-pay controls. It includes practical risk, control, data-testing and investigation methods rather than general awareness content.

Participants can use the risk matrix, due-diligence checklist, analytics tests and action-plan template immediately after the course. These materials support control reviews, supplier assessments, audit planning and fraud-response decisions.

The five days contain approximately 32.5 contact hours, normally delivered from 08:30 to 16:30 each day. Time is allocated across ten modules covering fraud risks, controls, tendering, suppliers, analytics, investigations, reporting and improvement 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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