Practical tips on passing CFCS Certification from ACFCS, US
I cleared the CFCS Certification exam in my very first attempt in September 2021. I am sharing my journey and experience of clearing the CFCS Certification.
The first thing that comes to the mind of the aspirants is -
Whether the study manual provided by the ACFCS is enough for the CFCS Certification?
The answer is YES.
The 6th Edition of the CFCS Student Manual for the certification has following 14 chapters spanning 311 pages-
Chapter 1 - ACFCS and the challenge of Financial Crime
Chapter 2 - Financial Crime Overview, Commonalities and Convergence
Chapter 3 - Money Laundering
Chapter 4 - Understanding and Preventing Fraud
Chapter 5 - Global Anti-corruption Compliance and Enforcement
Chapter 6 - Tax Evasion and Enforcement
Chapter 7 - Asset Recovery
Chapter 8- Financial Crime Investigations
Chapter 9 - Interpreting Financial Documents
Chapter 10 - Money and Commodities Flow
Chapter 11 - Compliance programs and controls
Chapter 12 - Cybersecurity
Chapter 13 - Ethical Responsibilities and best practices
Chapter 14 - International Agreements and Standards.
The study manual is sufficient in itself to help clear the exam. In addition, I will recommend you take online classes offered by Swaprakasha which are extremely helpful. These days many candidates are failing just by few marks thus making all the more important that timely coaching is taken. My experience with Swaprakasha has been wonderful I got conceptual clarity and with their practice questions I could clear the CFCS Exam in my very first attempt.
I will also recommend you enroll for Online Classes Practice Questions offered by Swaprakasha Classes on CFCS on very nominal price, which I found to be extremely helpful in clearing the CFCS Exam. The questions are at-par with questions asked during the CFCS Exam.
Chapter 1 & Chapter 2 only require reading once just to get an introduction to the CFCS Exam (its genesis & usefulness) and the financial crime landscape, no questions are asked from these chapter during the exam. Chapter 2 mentions some of the tax havens (screenshot enclosed). Source & Credit - ACFCS, US.
The remaining 12 chapters from the manual are really important and need focused study.
I will also recommend you to enroll and appear for Practice Questions offered by Swaprakasha Classes on CFCS on very nominal price, which I found to be extremely helpful in clearing the CFCS Exam. The questions are at-par with questions asked during the CFCS Exam. Some sample questions with screen page below-
I started reading the manual around April 20th 2021. Although initially I had planned to appear for the CFCS Exam before July 30th 2021, I could not as I was not confident with the limited number of practice exam questions and I was skeptical as to what may be asked in the final exam. Therefore I re-read the selected chapters from the manual where I thought I was not sure and enrolled for Online Coaching which offered conceptual clarity along with practice questions offered by Swaprakasha Classes. These Classes and practice questions were extremely useful in clearing the CFCS Exam.
Link for purchasing practice questions for CFCS Exam - https://swaprakasha.graphy.com/courses/Practice-Question-Set-for-CFCS-Certified-Financial-Crime-Specialist-Exam-654d8827e4b022b9cd3b3cb5-654d8827e4b022b9cd3b3cb5
Since scenario-based questions in the exam are the most challenging, a good understanding of the content is a must to correctly answer questions.
If you have already cleared exams like CFE (Certified Fraud Examiner) or CAMS (Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist) you may find the content lot easier. Practice questions will help you in identifying your weak areas where you need further reading. It also gives you an idea to the kind of questions that are asked in the final exam. Further enrolling for Practice questions with Swaprakasha Classes will also be extremely useful in clearing the exam.
Although there is no particular order to give the practice exam, I suggest the following -
1st time Practice Exam can be given after reading the manual once.
2nd time Practice Exam can be given after watching the video lessons that one gets with the exam package and after reading selected chapters of the manual where one scored less marks during the 1st practice exam attempt.
Then you may go on to read with special focus on FATF 40 recommendations, BASEL Committee, Wolfsberg Principles for Intermediaries, OECD and Transparency International.
