A focused course, tailored for you
Capital Markets Audit for the Generalist
Build and execute credible audit programs across prime brokerage, derivatives, and securities lending without specialised desk experience.
The structured products desk head sent back three edits on your draft audit memo. Two of them correct product mechanics you misread. She knows the ISDA terms better than you do, and you both know it.
$199 one-time
Tailored to your situation. Access within 24 hours. 30-day money-back.
Includes a hand-built implementation playbook delivered alongside course access, generated for your specific situation.
Why this course
A generalist auditor at a securities firm is expected to produce credible findings across six or more business lines, each with its own regulatory regime, product vocabulary, and control logic. The challenge is not effort, it is that the testing methodology from audit training was designed for operational and financial controls, not for derivatives margining, CASS reconciliation, or MiFID II transaction reporting. When findings come back with business-owner corrections and the audit committee asks why a known risk area was missed, the problem is a gap in capital markets audit methodology that generic training never addressed.
The 12 modules
Module 1. Mapping the Capital Markets Audit Universe
A generalist auditor covering capital markets faces an audit universe that spans multiple business lines, each with its own regulatory framework, product vocabulary, and control environment. This module maps that landscape across prime brokerage, derivatives, securities lending, custody, fixed income trading, and equities execution. You learn which areas share underlying control patterns and where the differences are structural, so the annual audit plan reflects actual risk concentration rather than alphabetical coverage or historical habit.
Module 2. Reading the Business Before You Test the Controls
Before writing a test procedure for an unfamiliar product, you need to understand what the desk actually does. This module covers how to read a product term sheet, a trade flow diagram, and a front-office P&L report to identify where the key controls sit. It covers the fastest path from unfamiliar product to credible test plan, including the specific questions to ask the business owner that signal technical competence before you have run a single test procedure.
Module 3. Transaction Reporting Audits: MiFID II and EMIR
Transaction reporting under MiFID II and EMIR is a recurring audit failure point. The rules are detailed, the fields are numerous, and the business often trusts its own reconciliation reports more than the audit finding. This module covers which fields to sample, which reconciliations to test, which exception reports the regulator will request, and how to frame a finding when the reporting break sits in a delegated reporting arrangement with a third-party vendor.
Module 4. Prime Brokerage and Client Asset Segregation
Prime brokerage audits turn on two questions: are client assets properly segregated, and is collateral rehypothecated within the limits the client consented to? This module covers how to test both. It includes the client asset reconciliation schedule under CASS and MiFID client asset rules, the rehypothecation consent chain documentation, the margin call log review, and the haircut methodology applied to pledged and received collateral. You leave with a standard test program covering the areas most likely to draw regulatory attention.
Module 5. Derivatives Auditing Without Being a Quant
Auditing the derivatives book does not require you to reprice a swap. It requires you to know what controls exist around pricing, collateral posting, netting enforceability, and close-out, and to test whether those controls actually operated. This module covers ISDA master agreement governance, CSA credit support annex review, initial margin methodology under EMIR uncleared margin rules, and how to audit the valuation override approval process without needing to build or validate the pricing model yourself.
Module 6. Securities Lending and Collateral Management
Securities lending generates revenue that is often opaque to the audit function. The risks sit in collateral quality, income distribution accuracy, and recall rights. This module covers how to audit a securities lending program: the collateral eligibility schedule and substitution rights, the income attribution methodology for beneficial owners, the counterparty credit approval process, and the regulatory reporting requirements for beneficial owner positions. It includes a test program designed for a generalist who has not previously covered the lending desk.
Module 7. Model Risk Audit for Capital Markets
Risk models drive pricing, VaR, stress testing, and capital allocation. Auditing model risk does not require you to rebuild the model. It requires you to test whether the governance process worked: was the model validated independently, was it approved for the specific use case, are the limitations documented and communicated to users, and are the outputs monitored for drift? This module covers the model risk audit program from inventory review through ongoing performance monitoring, with test templates for each stage.
Module 8. Market Conduct Controls and Surveillance Audits
Conduct risk in capital markets covers front-running, market manipulation, best execution, and personal account dealing. The regulator asks whether surveillance systems are calibrated, whether alerts are reviewed and documented within required timeframes, and whether the escalation path worked when a suspicious pattern appeared. This module covers how to audit each control type: surveillance threshold setting and review, alert disposition documentation, the best execution report under MiFID II, and the conflicts of interest register for commission-sharing arrangements.
