Course Introduction
The Credit Management and Debtor Control Auditing Training Course provides a practical framework for auditing credit management processes, debtor controls, customer risk assessment, receivables administration, collections, and debt recovery. The course enables participants to evaluate whether credit decisions are properly authorized, customer balances are accurately maintained, credit exposures are monitored effectively, and overdue debts are addressed promptly.
The course examines the complete credit and debtor management lifecycle, beginning with customer onboarding, credit assessment, credit limits, payment terms, and account approval. Participants then examine invoicing, receivables monitoring, collections, disputes, settlements, credit holds, impairment, write-offs, recoveries, and reporting. This end-to-end perspective helps auditors identify how weaknesses in credit controls can contribute to bad debts, cash-flow pressure, revenue leakage, and financial losses.
A major component of the training focuses on auditing customer creditworthiness and exposure. Participants learn to evaluate credit applications, financial information, credit scores, payment histories, customer concentration, outstanding balances, guarantees, collateral, and approved credit limits. The course emphasizes testing whether credit decisions are supported by appropriate evidence and whether exceptions, overrides, extensions, and increases in credit exposure receive appropriate independent authorization.
The program also addresses debtor monitoring and collection effectiveness. Participants learn how to analyze aging schedules, overdue accounts, collection performance, customer disputes, promises to pay, settlement arrangements, credit holds, and subsequent receipts. They assess whether collection activities are timely, appropriately escalated, and supported by adequate documentation, while also evaluating the accuracy of bad debt provisions, impairment assessments, write-offs, and recovery records.
Fraud and control-circumvention risks are integrated throughout the course. Participants examine risks involving fictitious customers, unauthorized credit extensions, manipulated customer balances, concealed receipts, lapping, inappropriate credit notes, fraudulent write-offs, preferential customer treatment, collusion, and management override. The training also addresses technology risks associated with ERP platforms, credit-management systems, automated approvals, electronic collections, access controls, cybersecurity, and customer master-data integrity.
Through practical exercises and case studies, participants develop the ability to perform risk-based credit and debtor control audits using walkthroughs, controls testing, substantive procedures, aging analysis, confirmations, reconciliations, data analytics, and transaction tracing. The course enables participants to assess financial exposure, identify root causes, evaluate management responses, and develop practical recommendations that strengthen credit governance, debtor discipline, collection effectiveness, and cash-flow protection.
Duration
5 days
Who Should Attend
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Internal auditors responsible for credit management, debtor controls, accounts receivable, and collection audits.
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External auditors performing audits of receivables, credit exposures, bad debts, and collection processes.
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Credit managers responsible for customer assessment, credit limits, payment terms, and exposure monitoring.
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Finance managers overseeing credit, receivables, collections, and financial control activities.
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Accounts receivable managers responsible for debtor balances, aging, reconciliations, and collections.
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Financial controllers responsible for receivable valuation, impairment, write-offs, and financial reporting.
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Collections managers overseeing overdue accounts, recovery strategies, disputes, and settlement arrangements.
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Revenue assurance professionals monitoring credit-related revenue leakage and customer-account risks.
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Risk managers evaluating customer credit exposure, concentration risk, and debtor-related financial risks.
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Compliance professionals assessing adherence to credit policies, approval requirements, and financial controls.
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Forensic auditors investigating suspicious debtor transactions, unauthorized credit, and receivable manipulation.
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Data analysts supporting customer-risk analytics, aging analysis, collection monitoring, and exception testing.
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ERP and finance systems professionals responsible for customer master data and automated credit controls.
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Audit managers and supervisors reviewing credit-management audit findings and corrective actions.
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Finance and audit professionals seeking practical expertise in credit management and debtor control auditing.
Course Objectives
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Develop a comprehensive understanding of credit management, debtor controls, receivables administration, collections, impairment, and debt recovery processes.
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Evaluate customer onboarding and credit-assessment controls to determine whether credit exposure is supported by reliable information and appropriate authorization.
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Audit credit limits, payment terms, credit overrides, exposure increases, guarantees, collateral, and other controls designed to manage customer risk.
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Apply risk-based procedures to assess the existence, completeness, accuracy, valuation, classification, and recoverability of debtor balances.
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Analyze receivables aging and collection performance to identify overdue, high-risk, disputed, dormant, concentrated, and potentially irrecoverable customer accounts.
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Evaluate collection controls, escalation procedures, credit holds, settlement arrangements, promises to pay, and subsequent receipts as evidence of effective debtor management.
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Assess bad debt provisions, impairment calculations, write-offs, recoveries, and other debtor adjustments for accuracy, authorization, evidence, and financial reporting impact.
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Identify fraud and control-circumvention risks involving fictitious customers, unauthorized credit, concealed receipts, lapping, manipulated balances, and inappropriate write-offs.
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Use data analytics, automation, ERP information, and customer-level monitoring to identify unusual credit exposure, collection exceptions, and emerging debtor risks.
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Prepare professional audit findings and recommendations that address root causes and strengthen credit governance, debtor controls, collection effectiveness, and financial resilience.
Comprehensive Course Outline
Module 1: Credit Management and Debtor Control Audit Fundamentals
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Understanding credit management, debtor control, receivables administration, collections, and their relationship to revenue and cash-flow management.
