Public Financial Management Audit Training Course

Course Introduction

The Public Financial Management Audit Training Course provides a comprehensive and practical framework for auditing the systems, processes, controls, and accountability mechanisms through which governments manage public financial resources. The program equips participants with the knowledge and techniques required to assess whether public funds are planned, collected, allocated, spent, recorded, reported, monitored, and safeguarded in accordance with applicable requirements and institutional objectives.

The course examines the complete public financial management cycle, from fiscal planning and budget formulation through budget approval, resource allocation, revenue administration, expenditure execution, procurement, cash management, accounting, financial reporting, and oversight. Participants will learn how to evaluate the effectiveness of controls across each stage and identify weaknesses that may affect fiscal discipline, financial integrity, operational efficiency, transparency, and accountability.

Participants will develop advanced audit skills for assessing budget execution, expenditure controls, revenue collection, payroll, public procurement, grants, transfers, public assets, cash management, debt-related processes, financial reporting, and government-funded programs. The training emphasizes risk-based audit planning, control testing, substantive procedures, analytical review, sampling, data analytics, evidence evaluation, compliance assessment, and root cause analysis.

The program also explores how public financial management audits contribute to good governance and public accountability. Participants will learn how to evaluate authorization, segregation of duties, documentation, reconciliation, financial reporting, oversight, management monitoring, and accountability arrangements while distinguishing control weaknesses from broader systemic issues affecting government financial management.

Digital transformation is changing the way governments collect, manage, disburse, and report public resources. The course therefore addresses integrated financial management systems, electronic procurement, digital payments, automated controls, data analytics, cybersecurity, cloud platforms, artificial intelligence, and data integrity. Participants will examine how these technologies create new assurance opportunities while also introducing emerging risks requiring specialized audit attention.

By completing the program, participants will be better prepared to plan and execute public financial management audits, evaluate financial controls, analyze government financial data, identify accountability weaknesses, communicate significant findings, and monitor corrective actions. The course provides practical approaches for strengthening fiscal discipline, transparency, financial integrity, resource stewardship, and confidence in public financial management systems.

Duration

10 days

Who Should Attend

• Chief audit executives and heads of internal audit functions responsible for public financial management assurance.

• Internal audit directors, managers, supervisors, and senior auditors conducting government financial and compliance audits.

• Public sector internal auditors seeking advanced skills in auditing government financial management systems and processes.

• Government finance directors, chief financial officers, accountants, and financial management professionals.

• Treasury officials and professionals involved in fiscal planning, cash management, budget execution, and government financial operations.

• Budget officers and public expenditure management professionals responsible for planning, allocation, monitoring, and reporting of public resources.

• Revenue administration and tax management professionals involved in public revenue collection, recording, reconciliation, and assurance.

• Procurement and supply chain professionals responsible for public procurement, contracts, payments, and supplier accountability.

• Risk management and compliance professionals assessing financial, operational, regulatory, and accountability risks.

• External audit and supreme audit institution liaison professionals coordinating public financial management assurance activities.

• Anti-fraud, ethics, investigations, and integrity professionals addressing risks involving public financial resources.

• Audit committee, governance, and oversight professionals responsible for financial accountability and assurance.

• Information technology and cybersecurity professionals supporting government financial management systems and digital assurance.

• Monitoring, evaluation, and performance professionals assessing public expenditure, programs, projects, and financial outcomes.

Course Objectives

• Develop advanced knowledge of public financial management systems and apply structured audit approaches to assess financial governance, controls, accountability, and resource stewardship.

• Understand the complete public financial management cycle and identify key audit risks across planning, budgeting, revenue, expenditure, procurement, accounting, reporting, and oversight.

• Apply risk-based audit planning techniques to prioritize public financial management risks according to financial significance, control weaknesses, compliance requirements, and organizational objectives.

• Evaluate government budget formulation, allocation, execution, monitoring, and reporting processes to determine whether fiscal resources are managed effectively and appropriately.

• Assess revenue management processes and identify risks involving revenue leakage, inaccurate assessments, weak collection, unauthorized adjustments, incomplete recording, and poor reconciliation.

• Examine public expenditure controls to determine whether government spending is properly authorized, supported, accurately recorded, appropriately classified, and aligned with approved budgets.

• Evaluate public procurement and contract management processes for compliance, transparency, value for money, competition, supplier accountability, and effective expenditure control.

• Apply financial audit procedures, control testing, substantive testing, analytical review, sampling, reconciliation, and data analysis to obtain sufficient and reliable audit evidence.

• Assess government financial reporting processes and identify weaknesses affecting completeness, accuracy, timeliness, classification, reliability, transparency, and accountability of financial information.

• Identify fraud, corruption, financial misconduct, management override, control circumvention, and other threats to public financial integrity using professional skepticism and analytical techniques.