Module 9. Writing Findings That Survive Business Owner Review
The hardest moment in a capital markets audit is when the head of trading disputes the technical accuracy of your draft finding. This module covers how to write findings that hold up through that review: structure the observation around the control failure rather than the product complexity, cite the specific regulatory standard or internal policy that was not met, quantify the financial or regulatory exposure where possible, and pre-empt the most common management responses before the formal review period starts.
Module 10. Preparing the Business for Regulatory Examination
When the FCA, AMF, SEC, or FINRA schedules an examination, the audit function is typically asked to help the business prepare. This module covers what that preparation looks like: which prior audit findings the examiner will review first, how to assemble the evidence files the examiner will request, which control self-assessments carry the most weight in the examination context, and how to present the remediation status of open audit issues accurately without overstating the closure of known gaps.
Module 11. Issue Tracking and Remediation Oversight
Audit findings in capital markets often remain open for extended periods because the remediation owner disputes the root cause or the agreed action is more complex than the finding acknowledged. This module covers how to manage the issue lifecycle: setting realistic target dates at issue agreement, documenting interim remediation progress, escalating stalled items to the audit committee, and closing issues in a way that satisfies both the external auditor and the relevant regulator without inadvertently reopening the original observation.
Module 12. Building the Annual Audit Plan for the Full Capital Markets House
The annual audit plan for a capital markets generalist must reflect risk across multiple business lines, current regulatory priorities, and the resource constraints of a team that cannot specialise in every product. This module covers how to build a risk-based audit universe, score entities for inherent and residual risk, align audit cycle frequency with what the FCA, AMF, and FINRA are currently prioritising, and defend the plan to senior management and the audit committee in language that non-technical stakeholders can evaluate.
How this addresses your situation
Specific modules that map to what you said you are dealing with.
You have been assigned to audit the prime brokerage business for the first time and need to produce a credible test plan within two weeks.
The business owner has returned your draft finding with corrections to the product mechanics, and you need to decide which corrections are legitimate and which are deflections.
The regulator has scheduled a thematic review of your firm's transaction reporting controls, and you need to help the business prepare the evidence files.
The audit committee has asked why two findings from the prior cycle are still open, and you need to explain the remediation status accurately without understating the remaining risk.
Who it is for
You work in internal audit at a securities firm and cover a portfolio that includes trading desks, prime brokerage, securities services, or some combination. You were trained as an auditor, not as a capital markets practitioner. You know how to write an audit program, run interviews, document findings, and track issues. What you do not have is product-specific depth to build test procedures from scratch for an unfamiliar area, or to defend a finding when a specialist desk head pushes back on the technical premise.
Who this is NOT for. This course is not for capital markets professionals moving into audit, and not for specialist auditors with a single product focus. It is for generalist auditors who need working audit programs for capital markets areas they have not previously covered in depth.
How it arrives
Text-based course in the Art of Service learning environment, plus downloadable templates and worked examples for every module, plus the hand-built implementation playbook delivered alongside course access.
Time investment. Twelve self-contained modules, each designed for a working audit professional. Each module takes approximately 45 to 60 minutes to complete with the associated template work. The full course can be completed over two to three weeks without displacing active audit engagements.
FAQ
Do I need capital markets experience to take this course?
No. The course is built for auditors who have audit methodology but not deep product experience. Each module covers product mechanics to the level needed to build the test procedure and write the finding, not to the level of a practitioner.
Which regulatory frameworks does the course cover?
The course covers MiFID II, EMIR, CASS, FCA conduct rules, AMF requirements, and the Basel capital framework as they apply to internal audit work. The content is relevant across European, UK, and US securities firm contexts.
Is the implementation playbook generic or specific to my role?
The playbook is hand-built for the buyer. Gerard reviews your role and business line portfolio and tailors the playbook to the product areas and regulatory examination priorities most relevant to your current audit universe. Reply to your confirmation email with a brief description of your portfolio if you want the playbook targeted further.
How do I access the course after purchase?
Within 24 hours of purchase your account in the learning environment is provisioned and the implementation playbook is delivered alongside it. Reply to your confirmation email if anything is not in your inbox within that window.
