Advanced Treasury Operations Audit Training Course

Course Introduction

The Advanced Treasury Operations Audit Training Course provides a comprehensive framework for auditing the activities, controls, systems, governance, and risk-management practices that support modern treasury operations. Treasury functions manage critical financial resources involving cash, liquidity, funding, investments, foreign exchange, interest-rate exposures, market transactions, and banking relationships, making effective independent assurance essential to financial stability and operational resilience.

The course examines the complete treasury transaction lifecycle, from dealing and authorization through confirmation, settlement, accounting, reconciliation, valuation, reporting, and monitoring. Participants will learn how to assess whether treasury transactions are properly initiated, independently authorized, accurately captured, appropriately valued, securely settled, correctly accounted for, and adequately supported by documentation and audit evidence.

Particular attention is given to liquidity and funding operations, including cash forecasting, liquidity buffers, funding concentrations, maturity mismatches, short-term borrowing, interbank transactions, and contingency funding arrangements. Participants will develop audit techniques for assessing liquidity risk controls and determining whether treasury management has reliable information to support funding decisions, liquidity planning, stress testing, and escalation of emerging financial pressures.

The programme also addresses market and financial risks arising from foreign exchange, interest rates, securities, derivatives, investment portfolios, and other treasury activities. Participants will examine valuation processes, limits, market data, hedging activities, collateral, counterparty exposures, model assumptions, and trading controls while developing procedures for identifying unauthorized transactions, limit breaches, valuation anomalies, inappropriate risk-taking, and control deficiencies.

Modern treasury operations increasingly depend on treasury management systems, automated dealing platforms, payment infrastructure, interfaces, cloud technologies, data analytics, and straight-through processing. The course therefore considers technology-related risks, cybersecurity, access controls, system interfaces, automated reconciliations, data integrity, third-party dependencies, artificial intelligence, and continuous monitoring techniques that can influence treasury control effectiveness.

Through practical audit scenarios and an integrated treasury case study, participants will learn how to plan risk-based treasury audits, test controls, analyze transaction populations, investigate exceptions, evaluate financial and operational exposures, and communicate significant findings. The programme is designed to strengthen professional judgment and provide practical methodologies for delivering effective assurance over complex and increasingly technology-enabled treasury operations.

Duration

10 days

Who Should Attend

• Internal auditors responsible for treasury, liquidity, investment, or financial risk audits

• External auditors conducting audits of treasury operations and financial instruments

• Treasury managers and treasury operations professionals

• Chief financial officers and finance professionals overseeing treasury activities

• Liquidity risk managers and funding specialists

• Market risk managers responsible for treasury-related financial exposures

• Investment managers and portfolio oversight professionals

• Bank relationship and cash management professionals

• Financial controllers responsible for treasury accounting and reconciliation

• Risk and compliance professionals supporting treasury governance

• IT auditors reviewing treasury management systems and automated controls

• Corporate finance professionals involved in funding and liquidity management

• Banking professionals responsible for dealing, settlement, and treasury controls

• Audit managers and engagement leaders overseeing financial risk assignments

• Governance, risk, and compliance professionals working with treasury functions

Course Objectives

• Develop advanced knowledge of treasury operations, transaction lifecycles, financial risks, control structures, governance arrangements, and audit methodologies.

• Apply risk-based auditing techniques to treasury activities involving cash management, funding, investments, foreign exchange, interest rates, and financial instruments.

• Evaluate treasury governance frameworks, policies, delegated authorities, risk appetite, segregation of duties, management oversight, and escalation mechanisms.

• Audit treasury transaction initiation, dealing, authorization, confirmation, settlement, accounting, reconciliation, and reporting processes from end to end.

• Assess cash and liquidity management controls, including forecasting, liquidity buffers, funding concentrations, maturity profiles, and contingency funding arrangements.

• Examine foreign exchange and interest-rate risk management processes, including limits, hedging activities, exposure measurement, valuation, and monitoring controls.

