Training is a control too
The main control frameworks treat training as part of internal control, not as an HR benefit. COSO's 2013 framework makes a commitment to competence one of its 17 principles. The DOJ's Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs asks whether training is tailored to the audience and the company's risks, and how the company has measured whether it worked. The UK Home Office guidance on the failure to prevent fraud offence, published in November 2024, lists communication, including training, among its six principles for reasonable prevention procedures.
A completion record shows attendance. It does not show that the AP clerk will call the vendor back on a known number before changing bank details. We design training so that the evidence it leaves answers that harder question.
Drills test what people do
Payment fraud now arrives by email, phone and video. FinCEN issued an alert on fraud schemes involving deepfake media on 13 November 2024, and in the widely reported 2024 Arup case roughly $25 million was transferred after a deepfake video call. A payment-fraud drill, agreed in advance with leadership, sends AP staff a realistic but fake request, such as a bank-detail change from a lookalike domain, and records whether the callback and dual-release steps happen. No money moves. The point is to find the gap in a rehearsal. Our deepfake payment-verification protocol sets out the procedure a drill tests, and Payment Fraud Defense fixes the process when a drill exposes a weakness.
Budget holders learn the monthly report
Finance for non-finance managers starts with the report each budget holder already receives. A department head learns why an accrual appears for work not yet invoiced, why their purchase-card limit sits where it does, what happens when a contract is signed before a purchase order exists, and what the controller needs from them at month end. The aim is fewer questions during the close, because the people who used to ask them can read the answer themselves.
Boards learn to read the pack
Board financial literacy sessions use your own board pack. Directors work through the statements they already receive, learn where judgment sits in them (revenue recognition, accruals, reserves, related-party balances), and practice the questions that test it. Sessions are built for directors who came from operations, medicine, law or the community rather than finance, and they treat those directors as the capable people they are. For a starting list, see twelve questions boards should ask the CFO.
Member content gets expert review
Fintechs, banks, credit unions, nonprofits and associations often need to explain money to the people they serve: how a payment dispute works, how to spot an account takeover, what a grant budget must show. We write courses, explainers, guides and interactive tools for those audiences. Every piece gets a subject-matter review for accuracy and a separate plain-language edit for clarity, and every date-sensitive figure is recorded with its source so it can be checked again. Because we do not sell financial products, the content stays educational. Details are on the Educational Content Development page.