Cyber Risk Auditing for Finance and Accounting Professionals Training Course

Course Introduction

The Cyber Risk Auditing for Finance and Accounting Professionals Training Course provides finance, accounting, audit, and risk professionals with a practical framework for understanding, assessing, and auditing cybersecurity risks that can affect financial information, accounting systems, payment processes, financial reporting, and business operations. The programme connects cybersecurity principles with financial control, audit, governance, and risk management requirements.

The course examines how cyber threats can affect the integrity, confidentiality, availability, and reliability of accounting and financial information. Participants will explore cyber risks affecting enterprise resource planning systems, accounting applications, banking platforms, payment systems, cloud environments, financial databases, email systems, digital reporting platforms, and third-party technology services, with emphasis on how these risks translate into financial and control consequences.

Participants will develop the ability to perform risk-based cyber audit assessments from a finance and accounting perspective. The programme covers cyber risk identification, control assessment, audit planning, evidence collection, vulnerability evaluation, access reviews, incident analysis, data analytics, and audit reporting. Particular emphasis is placed on helping finance and accounting professionals understand technical cybersecurity risks without requiring them to become cybersecurity engineers.

The programme explores cyber risks across key financial processes, including accounts payable, accounts receivable, payroll, treasury, procurement, financial reporting, general ledger, payment processing, budgeting, and financial consolidation. Participants will learn how cyber incidents, unauthorized access, ransomware, phishing, business email compromise, data manipulation, system outages, and third-party compromises can disrupt financial processes and create financial reporting, fraud, liquidity, compliance, and operational risks.

Emerging cyber risks are also examined, including artificial intelligence-enabled attacks, cloud security, ransomware evolution, identity-based attacks, application programming interface risks, remote access, supply-chain vulnerabilities, automated financial systems, digital payments, and increasingly interconnected technology environments. The course considers the implications of these developments for internal controls, audit evidence, financial data integrity, operational resilience, regulatory compliance, and management oversight.

Through practical case studies, audit scenarios, cyber risk assessments, financial control reviews, data analytics exercises, incident-response scenarios, and audit reporting activities, participants will build practical capabilities for evaluating cybersecurity from a finance and accounting perspective. The programme is designed to strengthen collaboration between finance, accounting, internal audit, IT audit, cybersecurity, risk, compliance, and executive management functions.

Duration

10 days

Who Should Attend

• Finance professionals responsible for protecting financial information and evaluating technology-related financial risks.

• Accountants involved in financial reporting, accounting systems, internal controls, reconciliations, and financial data governance.

• Internal auditors assessing cybersecurity risks affecting financial processes, systems, controls, and reporting.

• External auditors evaluating cyber risks that may affect financial statements, audit evidence, and financial reporting systems.

• IT auditors conducting cybersecurity, technology risk, application control, and information systems audit assignments.

• Financial controllers responsible for accounting controls, financial systems, data integrity, and reporting reliability.

• Risk managers assessing cyber, operational, financial, technology, and third-party risks across financial environments.

• Compliance professionals responsible for cybersecurity-related financial controls, regulatory requirements, and governance obligations.

• Information security professionals seeking stronger understanding of financial processes and accounting control implications.

• Fraud risk professionals investigating cyber-enabled fraud, payment manipulation, account compromise, and unauthorized transactions.

• Treasury professionals responsible for payment security, banking relationships, cash management, and electronic financial transactions.

• Accounting systems and ERP professionals responsible for access, configuration, data integrity, and technology-enabled financial controls.

• Audit managers and supervisors responsible for planning, reviewing, and reporting cyber risk audit assignments.

• Internal control specialists designing, testing, and monitoring technology-enabled controls protecting financial information.

• Finance transformation and governance professionals involved in digitalization, automation, cloud adoption, and financial technology risk management.

Course Objectives

• Develop a practical understanding of cybersecurity concepts and their relationship with financial reporting, accounting systems, internal controls, operational risk, and organizational governance.

• Identify cyber threats that can compromise financial information, accounting records, payment systems, customer data, financial applications, and critical business processes.

• Apply risk-based cyber auditing methodologies to assess the likelihood, impact, control environment, and residual risk associated with cybersecurity threats affecting finance functions.

• Evaluate cybersecurity controls covering access management, authentication, privileged accounts, network security, endpoint protection, data protection, monitoring, and incident response.

• Assess the financial implications of cyber incidents, including fraud, business interruption, data loss, payment disruption, financial misstatement, regulatory exposure, and recovery costs.

• Examine how cyber risks affect key accounting processes such as procure-to-pay, order-to-cash, payroll, treasury, financial close, general ledger, and financial reporting.

• Apply audit analytics and transaction analysis techniques to identify unusual financial activity, unauthorized transactions, suspicious payments, abnormal access, and potential cyber-enabled fraud.

• Evaluate cloud computing, third-party service providers, financial applications, ERP systems, APIs, digital payment platforms, and interconnected systems from a cyber risk audit perspective.

