Global Learning for Operational Leaders
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0 sessionsIntroduction
Course overview
Procurement fraud can cause substantial financial losses, disrupt operations, undermine supplier competition, and damage organisational reputation. Fraud risks may arise at any stage of the procurement lifecycle, from supplier registration and tender evaluation to contract award, purchase order processing, goods receipt, invoicing, and payment. Common schemes include bid rigging, conflicts of interest, kickbacks, fictitious suppliers, duplicate invoicing, inflated pricing, and collusion between employees and external parties.
Preventing and detecting procurement fraud requires more than traditional purchasing controls. Organisations need an integrated approach combining fraud risk assessment, effective procurement governance, supplier due diligence, transaction analytics, internal controls, whistleblowing arrangements, and structured investigation procedures.
The Procurement Fraud: Prevention, Detection and Investigation course equips procurement, audit, compliance, finance, and risk management professionals with practical methods for identifying procurement fraud vulnerabilities, recognising suspicious activities, evaluating control weaknesses, and investigating potential misconduct.
Participants explore fraud schemes across the procurement-to-pay cycle, preventive and detective controls, data-driven fraud detection, forensic investigation techniques, evidence management, and fraud response procedures. The programme emphasises ethical decision-making, procedural fairness, confidentiality, and the development of sustainable procurement fraud risk management frameworks.
Professional Problems This Course Is Designed to Solve
Undetected procurement fraud schemes: Recognising fraud indicators involving supplier collusion, bid manipulation, kickbacks, false invoices, and unauthorised purchasing activities.
Weak supplier onboarding and due diligence: Strengthening supplier verification, beneficial ownership checks, conflict-of-interest declarations, and vendor master data controls.
Manipulated tendering and contract awards: Identifying suspicious bidding patterns, restrictive specifications, unjustified sole-source awards, and irregular evaluation decisions.
Fraudulent invoices and payments: Detecting duplicate payments, fictitious suppliers, inflated invoices, payment diversion, and discrepancies between purchase orders, receipts, and invoices.
Inadequate segregation of duties: Evaluating incompatible purchasing, approval, receiving, supplier maintenance, and payment responsibilities that create opportunities for fraud.
Limited fraud detection capabilities: Applying procurement data analytics, exception reporting, and continuous monitoring to identify unusual transactions and high-risk suppliers.
Poor investigation and incident response: Establishing structured procedures for allegation assessment, evidence preservation, interviews, reporting, corrective actions, and appropriate escalation.
What you will achieve
Learning objectives
- Identify common procurement fraud schemes and their underlying risk factors
- Assess fraud exposure across the procurement and purchase-to-pay lifecycle
- Recognise warning signs of supplier collusion, conflicts of interest, and bid manipulation
- Evaluate supplier due diligence and vendor master data controls
- Design preventive and detective controls for high-risk procurement activities
- Apply transaction analytics to identify suspicious purchasing and payment patterns
- Assess segregation of duties and approval control weaknesses
- Develop fraud risk indicators and continuous monitoring procedures
Who should attend
Target audience
- This course is suitable for:
- Procurement and purchasing managers
- Internal auditors and audit managers
- Fraud risk management and investigation professionals
- Compliance and ethics officers
- Governance, risk, and internal control specialists
- Financial controllers and accounts payable managers
- Contract management and supplier relationship professionals
Methodology
Learning approach
- The programme combines instructor-led discussions, procurement fraud case studies, fraud risk assessment exercises, internal control evaluations, transaction analytics workshops, and simulated investigation activities.
- Participants examine realistic procurement records, supplier profiles, tender documentation, purchase orders, invoices, payment information, and control exceptions. Practical exercises focus on identifying fraud indicators, evaluating evidence, documenting findings, and recommending preventive and corrective actions.
- Investigation activities are presented within appropriate legal, organisational, and professional boundaries, with emphasis on confidentiality, evidence integrity, and fair treatment of individuals involved.
Complete course outline
Five focused days of learning and application
The timings provided are estimates and may vary depending on the number of participants and the discussions taking place during the sessions. They are indicative only and do not constitute a binding commitment.