3rd time or 4th time Practice Exam should be given just a day before your final exam.
Please ensure to focus on red alerts and typologies mentioned in different chapters in the manual. One way of doing is to use (Ctrl+F) option on your keyboard on the study manual (pdf copy), this will highlight all the pages that has red flags listed on different topics, this needs special attention as scenario based questions are formed around these red flags.
This document will be updated on an ongoing basis.
CFE, CFCS, CAMS, CISA, CCRA Certified Professional.
FAQ's on the CFCS Exam
Whether the study manual provided by the ACFCS is enough for the CFCS Certification?
YES.
How many questions are asked in the CFCS Exam?
How long does the CFCS exam take?
What is the passing score for the CFCS exam?
About the CFCS Exam: The Certified Financial Crime Specialist (CFCS) examination is designed to test a candidate’s ability to apply core concepts in the financial crime field to specific scenarios, intended to mimic real-world job functions of diverse professions. While a handful of questions on the exam will be knowledge-based recall questions (i.e. “what is hawala” or “what best describes the integration stage of money laundering”), the vast majority are scenario based questions.
These questions typically ask candidates to take on the role of a financial crime professional, such as a compliance officer, analyst, public or private-sector investigator, auditor, asset recovery specialist, etc. The majority of questions will have one correct answer and three “distractors,” designed to be plausible but flawed responses. Often, there are two distractors that can be quickly ruled out, and one that will require a closer reading.
A small number of questions will ask candidates to choose two or more correct answers. If more than one correct answer is to be selected, the number of correct answers will always be indicated in the question (i.e. “choose two below”). Certified Financial Crime Specialist Online Classes with Practice Questions.
Other key points about the CFCS exam:
• The exam is 145 questions
• Candidates have 4 hours to complete the exam
• Results are shown immediately upon completion
Key concepts on the exam:
The CFCS exam covers 12 key content areas, and consequently candidates should be prepared for questions on a very wide range of topics. However, there are certain concepts that appear repeatedly on the exam. A few subjects that relate to multiple questions are outlined below:
• Beneficial ownership, and information sources for uncovering beneficial owners –Identifying beneficial owners is a persistent issue for a variety of financial crime functions, and several questions revolve around this theme. Candidates should review material, and expect questions that focus on:
o The definition of beneficial ownership, and who would be considered a beneficial owner of an account or asset in a given scenario
o Corporate registries, including questions that focus on information typically obtainable (and unobtainable) from registries
o Documents that can be useful to determine beneficial owners, such as power of attorney or signature authority
o Secrecy havens, including their characteristics, jurisdictions commonly considered to be secrecy havens, and what information can or cannot be obtained on legal entities formed in secrecy havens
• Common red flags in fund transfers and account activity - Money laundering, followed by financial crime investigations, compliance programs, and then fraud are a heavy focus of exam questions. Many of the questions related to these subjects require the candidate to recognize common red flags related to account activity. CFCS certified financial crime specialist online class.
The money laundering, fraud and corruption chapters all feature lists of red flags, and it is recommended that candidates familiarize themselves with these lists. Several that appear on the exam are provided below, but this is not an exhaustive list.
o Same home address for funds transfers by different people
o Multiple transactions on same day from different geographic locations
o Funds transfers from/to tax or secrecy haven
o Funds transfers to offshore jurisdictions with no rationale
o Funds transfers to jurisdictions generally considered to be a high risk for corruption
o Funds transfers to PEPs
o Regularly purchasing money orders to other individuals shortly after receiving funds transfers to an account
o Vaguely worded invoices without details or itemization
o Accounts that appear to be controlled by a third party
o Transactions below reporting thresholds (i.e. structuring)
• Understanding normal or expected behavior for a customer/client/vendor/etc. – Whether the question pertains to payments to third parties indicative of corruption, or behavior by a mortgage applicant that may be indicative of fraud, the concept of normal or expected behavior comes up quite often on the CFCS exam. Fortunately, determining what is “normal” for a customer, third party, client, etc. is usually a matter of common sense. Use the information provided in the scenario to form a profile of the customer, and look for answers that don’t fit that profile or otherwise have no compelling business or other rationale.
