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Exam Information
Official specifications published by ACAMS
Exam Format
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Skills this practice test covers
- Explain the third line of defense and the threats that can weaken an auditor's independence.
- Build a risk-based audit plan, set its scope, and justify the sampling method.
- Test the design and the operation of CIP, KYC/EDD and sanctions screening controls.
- Evaluate transaction monitoring systems, AML models and the data lineage behind them.
- Rate audit findings by severity and likelihood, and write recommendations that fix root causes.
- Track remedial actions to closure and handle requests to extend target dates.
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Advanced-CAMS-Audit exam content
4 domains · 21 topics · 155 questions
Corporate Governance and the Audit Function20%36 questions
This domain sets the auditor's place in the firm: the three lines of defense and the independence of the third line. It also covers the bodies that shape an AML audit, such as FATF, OFAC and the FFIEC, and the stages an audit moves through.
Skills tested
- Separate the three lines of defense and define assurance for the third line.
- Identify conflicts of interest and the factors that can put independence at risk.
- Tell independent testing apart from quality assurance.
- Choose between horizontal, vertical, thematic and project/program reviews.
- Audit outsourced AML functions and third-party vendor relationships.
Questions by topic
- Roles and responsibilities of the third line of defense7
- Independence and threats to independence6
- International bodies and key AML audit documents6
- Outsourced function oversight4
- Emerging risks, CAATs, and continuous monitoring6
- Audit triggers, stages, and approaches2
- AML program governance structure5
Planning and Scoping25%40 questions
Planning decides what the audit tests and how much. Candidates build an audit risk assessment, use the second line's AML risk assessment and past regulatory findings, and then set the scope and the sample.
Skills tested
- Run top-down and bottom-up audit risk assessments, then define the scope.
- Use policies, procedures and the second line's risk assessment to shape the audit plan.
- Weigh financial crime risk by sector, product, service and customer type.
- Choose judgmental or statistical sampling and size the sample from the risk.
- Assess how the risk appetite is set and monitored against Board-approved thresholds.
Questions by topic
- Audit risk assessment and scope definition10
- Sampling methodology and regulatory incorporation11
- Financial crime risks and risk mitigation components8
- Evidence types and data gathering techniques4
- Audit triggers, stages, and approaches5
- Emerging risks, CAATs, and continuous monitoring2
Fieldwork and Evaluation40%58 questions
The largest domain is the testing itself. Candidates check whether each AML control is designed well and whether it works in practice, from customer identification to sanctions screening and transaction monitoring. Models, systems, records and root causes belong to the same work.
Skills tested
- Define design effectiveness and operating effectiveness, and test each one.
- Test CIP, KYC/EDD, SAR/STR/CTR, sanctions screening and transaction monitoring processes.
- Find gaps between written AML policies and procedures and the rules they must meet.
- Assess AML models under model risk management, including data quality and lineage.
- Trace repeat issues to their root cause.
Questions by topic
- Design effectiveness vs operating effectiveness6
- Operating effectiveness of AML program elements28
- Model risk management and AML systems evaluation15
- Record-keeping and root cause analysis5
- Customer risk rating and controls assessment4
Reporting, Recommendations, and Follow-up15%21 questions
This domain turns test results into action. Candidates document their work, rate each finding, report to stakeholders and follow committed actions until they close.
Skills tested
- Record the testing method, the results and the exceptions in audit work papers.
- Rate findings as high, medium or low risk, and separate material from immaterial ones.
- Write recommendations that address root causes and are proportionate to the risk.
- Run an exit meeting and present the audit report to stakeholders.
- Monitor remedial actions and the approval of target date extensions.
Questions by topic
- Documenting methodology and results in work papers4
- Finding risk levels and recommendations8
- Communicating results and follow-up strategies9
Requirements
- Required: an active ACAMS membership.
- Required: a pass in the CAMS exam.
- Recommended: five or more years of AML audit or audit-related work.
- Recommended: a sound knowledge of audit fundamentals.
About the Advanced-CAMS-Audit exam
The Advanced-CAMS-Audit exam tests whether an auditor can judge an anti-money laundering (AML) program from the third line of defense, the independent audit function. ACAMS opens it only to members who have already passed CAMS. Its four domains follow a single audit, from the audit function's place in governance to planning, testing and the final report. Successful candidates earn Advanced CAMS-Audit, which stays valid for three years.