Day 1
Procurement Fraud Risks, Schemes and Vulnerabilities
- Understanding procurement fraud, occupational fraud, corruption, and misconduct within public and private sector purchasing environments
- Mapping fraud exposure across procurement planning, supplier registration, sourcing, tender evaluation, contract award, receiving, invoicing, and payment
- Examining common schemes including bid rigging, bid rotation, kickbacks, bribery, undisclosed conflicts of interest, and procurement collusion
- Identifying fraudulent supplier arrangements, fictitious vendors, inflated pricing, false invoicing, and unauthorised purchasing transactions
- Coffee break
- Identifying fraudulent supplier arrangements, fictitious vendors, inflated pricing, false invoicing, and unauthorised purchasing transactions (continued)
- Applying fraud risk assessment methods to evaluate incentives, opportunities, control weaknesses, and potential financial or operational consequences
- Practical workshop: Developing a procurement fraud risk register identifying high-risk activities, fraud scenarios, existing controls, and required mitigation measures
Day 2
Procurement Fraud Prevention and Internal Control Design
- Establishing procurement governance arrangements covering purchasing policies, delegated authority, ethical conduct, transparency, and management accountability
- Strengthening supplier onboarding through identity verification, ownership checks, conflict-of-interest screening, and vendor master data controls
- Designing preventive controls for tender specifications, competitive bidding, supplier evaluation, contract approval, and sole-source procurement
- Coffee break
- Designing preventive controls for tender specifications, competitive bidding, supplier evaluation, contract approval, and sole-source procurement (continued)
- Evaluating segregation of duties across requisitioning, purchasing, supplier maintenance, goods receipt, invoice processing, and payment authorisation
- Applying purchase order controls, three-way matching, approval workflows, supplier bank detail verification, and exception management
- Practical exercise: Evaluating a procurement control framework and redesigning weak controls to reduce fraud opportunities
Day 3
Procurement Fraud Detection and Data Analytics
- Identifying procurement fraud red flags through unusual pricing, repeated contract awards, split purchases, abnormal bidding behaviour, and supplier concentration
- Analysing vendor master data for duplicate suppliers, shared addresses, inconsistent bank details, and unusual supplier changes
- Applying transaction testing to detect duplicate invoices, repeated payment amounts, purchase order splitting, and payments outside approved purchasing procedures
- Examining tender and contract award data for suspicious patterns, irregular bid evaluations, and potential supplier collusion indicators
- Coffee break
- Examining tender and contract award data for suspicious patterns, irregular bid evaluations, and potential supplier collusion indicators (continued)
- Using Excel, Power Query, and data analytics techniques to develop exception reports and fraud risk monitoring indicators
- Practical workshop: Analysing procurement and accounts payable datasets to identify suspicious transactions, prioritise exceptions, and determine further verification requirements
Day 4
Procurement Fraud Investigation and Evidence Management
- Establishing investigation intake and preliminary assessment procedures for allegations, whistleblower reports, audit findings, and transaction anomalies
- Developing an investigation plan covering allegations, objectives, scope, relevant records, potential witnesses, responsibilities, and escalation requirements
- Collecting and preserving procurement documentation, tender records, contracts, invoices, communications, system logs, and electronic evidence
- Coffee break
- Collecting and preserving procurement documentation, tender records, contracts, invoices, communications, system logs, and electronic evidence (continued)
- Conducting document reviews, transaction tracing, supplier relationship analysis, and financial reconciliation procedures
- Applying appropriate interview planning, confidentiality safeguards, evidence evaluation, and procedural fairness throughout investigations
- Investigation simulation: Examining a suspected procurement fraud case, evaluating available evidence, identifying unresolved questions, and preparing preliminary findings
Day 5
Fraud Response, Reporting and Continuous Procurement Fraud Risk Management
- Preparing objective fraud investigation reports that distinguish established facts, supporting evidence, unresolved matters, and professional conclusions
- Understanding internal escalation procedures, legal consultation, disciplinary considerations, regulatory reporting obligations, and recovery options where applicable
- Conducting root-cause analysis to identify governance failures, control deficiencies, management oversight weaknesses, and process vulnerabilities
- Establishing continuous procurement fraud monitoring through exception reporting, risk indicators, supplier reviews, and targeted internal audit procedures
- Coffee break
- Establishing continuous procurement fraud monitoring through exception reporting, risk indicators, supplier reviews, and targeted internal audit procedures (continued)
- Developing fraud awareness initiatives, reporting channels, management responsibilities, and periodic fraud risk assessment programmes
- Capstone exercise: Developing a Procurement Fraud Prevention, Detection and Investigation Framework covering fraud risk assessment, preventive controls, analytical monitoring, investigation protocols, reporting arrangements, and corrective action priorities
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
What does Procurement Fraud: Prevention, Detection and Investigation (PSCM-024) cover?
This course covers Procurement and Supply Chain Management through a structured five-day outline focused on practical application, discussion, and implementation planning.
When is the next available session?
The course schedule and fee are available on request. Contact Aractech for current availability and a quotation.
Who should attend this course?
This course is suitable for:, Procurement and purchasing managers, Internal auditors and audit managers
Is bilingual course delivery available?
Yes. All course materials and presentations are provided in English, while bilingual explanation and discussion support may be available depending on the selected location and trainer availability. For example, when attending a course in Istanbul, you may request a Turkish-speaking trainer to explain the English course content in Turkish. Arabic explanation support may also be requested at this location. Other languages are available in selected cities. You can choose your preferred language support as an optional preference during registration.
How can I register for a session?
Use any Register button next to the available course dates to open the participant registration page and submit your booking request for the selected session.
Is this course available online as well as classroom-based?
The schedule and fee, including any available delivery options, are available on request. Contact Aractech for details.
Where are classroom sessions delivered?
Classroom venues are confirmed in the schedule panel for each published session.
How long is the training programme?
The programme runs for five days, with up to five training hours per day, from 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM. Each programme includes a total of 25 training hours.
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