• Apply technology-enabled auditing methods to integrated financial management systems, digital transactions, automated controls, electronic procurement, data analytics, and emerging digital risks.

• Develop practical recommendations and follow-up approaches that strengthen public financial management, fiscal discipline, transparency, internal controls, accountability, and continuous improvement.

Comprehensive Course Outline

Module 1: Foundations of Public Financial Management and Audit

• Understanding the objectives, principles, components, stakeholders, and governance structures of public financial management systems.

• Examining the role of internal audit, external audit, treasury, finance functions, budget authorities, oversight bodies, management, and other assurance providers.

• Understanding the relationship between public financial management, fiscal discipline, resource allocation, operational efficiency, service delivery, transparency, and accountability.

• Identifying key risks and control considerations across the public financial management cycle and establishing an appropriate audit perspective.

Module 2: Public Financial Management Governance and Accountability

• Evaluating governance arrangements governing public financial management, including authority structures, delegated responsibilities, oversight, accountability, and reporting relationships.

• Assessing the effectiveness of financial governance frameworks in supporting transparency, integrity, control, fiscal responsibility, and appropriate stewardship of public resources.

• Examining the responsibilities of accounting officers, finance officials, budget managers, treasury functions, audit committees, and other accountable stakeholders.

• Identifying weaknesses in financial accountability, decision-making, oversight, segregation of responsibilities, escalation, and management monitoring.

Module 3: Fiscal Planning, Budget Formulation and Resource Allocation

• Understanding fiscal planning, medium-term financial frameworks, budget formulation, resource forecasting, prioritization, approval, and allocation processes.

• Auditing budget preparation to assess whether assumptions, estimates, allocations, priorities, supporting information, and approval processes are appropriately controlled.

• Evaluating whether resource allocation aligns with approved objectives, strategic priorities, statutory requirements, program commitments, and available fiscal resources.

• Identifying risks involving unrealistic forecasts, weak prioritization, unauthorized changes, inadequate documentation, poor coordination, and ineffective budget governance.

Module 4: Budget Execution and Expenditure Management

• Auditing budget execution processes covering commitments, obligations, expenditure authorization, payments, budget monitoring, reallocations, and expenditure reporting.

• Assessing whether expenditure is incurred within approved appropriations, delegated authorities, financial policies, and applicable legal and regulatory requirements.

• Evaluating commitment controls, payment authorization, expenditure classification, supporting documentation, reconciliations, and controls against unauthorized spending.

• Analyzing budget variances, underspending, overspending, delayed execution, recurrent expenditure pressures, and other indicators of ineffective financial management.

Module 5: Public Revenue Management and Collection

• Auditing government revenue processes covering assessment, billing, collection, receipting, banking, accounting, reconciliation, refunds, waivers, and receivables.

• Identifying risks involving revenue leakage, inaccurate assessments, unauthorized exemptions, weak collection procedures, delayed banking, and incomplete recording.

• Applying analytical procedures to identify unusual revenue trends, unexplained variances, abnormal transactions, collection gaps, and potential control weaknesses.

• Evaluating revenue accountability frameworks and developing recommendations to improve collection efficiency, reconciliation, transparency, monitoring, and reporting.

Module 6: Public Procurement and Contract Financial Management

• Assessing procurement planning, tendering, evaluation, approval, contract award, supplier management, payment, contract monitoring, and close-out processes.

• Evaluating procurement controls against applicable legislation, policies, thresholds, delegated authorities, competition requirements, and documentation standards.

• Identifying risks involving conflicts of interest, inadequate competition, procurement splitting, supplier concentration, weak contract management, and inappropriate variations.

• Applying data analytics and risk-based testing to identify unusual supplier activity, duplicate transactions, repeated awards, abnormal pricing, and other procurement risk indicators.

Module 7: Payroll, Cash, Assets and Treasury Controls

• Auditing payroll systems and controls covering employee records, recruitment, salary changes, allowances, deductions, overtime, termination, and payroll reconciliations.

• Evaluating cash management processes involving bank accounts, cash balances, transfers, reconciliations, liquidity management, and authorized disbursement arrangements.

• Assessing controls over government property, equipment, inventory, vehicles, infrastructure, and other public assets throughout their lifecycle.

• Identifying risks involving ghost employees, unauthorized payments, inactive accounts, asset losses, poor records, inadequate verification, and weak safeguarding arrangements.

Module 8: Accounting, Financial Reporting and Reconciliation

• Evaluating accounting processes to determine whether financial transactions are complete, accurate, properly classified, supported, timely, and appropriately recorded.

• Auditing bank, receivables, payables, suspense, control, inventory, payroll, intergovernmental, and other significant account reconciliations.

• Identifying unsupported balances, stale reconciling items, unexplained differences, inaccurate classifications, incomplete records, and unreliable financial information.

• Assessing financial reporting controls and determining whether management information provides an appropriate basis for financial accountability and decision-making.