• Evaluate investment portfolio controls covering investment mandates, counterparty limits, securities custody, valuation, income recognition, impairment, and portfolio monitoring.

• Assess treasury counterparty risk management, including credit assessments, limits, collateral arrangements, exposure aggregation, and exception escalation.

• Test treasury reconciliations between bank accounts, dealing systems, general ledger records, settlement platforms, custodians, and other supporting systems.

• Evaluate treasury technology controls, including system access, automated workflows, interfaces, data integrity, system changes, cybersecurity, and business continuity arrangements.

• Apply data analytics and continuous auditing techniques to identify unusual transactions, limit breaches, valuation anomalies, duplicate payments, unauthorized activity, and reconciliation exceptions.

• Prepare high-quality treasury audit findings that identify root causes, quantify financial or risk implications, assess control effectiveness, and support practical remediation.

Comprehensive Course Outline

Module 1: Foundations of Advanced Treasury Operations and Auditing

• Treasury operating models, core responsibilities, transaction lifecycles, financial risks, control environments, and the auditor’s role in providing independent assurance.

• Treasury organizational structures covering front office, middle office, back office, finance, risk, compliance, and independent assurance responsibilities.

• Treasury audit risk assessment techniques for identifying material exposures, critical processes, significant controls, complex products, and high-risk transaction populations.

• Development of risk-based treasury audit plans incorporating scoping, materiality, control objectives, audit procedures, evidence requirements, and reporting expectations.

Module 2: Treasury Governance, Policies and Risk Appetite

• Treasury governance frameworks covering board oversight, senior management accountability, treasury committees, delegated authorities, policy requirements, and escalation arrangements.

• Treasury policies governing liquidity, investments, funding, market risk, counterparties, derivatives, foreign exchange, interest rates, and operational controls.

• Risk appetite frameworks, treasury limits, authority matrices, breach management, exception approval, and escalation of significant financial exposures.

• Audit evaluation of treasury governance effectiveness, policy compliance, management information, oversight practices, and unresolved control deficiencies.

Module 3: Treasury Organization, Segregation of Duties and Dealing Controls

• Front-office dealing, middle-office risk control, back-office settlement, finance accounting, and independent assurance responsibilities across the treasury operating model.

• Segregation-of-duties controls designed to prevent unauthorized dealing, settlement manipulation, inappropriate valuation, payment diversion, and concealed trading activity.

• Dealing mandates, transaction authorities, approved instruments, counterparty permissions, trading limits, and controls over employee access to treasury activities.

• Audit testing of organizational responsibilities, user permissions, approval structures, transaction authorities, role conflicts, and management overrides.

Module 4: Cash Management and Treasury Liquidity Operations

• Cash positioning, bank account structures, daily liquidity management, cash concentration, payment scheduling, surplus cash management, and short-term liquidity controls.

• Cash forecasting methodologies, forecast assumptions, forecast-to-actual analysis, data reliability, forecasting errors, and management responses to liquidity variances.

• Liquidity buffers, minimum cash requirements, liquidity gaps, funding concentrations, maturity mismatches, and escalation of potential liquidity stress.

• Audit procedures for bank balances, cash forecasts, liquidity reports, intercompany movements, payment controls, cash concentration, and liquidity management information.

Module 5: Funding, Borrowing and Debt Management Operations

• Short-term and long-term funding activities, borrowing facilities, revolving credit arrangements, debt issuance, refinancing requirements, and treasury funding strategies.

• Funding maturity profiles, refinancing concentrations, interest costs, covenant requirements, lender conditions, and controls over borrowing documentation.

• Debt drawdowns, repayments, interest calculations, fees, covenant monitoring, facility utilization, and reconciliation of borrowing records with accounting systems.

• Audit testing of funding transactions, lender confirmations, debt schedules, authorization controls, covenant monitoring, interest calculations, and refinancing risks.

Module 6: Foreign Exchange Operations and Currency Risk Auditing

• Foreign exchange transaction lifecycles covering trade execution, confirmation, settlement, accounting, valuation, exposure management, and regulatory or management reporting.