• Assess identity and access management controls, segregation of duties, privileged access, user lifecycle controls, authentication mechanisms, and monitoring procedures within financial environments.

• Examine cybersecurity incident response, business continuity, disaster recovery, and operational resilience capabilities from the perspective of financial and accounting process continuity.

• Evaluate emerging cyber risks associated with artificial intelligence, automation, ransomware, supply-chain attacks, digital payments, remote access, and increasingly interconnected financial technologies.

• Strengthen the ability to communicate cyber risk audit findings to finance and executive stakeholders and develop practical recommendations that improve financial resilience and control effectiveness.

Comprehensive Course Outline

Module 1: Foundations of Cyber Risk Auditing for Finance Professionals

• Understanding cybersecurity fundamentals and their relevance to accounting, financial reporting, treasury, payment systems, internal controls, and business operations.

• Distinguishing cyber threats, vulnerabilities, control weaknesses, incidents, financial risks, operational risks, and broader enterprise technology risks.

• Understanding the roles of finance, accounting, internal audit, IT audit, cybersecurity, risk, compliance, and executive management in cyber risk governance.

• Developing a finance-focused cyber audit approach that connects technical cybersecurity risks with financial, operational, compliance, and reporting consequences.

Module 2: Cyber Risk Governance and Financial Control Frameworks

• Evaluating cybersecurity governance structures, accountability, policies, risk ownership, reporting mechanisms, and management oversight affecting financial environments.

• Applying internal control principles to cybersecurity risks affecting financial systems, accounting information, payment processes, and reporting activities.

• Assessing cyber risk registers, control frameworks, risk appetite, risk treatment plans, assurance activities, and management reporting arrangements.

• Identifying governance weaknesses that may allow cybersecurity risks to remain disconnected from financial risk management and accounting control processes.

Module 3: Cyber Threats Affecting Accounting and Financial Systems

• Examining phishing, ransomware, malware, credential theft, business email compromise, social engineering, insider threats, and financial system attacks.

• Assessing how cyber threats can affect accounting records, financial applications, payment instructions, customer information, and financial reporting processes.

• Evaluating threat intelligence, vulnerability information, incident trends, and cyber risk indicators relevant to finance and accounting environments.

• Developing audit procedures for identifying cyber threat exposure and determining whether financial processes have appropriate preventive and detective controls.

Module 4: Cybersecurity Controls for Financial Information Systems

• Evaluating security controls protecting accounting applications, ERP platforms, financial databases, reporting systems, payment applications, and supporting infrastructure.

• Assessing controls over data encryption, secure configuration, endpoint protection, network security, vulnerability management, and system monitoring.

• Reviewing preventive, detective, and corrective cybersecurity controls and their relationship with financial information integrity and availability.

• Determining whether cybersecurity controls are appropriately designed, implemented, monitored, tested, and supported by reliable audit evidence.

Module 5: Identity, Access Management, and Privileged Financial System Access

• Auditing user provisioning, authentication, authorization, password controls, multi-factor authentication, account review, and employee termination procedures.

• Evaluating privileged access to general ledger, payment, payroll, treasury, ERP, banking, and financial reporting applications.

• Assessing segregation of duties between transaction initiation, approval, processing, reconciliation, payment, journal posting, and financial reporting activities.

• Using access reviews, user activity logs, role analysis, and exception reports to identify excessive, inappropriate, dormant, or unauthorized financial system access.

Module 6: Cyber Risk in Financial Reporting and Accounting Processes

• Assessing cyber risks affecting general ledger, journal entries, financial close, reconciliations, consolidation, reporting, and management information.

• Evaluating the potential for unauthorized modification, deletion, manipulation, or disruption of accounting data and financial reporting processes.

• Examining controls over system-generated reports, accounting data extracts, financial interfaces, reporting databases, and electronically stored audit evidence.

• Developing audit procedures to determine whether cybersecurity controls adequately protect the accuracy, completeness, availability, and integrity of financial information.

Module 7: Cyber Risk in Payments, Treasury, and Banking Operations

• Auditing cyber risks affecting electronic payments, online banking, treasury platforms, payment instructions, bank connectivity, and cash management processes.

• Evaluating controls over payment initiation, authorization, beneficiary management, transaction limits, confirmation, reconciliation, and payment release.

• Identifying risks from business email compromise, payment redirection, account takeover, fraudulent beneficiaries, credential theft, and unauthorized payment activity.

• Applying transaction analytics and control testing to identify unusual payment patterns, suspicious transactions, abnormal access, and potential cyber-enabled financial fraud.

Module 8: Cyber Risk, Fraud, and Financial Crime

• Understanding relationships between cybersecurity weaknesses, fraud opportunities, financial crime, unauthorized transactions, identity compromise, and insider threats.

• Applying data analytics to identify anomalies, unusual user behavior, suspicious transactions, duplicate payments, account changes, and other fraud indicators.

