CDD in Practice for Accountants - Practical Implementation from Onboarding to Ongoing Monitoring

Introduction

Effective Customer Due Diligence (CDD) is a cornerstone of Anti-Money Laundering (AML) compliance. According to the National Risk Assessment, firms with weak AML procedures risk being exploited by criminals to facilitate money laundering.

The ICAEW’s AML Annual Report 2024/25 highlights that CDD remains the area most frequently linked to non-compliance, with 12.6% of accountancy firms demonstrating ineffective risk documentation.

Guidance from the CCAB identifies three essential stages of CDD: identifying the client, assessing risk and verification. Ensuring these steps are not only implemented but consistently applied, clearly documented and regularly reviewed is critical for compliance.

This new virtual classroom seminar will explore these requirements using real-world examples and scenario-based discussion, providing you with a clearer understanding of how to strengthen your firm’s AML compliance framework, confidently evidence your CDD processes and prepare for regulatory scrutiny or monitoring visits.

What You Will Learn

This live and interactive session will cover the following:

• The CDD requirements under the Money Laundering Regulations
• In-depth guidance on the three stages of CDD: identifying clients, assessing risk and verification
• How to apply a risk-based approach in practice, including recognising higher-risk clients and situations
• How to embed CDD into firm systems and workflows, including onboarding processes, practice management systems and maintaining a clear audit trail
• Best practices for ongoing monitoring, including system-based review cycles and trigger events for updating CDD
• Practical options for document verification, including paper-based and electronic ID solutions, and how these integrate with firm systems
• Key differences in CDD procedures for individuals, companies and more complex structures
• Common compliance weaknesses identified in monitoring visits - and how to avoid them
• Real-life examples and scenarios to help embed good practice into day-to-day processes
• The key documentation and audit trail your firm needs to maintain, including how to evidence compliance through systemised records

Recording of live sessions: Soon after the Learn Live session has taken place you will be able to go back and access the recording - should you wish to revisit the material discussed.