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Identifying key audit assertions, financial risks, operational risks, and control objectives associated with customer credit and debtor balances.
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Distinguishing credit risk, collection risk, bad debt risk, liquidity exposure, revenue leakage, and receivable valuation issues.
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Establishing a risk-based audit framework for assessing the effectiveness of credit and debtor control processes.
Module 2: Credit Governance, Policies, and Internal Controls
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Evaluating credit policies, customer approval procedures, credit limits, payment terms, escalation thresholds, and delegated authorities.
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Assessing segregation of duties between customer onboarding, credit assessment, sales, billing, collections, account adjustments, and write-off approval.
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Reviewing management reporting over credit exposure, overdue accounts, collection performance, concentration risk, and policy exceptions.
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Assessing control design, implementation, operating effectiveness, monitoring activities, and remediation across the credit-management framework.
Module 3: Customer Assessment and Credit Approval Auditing
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Auditing customer credit applications, financial information, credit reports, references, risk classifications, and supporting documentation.
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Evaluating whether approved credit limits and payment terms are consistent with customer risk, financial capacity, transaction history, and policy requirements.
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Testing new customer approvals, credit-limit changes, temporary extensions, overrides, and exceptional approvals for proper authorization.
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Identifying risks involving incomplete credit assessments, stale information, unauthorized approvals, related parties, and excessive customer exposure.
Module 4: Debtor Master Data and Receivables Controls
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Auditing customer master data for completeness, accuracy, duplicate accounts, inactive customers, unauthorized amendments, and unusual account changes.
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Testing customer account balances, invoices, credit notes, receipts, adjustments, and transaction postings against supporting documentation.
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Evaluating controls over customer statements, account reconciliations, balance confirmations, dispute management, and account maintenance.
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Identifying data-integrity weaknesses that could affect credit exposure, billing accuracy, collection activity, or financial reporting.
Module 5: Receivables Aging and Debtor Exposure Analysis
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Performing detailed aging analysis to identify overdue, severely delinquent, disputed, dormant, concentrated, and high-risk debtor balances.
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Evaluating debtor concentration, exposure against approved limits, payment patterns, credit utilization, and changes in customer risk profiles.
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Investigating aged balances through invoices, correspondence, collection records, customer confirmations, settlement arrangements, and subsequent receipts.
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Assessing whether aging reports are complete, accurate, current, and appropriately used for management decision-making and risk escalation.
Module 6: Collection Management and Recovery Controls
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Evaluating collection procedures, collection targets, escalation processes, customer follow-up, credit holds, and recovery strategies.
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Testing evidence of collection activity, including customer communications, promises to pay, dispute resolution, legal action, and settlement arrangements.
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Assessing controls over cash application, unapplied receipts, customer allocations, collection agencies, and debt recovery services.
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Evaluating the effectiveness of collection performance monitoring and identifying recurring delays, weak escalation, and unresolved debtor issues.
Module 7: Bad Debts, Impairment, Write-Offs, and Recoveries
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Auditing bad debt provisions, impairment assessments, expected loss calculations, and management judgments concerning debtor recoverability.
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Testing write-offs for appropriate criteria, collection history, authorization, supporting evidence, accounting accuracy, and financial reporting treatment.
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Tracing post-write-off recoveries to bank receipts, customer accounts, recovery records, and accounting entries.
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Identifying premature impairment, unsupported write-offs, concealed recoveries, inappropriate reversals, and manipulation of debtor balances.
Module 8: Fraud Risks, Data Analytics, and Technology
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Identifying fraud risks involving fictitious customers, unauthorized credit extensions, concealed receipts, lapping, false disputes, and customer-account manipulation.
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Applying data analytics to identify unusual credit-limit increases, excessive exposure, abnormal aging, repeated adjustments, and suspicious collection patterns.
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Evaluating ERP credit controls, automated approval workflows, customer master-data controls, system interfaces, and system-generated exceptions.
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Assessing cybersecurity, access rights, privileged users, change management, data integrity, artificial intelligence, and emerging technology-related credit risks.
Module 9: Financial Reporting, Audit Evidence, and Control Effectiveness
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Evaluating debtor balances for existence, rights, completeness, accuracy, valuation, classification, cut-off, and recoverability.
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Applying confirmations, subsequent-receipt testing, reconciliations, analytical procedures, document inspection, and transaction testing to obtain audit evidence.
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Assessing the financial impact of overdue debts, impairment, write-offs, unrecorded recoveries, and credit-control failures.
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Documenting audit findings, root causes, financial exposure, management responses, recommendations, and follow-up requirements in quality working papers.
Module 10: Integrated Credit Management and Debtor Control Audit Case Studies
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Performing an end-to-end audit covering customer onboarding, credit approval, credit limits, billing, receivables, collections, impairment, and recovery.
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Applying controls testing, substantive procedures, aging analysis, customer confirmations, reconciliations, and data analytics to identify significant control exceptions.
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Investigating high-risk debtor accounts, evaluating management explanations, quantifying exposure, and determining appropriate audit conclusions.
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Preparing a comprehensive audit report covering findings, root causes, financial risks, recommendations, responsible owners, implementation deadlines, and follow-up procedures.
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.