• Evaluating controls supporting fraud detection, transaction monitoring, customer verification, payment screening, and escalation of suspicious financial activity.

• Examining electronic evidence, system logs, transaction histories, access records, and digital audit trails during cyber-enabled financial investigations.

Module 9: Cloud, ERP, and Financial Application Cybersecurity Auditing

• Assessing cybersecurity risks affecting cloud accounting platforms, ERP systems, financial applications, databases, hosted services, and technology infrastructure.

• Evaluating shared responsibility models, cloud configurations, identity controls, encryption, logging, monitoring, backup, and service provider security arrangements.

• Auditing ERP and financial application configurations that may expose accounting information, payment processes, customer data, or sensitive financial functions.

• Assessing technology dependencies, system integrations, application interfaces, and configuration changes that can create cyber risks within financial environments.

Module 10: Third-Party, Supply-Chain, and Technology Dependency Risks

• Evaluating cybersecurity risks arising from outsourced accounting, cloud providers, payment processors, fintech partners, managed service providers, and technology vendors.

• Assessing third-party due diligence, contractual requirements, security obligations, service-level agreements, assurance reports, and ongoing monitoring arrangements.

• Identifying supply-chain risks involving software providers, system integrators, external developers, technology updates, and interconnected financial services.

• Developing audit procedures for determining whether third-party cyber risks are appropriately identified, governed, monitored, reported, and incorporated into financial risk management.

Module 11: Cybersecurity Incident Response and Financial Impact Assessment

• Evaluating incident detection, escalation, containment, investigation, communication, recovery, and post-incident review processes affecting financial systems.

• Assessing how organizations determine the financial consequences of cyber incidents, including fraud losses, business interruption, recovery costs, penalties, and reporting implications.

• Reviewing incident response plans for accounting, treasury, payroll, payment, financial reporting, and other critical finance processes.

• Developing audit procedures for assessing lessons learned, control improvements, root-cause analysis, remediation tracking, and management accountability after cyber incidents.

Module 12: Business Continuity, Disaster Recovery, and Cyber Resilience

• Auditing business continuity and disaster recovery arrangements for accounting, payment, treasury, financial reporting, and other critical financial processes.

• Evaluating backup integrity, recovery procedures, recovery time objectives, recovery point objectives, system redundancy, and alternative processing arrangements.

• Assessing resilience against ransomware, cyber disruption, cloud outages, infrastructure failures, data corruption, and technology service interruptions.

• Testing whether financial functions can maintain essential operations and restore reliable accounting information within defined recovery and resilience requirements.

Module 13: Cyber Risk Analytics and Continuous Financial Control Monitoring

• Applying data analytics to financial and cybersecurity datasets to identify anomalous transactions, unusual access, control exceptions, and emerging cyber indicators.

• Designing continuous monitoring techniques that connect financial transactions, user activity, access events, system logs, and cybersecurity alerts.

• Evaluating dashboards, automated exception reporting, anomaly detection, and continuous control monitoring tools used to support cyber risk assurance.

• Developing practical audit analytics procedures for identifying cyber-enabled financial fraud, control circumvention, unusual activity, and emerging risk patterns.

Module 14: Artificial Intelligence, Automation, and Emerging Cyber Risks

• Assessing cybersecurity risks associated with artificial intelligence, machine learning, generative AI, automated financial processes, and intelligent decision-making systems.

• Evaluating risks involving AI-generated content, automated attacks, deepfakes, synthetic identities, data poisoning, model manipulation, and unauthorized use of financial information.

• Examining cybersecurity implications of robotic process automation, APIs, digital payments, mobile applications, connected devices, and increasingly automated financial systems.

• Developing audit responses to emerging cyber risks while considering governance, human oversight, data quality, model controls, monitoring, and accountability.

Module 15: Cyber Compliance, Privacy, and Financial Regulatory Risk

• Evaluating cybersecurity and data protection controls against applicable laws, regulations, organizational policies, contractual requirements, and financial sector expectations.

• Assessing privacy risks involving customer information, employee data, financial records, payment information, and sensitive accounting documentation.

• Reviewing regulatory reporting, cyber incident notification, compliance monitoring, control attestations, and evidence supporting cybersecurity obligations.

• Identifying compliance weaknesses that could create financial penalties, operational restrictions, customer impacts, reporting issues, or reputational consequences.

Module 16: Advanced Cyber Risk Auditing for Finance and Accounting

• Developing advanced cyber audit programmes that integrate financial audit, IT audit, cybersecurity, fraud risk, compliance, operational resilience, and enterprise risk perspectives.

• Evaluating continuous auditing, automated controls monitoring, threat intelligence, predictive analytics, and technology-enabled assurance approaches for financial environments.

• Addressing emerging issues including ransomware evolution, AI-enabled attacks, cyber supply-chain risks, identity-based threats, cloud concentration, and digital financial ecosystems.

• Building a forward-looking cyber risk audit strategy that strengthens financial resilience, protects accounting information, improves governance, and supports secure digital transformation.

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.