Independent testing and quality assurance can look alike in a question, and the explanation for each answer shows how to tell them apart. The PlanetCert practice test spends the most time on fieldwork, especially on whether AML program elements operate as designed. The many bodies and key documents in the governance domain, from FATF to the Wolfsberg Principles, are easiest to learn in Flashcard Mode. Brainy AI Assistant can explain why a control can pass a design test and still fail an operating test.
How to earn the certification
- Earns
- Advanced CAMS-AuditAdvanced
The Advanced CAMS-Audit certification is valid for three years.
- Before
- CAMS Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist
Required. ACAMS asks for a pass in it before a candidate can sit the audit exam.
- CAMS Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist
How to prepare for Advanced-CAMS-Audit
- 1
Learn the three lines of defense first
Begin with the governance domain. Be clear on what each line owns, what assurance means for the third line, and what puts an auditor's independence at risk.
- 2
Write a sample audit plan
Pick one product or customer type and list its financial crime risks. Then set the scope, the evidence to collect and a sampling method, with a reason for each choice.
- 3
Pair each design test with an operating test
Fieldwork and Evaluation is the largest domain. For each program element, from CIP to transaction monitoring, write one test of the design and one of the operation, and name the evidence each needs.
- 4
Turn exceptions into rated findings
Take one exception, rate its severity and likelihood, find the root cause and write a recommendation in proportion to the risk. Then plan the follow-up test that would prove the fix.
- 5
Close with timed practice runs
Run the practice test in Timed Mode as a full rehearsal. Sort the missed questions by domain, and ask Brainy AI Assistant why each wrong choice falls short.
Start a timed Advanced-CAMS-Auditrun
Who Advanced-CAMS-Audit is for
- Internal audit staff who run financial crime prevention audits.
- Audit firms and consultants that provide anti-financial crime (AFC) assurance or advice.
- Mid- to senior-level professionals who test and monitor AFC controls.
Typical job titles: AML auditor · Internal auditor · External auditor · AFC assurance consultant · Compliance testing manager
Advanced-CAMS-Audit glossary
18 terms from the exam objectives and the vendor's official material, each defined in a sentence.
- Audit work papers
- The auditor's record of what was tested, how it was tested, the results, and the evidence behind each finding.
- Below-the-line testing
- Testing activity that falls just below a monitoring threshold, to see whether the threshold misses suspicious activity.
- Computer Assisted Audit Technologies (CAATs)
- Software tools that let auditors analyze whole data sets, not only a sample, to find exceptions.
- Customer Identification Program (CIP)
- The procedures a firm uses to collect and verify a new customer's identity before it opens an account.
- Data lineage
- The path data takes from its source system into an AML system, which auditors trace to confirm nothing is lost or changed.
- Design effectiveness
- Whether a control, as written and set up, would prevent or detect the risk it targets.
- Enterprise-wide risk assessment (EWRA)
- One AML risk assessment that covers the whole firm, across its business lines, products and customers.
- Horizontal reviews
- Audits that test one process or control across several business units at the same time.
- Inherent risk
- The financial crime risk that a product, customer or business line carries before any controls are applied.
- Judgmental sampling
- Picking sample items by the auditor's judgment, for example the highest-risk accounts, instead of at random.
- Model Risk Management (MRM)
- The checks that make sure models, such as risk-rating and monitoring models, are sound, validated and used as intended.
- Operating effectiveness
- Whether a control actually works as designed, every time, across the period the audit covers.
- Residual risk
- The risk that remains after controls are applied, which the firm compares with its risk appetite.
- Risk appetite
- The amount and type of financial crime risk that the Board agrees the firm may accept.
- Root cause analysis
- Finding the underlying reason for an audit issue, so that the fix stops it from happening again.
- Statistical sampling
- Picking sample items at random, in a number set by statistics, so that the results apply to the whole population.
- Third line of defense
- The internal audit function. It gives independent assurance on the controls that the business (first line) and the risk and compliance teams (second line) run.
- Wolfsberg Principles
- Financial crime guidance written by the Wolfsberg Group, an association of large international banks.