Module 9: Internal Control Assessment and Audit Testing

• Evaluating control environments, authorization, segregation of duties, documentation, supervision, reconciliations, access management, monitoring, and corrective controls.

• Designing audit procedures to test the design, implementation, and operating effectiveness of key public financial management controls.

• Applying sampling, substantive testing, walkthroughs, inspection, observation, inquiry, reperformance, confirmation, and analytical procedures appropriately.

• Assessing control deficiencies, determining their significance, identifying root causes, and linking weaknesses to financial, operational, compliance, and accountability risks.

Module 10: Fraud, Corruption and Financial Integrity

• Identifying fraud and corruption risks across revenue, expenditure, procurement, payroll, grants, assets, contracts, transfers, and other public financial management processes.

• Evaluating fraud risk assessments, anti-fraud controls, whistleblowing mechanisms, conflict-of-interest arrangements, ethics frameworks, and management monitoring.

• Applying professional skepticism and data analysis to identify unusual transactions, suspicious patterns, management override, collusion indicators, and control circumvention.

• Establishing appropriate escalation and coordination with authorized investigations, legal, ethics, compliance, law-enforcement, and oversight functions.

Module 11: Grants, Transfers, Projects and Program Financial Management

• Auditing grants, subsidies, transfers, development programs, capital projects, donor-funded activities, and other public expenditure programs.

• Evaluating eligibility, authorization, disbursement, utilization, supporting documentation, monitoring, reporting, and reconciliation of government-funded activities.

• Identifying risks involving unsupported expenditure, misuse of funds, weak beneficiary verification, cost overruns, delayed projects, incomplete deliverables, and inadequate oversight.

• Integrating financial and performance audit procedures to assess whether funded programs achieve intended outputs, outcomes, efficiency, and value for money.

Module 12: Financial Management Information Systems and Data Analytics

• Auditing integrated financial management information systems, enterprise platforms, electronic payment systems, digital procurement systems, and automated financial processes.

• Evaluating user access, segregation of system duties, privileged accounts, change management, system interfaces, audit trails, automated controls, and data integrity.

• Applying data analytics to complete transaction populations to identify duplicate payments, unusual amounts, split transactions, inactive suppliers, abnormal timing, and other anomalies.

• Assessing emerging technology risks involving cloud financial systems, artificial intelligence, automation, digital identity, data privacy, cybersecurity, and system dependency.

Module 13: Compliance, Fiscal Rules and Regulatory Assurance

• Evaluating compliance with public finance laws, regulations, budget requirements, procurement rules, financial policies, delegated authorities, and institutional procedures.

• Developing audit criteria from applicable legislation, regulations, approved budgets, policies, contracts, procedures, and financial accountability requirements.

• Distinguishing isolated compliance breaches from systemic weaknesses that could affect financial integrity, fiscal discipline, governance, or public confidence.

• Communicating significant compliance weaknesses through evidence-based findings, root cause analysis, risk assessment, practical recommendations, and appropriate escalation.

Module 14: Audit Findings, Reporting and Governance Communication

• Developing high-quality audit findings that connect criteria, conditions, causes, consequences, financial exposure, control weaknesses, and risk significance.

• Applying root cause analysis to identify systemic weaknesses involving governance, processes, controls, systems, resources, capability, accountability, and organizational culture.

• Preparing clear and objective public financial management audit reports for management, audit committees, treasury stakeholders, oversight bodies, and other authorized audiences.

• Managing disputed findings, incomplete evidence, management disagreements, sensitive financial issues, and requests for changes while preserving professional objectivity and evidence integrity.

Module 15: Follow-Up, Remediation and Continuous Financial Assurance

• Establishing systematic follow-up processes for monitoring implementation of audit recommendations and corrective actions affecting public financial management.

• Validating whether management actions address underlying causes and appropriately reduce financial, control, compliance, governance, and accountability risks.

• Tracking overdue actions, recurring findings, unresolved financial exposures, repeated control failures, and management commitments requiring escalation.

• Integrating continuous auditing, continuous monitoring, data analytics, thematic reviews, assurance mapping, and lessons learned into ongoing public financial management assurance.

Module 16: Emerging PFM Risks and Future-Ready Audit Strategy

• Assessing emerging public financial management risks associated with fiscal pressures, economic uncertainty, climate-related spending, demographic changes, and changing government service delivery models.

• Evaluating financial accountability implications of public-private partnerships, outsourcing, shared services, complex supply chains, digital platforms, and externally funded programs.

• Addressing emerging risks involving digital payments, artificial intelligence, automated transactions, cyber-enabled fraud, synthetic identities, and technology-driven financial manipulation.

• Developing a future-ready public financial management audit strategy integrating risk assessment, data analytics, technology assurance, performance auditing, combined assurance, and continuous improvement.

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.