• Currency exposure identification, netting, hedging, transaction limits, open positions, currency forecasts, and controls over foreign exchange risk measurement.

• Foreign exchange dealing controls, approved counterparties, pricing information, independent rate verification, transaction confirmations, and settlement procedures.

• Audit analytics for identifying unusual currency transactions, unauthorized trades, pricing anomalies, limit breaches, settlement exceptions, and unexplained foreign exchange movements.

Module 7: Interest Rate Risk and Treasury Market Exposures

• Interest-rate exposure arising from funding, investments, deposits, loans, securities, derivatives, and other treasury positions across different maturity and repricing profiles.

• Interest-rate risk measurement, sensitivity analysis, duration, repricing gaps, limits, hedging strategies, and management reporting over treasury exposures.

• Controls over interest-rate transactions, pricing sources, independent valuation, trade confirmation, settlement, accounting treatment, and risk monitoring.

• Audit procedures for testing interest-rate positions, exposure calculations, assumptions, valuation data, hedge effectiveness information, and compliance with approved limits.

Module 8: Investment Portfolio and Securities Operations

• Treasury investment activities involving government securities, money-market instruments, deposits, bonds, funds, and other approved investment products.

• Investment mandates, portfolio limits, maturity requirements, credit quality criteria, concentration controls, investment approvals, and exception management.

• Securities settlement, custody, income recognition, valuation, impairment assessment, realized and unrealized gains or losses, and portfolio reconciliation.

• Audit testing of investment populations, confirmations, custody records, valuation sources, investment mandates, income calculations, impairment indicators, and portfolio reporting.

Module 9: Treasury Counterparty Credit Risk and Exposure Management

• Counterparty risk assessment for banks, financial institutions, brokers, investment counterparties, derivative counterparties, and other treasury relationships.

• Counterparty limits, exposure calculations, collateral arrangements, netting agreements, credit ratings, concentration monitoring, and limit breach escalation.

• Current and potential future exposures arising from deposits, investments, derivatives, foreign exchange transactions, and unsettled treasury transactions.

• Audit procedures for validating counterparty populations, exposure aggregation, credit assessments, limit utilization, collateral, netting, and exception management.

Module 10: Treasury Settlement, Payments and Reconciliation Controls

• Treasury settlement processes covering payment instructions, confirmations, value dates, settlement accounts, custodians, clearing arrangements, and payment authorization.

• Bank, broker, custodian, dealing-system, subledger, and general-ledger reconciliations supporting accurate recording and settlement of treasury transactions.

• Exception management for failed settlements, unmatched trades, aged reconciling items, payment errors, rejected transactions, and unexplained cash movements.

• Audit testing of settlement evidence, payment approvals, confirmations, reconciliations, exception resolution, segregation of duties, and settlement-risk controls.

Module 11: Treasury Accounting, Valuation and Financial Reporting

• Accounting processes for treasury transactions, including investments, borrowings, foreign exchange positions, derivatives, interest income, fees, gains, losses, and valuation adjustments.

• Fair-value measurement, market data sources, valuation models, independent price verification, valuation adjustments, and controls over complex financial instruments.

• Treasury accounting reconciliations between dealing systems, valuation systems, subledgers, general ledgers, financial statements, and management reporting.

• Audit procedures for testing valuation accuracy, accounting classifications, journal entries, accrued income, unrealized gains and losses, and financial reporting completeness.

Module 12: Treasury Technology, Data Governance and Cybersecurity

• Treasury management systems, dealing platforms, payment applications, market data systems, interfaces, automated workflows, and technology dependencies supporting treasury operations.

• Access management, privileged users, authentication, segregation of duties, system changes, automated controls, audit trails, and cybersecurity risks affecting treasury transactions.

• Data governance over treasury positions, market prices, counterparty information, transaction records, reference data, interfaces, and reporting outputs.

