Review: Advanced Certified AML Specialist - Audit / CAMS-Audit

Edit: Whilst I’m happy to answer questions relating to the CAMS-Audit, please do not ask me for a PDF copy of the CAMS-Audit Study Guide. It is copyrighted material and ACAMS does not allow sharing.

In 2021, due to the COVID-19 global pandemic restricting in-person events or in an effort to broaden access to the certification (I’m not sure which, or both, or neither), ACAMS launched an exam-based version of their advanced audit certification, the Advanced Certified AML Specialist - Audit or CAMS-Audit.

Previously the CAMS-Audit certification involved a 3-day in-person workshop and a white paper in order to achieve the certification. Much to my frustration these workshops - and those for the other in-person advanced certifications - were rarely / never offered in Canada. The associated costs of attending such a workshop in the US made undertaking the certification not possible. So, whatever their motivation, kudos to ACAMS for producing an exam-based version.

I’ve received a number of questions about the certification and my experience preparing for the examination. I’ll try and address each of them and provide other information that I think could be relevant to someone thinking of taking the certification. If I have missed something, or you have any other questions, do reach out to me and I’ll try my best to answer.

I took the CAMS-Audit exam via online proctoring on 23rd September 2021 using version 1.01 of the Study Guide.

What was my motivation for studying and taking a certification related to Risk Management?

As I mentioned in my CAMS-RM and CGSS review, the modern financial crime professional needs a broad set of knowledge and skills above and beyond ‘simply’ Anti-Money Laundering - there is the convergence of AML, Fraud, Cyber, and Sanctions remits into a singular Financial Crime Compliance role.

and if your role is an auditor in AML, this could be an interesting certification straight away!

In addition to this, senior management and those in broader leadership roles will either play the role of AML auditor or, perhaps more commonly, be an AML professional who interacts with internal audit, an external regulatory examiner or, by virtue of their role, is responsible for their organisation’s AML program.

The Advanced CAMS-Audit allows the successful candidate to demonstrate knowledge of Audit (obviously) in financial crime but also key aspects of Governance and Risk Based Approaches.

Having an audit certification of any kind - in addition to work experience - can only serve to benefit your CV and candidature when applying for competitive senior level roles.

Holding the CAMS certification is a pre-requisite for the CAMS-Audit certification.

Having completed the process, I can say I did learn things and that it was a worthwhile experience - but with qualifiers (more below)

What did I learn?

The Advanced CAMS-Audit study guide is approximately 280 pages in length (unlike the CAMS-RM, there are no appendix or practice questions).

There are 3 “Parts” to the study guide. Simply labelled as “Part 1”, “Part 2”, and “Part 3”, it is up to the student to decipher what each part relate to. My recommendation to ACAMS would be to better signpost each part and its role in the study guide. From my reading of the study guide, I viewed them as:

Part 1 - Overview of The Audit Program

1. Process overview

2. Planning, Fieldwork, Reporting stages of an audit

3. AML independent testings and governance

4. Audit considerations

5. Risks and assessments-based audit plan

6. AML regulatory application

Part 2 - Auditing the AML Risk Assessment and other elements of the AML Program - overview and testing

1. Auditing the AML Risk Assessment / Enterprise-Wise Risk Assessment (EWRA)

2. Auditing KYC / CDD

3. Auditing transaction monitoring and transaction screening

Part 3 - Auditing SARs/STRs, training, and communication of the audit results

1. Auditing the SAR and STR process

2. Compliance monitoring, corrective action testing, issue management, and validation

3. Training as an important AML pillar

4. Presenting the results of an AML Audit

Each part has a series of case studies to put the theory into practice.

At 280 pages, the study guide is longer than the CAMS-RM (200 pages) and - much to my appreciation - did not require any studying of material outside of the study guide (this was my issue with the CAMS-RM).

From my exam experience, all the questions came from the study guide material.

I would say that the level of complexity is higher than the CAMS study guide, and much more narrow in scope. The level of difficulty is representative of being an ‘Advanced” certification.

How long did I study?

Over the course of 3 weeks, I read the study guide most evenings.

Being an advanced certification from ACAMS, there was a clear expectation (and requirement) that candidates had completed the original CAMS certification. There was no explanation of basic AML/Financial crime concepts in the CAMS-Audit study guide; it was assumed it was already known.

There isn’t a right or wrong amount of time and everyone will be different. I would recommend, like most certifications, to study over a condensed period of time rather than spreading it out “here and there” over several months.

What was the format of the exam?

The exam consisted of 90 multiple choice questions covering all 3 parts of the study guide. The allowed time for the exam was 175 minutes.

I took just over 120 minutes to complete the questions, re-visit the questions I have marked for review (though in most cases I stuck with my original answer), and review all 90 questions. This isn’t an attempt to brag but simply to demonstrate that 175 minutes should be plenty of time to complete the exam.

I found the multiple choice questions were, on the whole, well presented. There were a few that could have benefited from being clearer - I struggled to understand several of them and unfortunately at the end of exam there is no mention of which questions you passed or failed. Most of the questions I received were scenario-based which involved putting the learning in the study guide into real world context - with the caveat that right answer in the ”real world” might vary depending where you are in the world.

In response to COVID-19, at the time I took the exam ACAMS were offering Online Proctoring from home for many of their certifications through Pearson VUE. Overall the “at-home” option worked well and was quite smooth. There were definitely enough pre-exam checks in place to ensure the security of the exam, and throughout the exam period someone was always watching and listening through my webcam. If I had the option in future, I would choose this option rather than a test centre.

Value added?

For those involved in AML audits (in whatever capacity), and especially senior leaders with responsibility for their AML Program, the CAMS-Audit provides a good level of knowledge on what is required in an AML Audit, how they are conducted, and how they test different aspects of the AML Program.

It is worth noting that the certification, perhaps unsurprisingly, focuses on audits from an AML perspective. Whilst I don’t know the content of the Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) certification, I would assume that the syllabus is more in-depth than the CAMS-Audit when it comes to the auditing profession.

Having said that, if your role is AML or Financial Crime focussed as an auditor or compliance professional who interacts with audit, I would recommend this certification.