International standards and other external sources that appear on the CFCS exam:
While most of the content related to CFCS exam questions is contained in the manual, a number of questions do require knowledge of external sources, outlined below:
• FATF 40 Recommendations
o Recommendation relating to PEPs
o Recommendation relating to non-profit organizations
o Recommendation relating to higher-risk countries
o Recommendation relating to money services businesses
Important FATF 40 Recommendations -
Non-profit organizations * Countries should review the adequacy of laws and regulations that relate to non-profit organisations which the country has identified as being vulnerable to terrorist financing abuse. Countries should apply focused and proportionate measures, in line with the risk-based approach, to such non-profit organisations to protect them from terrorist financing abuse, including:
(a) by terrorist organisations posing as legitimate entities;
(b) by exploiting legitimate entities as conduits for terrorist financing, including for the purpose of escaping asset-freezing measures; and
(c) by concealing or obscuring the clandestine diversion of funds intended for legitimate purposes to terrorist organisations.
Politically exposed persons * Financial institutions should be required, in relation to foreign politically exposed persons (PEPs) (whether as customer or beneficial owner), in addition to performing normal customer due diligence measures, to:
(a) have appropriate risk-management systems to determine whether the customer or the beneficial owner is a politically exposed person;
(b) obtain senior management approval for establishing (or continuing, for existing customers) such business relationships;
(c) take reasonable measures to establish the source of wealth and source of funds; and
(d) conduct enhanced ongoing monitoring of the business relationship. Financial institutions should be required to take reasonable measures to determine whether a customer or beneficial owner is a domestic PEP or a person who is or has been entrusted with a prominent function by an international organisation. In cases of a higher risk business relationship with such persons, financial institutions should be required to apply the measures referred to in paragraphs (b), (c) and (d). The requirements for all types of PEP should also apply to family members or close associates of such PEPs.
Higher-risk countries * Financial institutions should be required to apply enhanced due diligence measures to business relationships and transactions with natural and legal persons, and financial institutions, from countries for which this is called for by the FATF. The type of enhanced due diligence measures applied should be effective and proportionate to the risks. Countries should be able to apply appropriate countermeasures when called upon to do so by the FATF. Countries should also be able to apply countermeasures independently of any call by the FATF to do so. Such countermeasures should be effective and proportionate to the risks.
Money or value transfer services * Countries should take measures to ensure that natural or legal persons that provide money or value transfer services (MVTS) are licensed or registered, and subject to effective systems for monitoring and ensuring compliance with the relevant measures called for in the FATF Recommendations. Countries should take action to identify natural or legal persons that carry out MVTS without a license or registration, and to apply appropriate sanctions. Any natural or legal person working as an agent should also be licensed or registered by a competent authority, or the MVTS provider should maintain a current list of its agents accessible by competent authorities in the countries in which the MVTS provider and its agents operate. Countries should take measures to ensure that MVTS providers that use agents include them in their AML/CFT programmes and monitor them for compliance with these programmes.
• Basel Committee – Sound management of risks related to money laundering and financing of terrorism - Take particular note of the Paper’s guidance in Annex 4 on opening accounts and assessing risk for new customers
• Wolfsberg Principles on Intermediaries – understand how and when institutions can rely on intermediaries to conduct customer due diligence
• Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) – understand what information can be obtained from OECD sources, including information on tax information exchange agreements and tax laws of various nations. You will not be expected to know the details of specific OECD documents or reports.
• Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index – understand what it is and how it can be used in corruption risk rating. Candidates should also familiarize themselves with the risk ratings of jurisdictions in the Index.
Source - ACFCS for CFCS Exam Prep Hints & Tips
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