• Audit procedures for technology controls, system configurations, interfaces, data integrity, change management, cybersecurity controls, and resilience of critical treasury applications.

Module 13: Treasury Fraud, Operational Risk and Control Failures

• Treasury fraud risks involving unauthorized trading, fictitious transactions, payment diversion, concealed losses, manipulated valuations, collusion, and inappropriate management overrides.

• Operational risks arising from processing errors, failed settlements, inaccurate confirmations, system outages, data-quality issues, manual spreadsheets, and inadequate segregation of duties.

• Fraud and control analytics using transaction patterns, unusual counterparties, after-hours activity, limit breaches, manual adjustments, duplicate transactions, and unexplained reversals.

• Audit investigation techniques for treasury incidents, including evidence preservation, transaction reconstruction, root-cause analysis, financial impact assessment, and escalation.

Module 14: Treasury Stress Testing, Contingency Planning and Resilience

• Treasury stress testing covering liquidity shocks, funding withdrawals, market movements, currency volatility, interest-rate changes, counterparty failures, and operational disruptions.

• Contingency funding plans, emergency liquidity sources, escalation thresholds, crisis governance, communication arrangements, and management response procedures.

• Business continuity and operational resilience for treasury functions, including critical systems, alternative processes, backup arrangements, recovery objectives, and third-party dependencies.

• Audit evaluation of stress-testing methodologies, scenario assumptions, contingency plans, testing evidence, governance, lessons learned, and remediation of resilience weaknesses.

Module 15: Treasury Data Analytics, Continuous Auditing and Emerging Risks

• Treasury data analytics for transaction populations, cash movements, exposures, valuations, limits, counterparties, reconciliations, and identification of unusual financial activity.

• Continuous auditing techniques for monitoring treasury transactions, liquidity indicators, market exposures, settlement exceptions, access changes, and significant control breaches.

• Emerging treasury risks involving artificial intelligence, algorithmic trading, cloud platforms, real-time payments, digital assets, automated decision systems, and increasingly interconnected financial markets.

• Development of treasury audit dashboards, key risk indicators, automated exception reporting, continuous assurance procedures, and data-driven management recommendations.

Module 16: Integrated Advanced Treasury Operations Audit Case Study

• End-to-end treasury audit planning covering risk assessment, treasury process mapping, significant exposures, audit scope, materiality, controls, testing strategies, and evidence requirements.

• Practical examination of cash, liquidity, funding, foreign exchange, investments, interest-rate exposures, counterparties, settlements, reconciliations, and treasury accounting.

• Integrated analysis of treasury anomalies, limit breaches, valuation differences, unauthorized transactions, reconciliation failures, technology weaknesses, and operational resilience concerns.

• Preparation and presentation of an advanced treasury audit report covering findings, root causes, financial and risk implications, recommendations, management responses, and remediation priorities.

Training Approach

This course will be delivered by our skilled trainers who have vast knowledge and experience as expert professionals in the fields. The course is taught in English and through a mix of theory, practical activities, group discussion and case studies. Course manuals and additional training materials will be provided to the participants upon completion of the training.

Tailor-Made Course

This course can also be tailor-made to meet organization requirement. For further inquiries, please contact us on: Email: training@upskilldevelopment.com Tel: +254 721 331 808

Training Venue 

The training will be held at our Upskill Training Centre. We also offer training for a group (at a discount of 10% to 50%) at requested location all over the world. The Onsite course fee covers the course tuition, training materials, two break refreshments, buffet lunch, airport transfers, Upskill gift package, and guided tour.

Visa application, travel expenses, dinners, accommodation, insurance, and other personal expenses are catered by the participant

Certification

Participants will be issued with Upskill certificate upon completion of this course.

Airport Pickup and Accommodation

Airport pickup and accommodation is arranged upon request. For booking contact our Training Coordinator through Email: training@upskilldevelopment.com, +254 721 331 808

Terms of Payment:

Unless otherwise agreed between the two parties’ payment of the course fee should be done 3 working days before commencement of the training so as to enable us to prepare better.