Full Programme · Course Catalogue

The Curriculum

Four ascending levels — Foundations, Layering, Integration and Mastery — take you from the vocabulary and legal framework of illicit finance to expert-witness forensic accounting and the design of national reform.

20
Authored modules
66
Lessons
261
Authored credits
61k
Words of study material
182
Assessment items
61
Essay prompts

Credits follow the HEQSF model of ten notional learning hours per credit: modules of four or more lessons carry 15 credits, three-lesson modules carry 12. The authored 261 credits sit inside a proposed 360-credit NQF 6 Diploma; the full mapping, module codes and assessment rubrics are in the accreditation kit.

L-01

Foundations

The architecture of illicit finance.

NQF 5
54 credits · 4 modules
13 lessons · ~7 h reading
41 quiz items · 12 essays

The Foundations track equips you with the vocabulary, legal instruments, and mental models required to see illicit financial flows for what they are: a series of intentional, patterned decisions to disguise the origin, ownership and destination of value. Nothing here is optional for later levels.

Intended audience

Undergraduates, new tax-authority hires, journalists at entry level.

Modules (4) · 54 credits · 13,079 words

Open Foundations
L-02

Layering

Shell companies, offshore, and the corporate veil.

NQF 6
66 credits · 5 modules
17 lessons · ~9 h reading
44 quiz items · 15 essays

The Layering track dissects the specific corporate, legal and banking instruments used to obscure the audit trail: shell and shelf companies, nominee directors, trust structures, tax havens, jurisdictional arbitrage and the mechanics of correspondent banking. You will learn to reconstruct hidden ownership from fragmentary registry data.

Intended audience

Intermediate practitioners in FIUs, tax administrations and audit firms.

Modules (5) · 66 credits · 15,151 words

Open Layering
L-03

Integration

Trade-based laundering, real estate, and the return to legitimacy.

NQF 6
63 credits · 5 modules
16 lessons · ~8 h reading
43 quiz items · 15 essays

Integration is the stage at which laundered value re-enters the legitimate economy. The Advanced track examines the highest-volume integration channels, trade-based money laundering (TBML), real estate, luxury assets, and increasingly, virtual assets — and equips you with sector-specific forensic techniques.

Intended audience

Advanced FIU analysts, tax investigators, forensic auditors.

Modules (5) · 63 credits · 14,949 words

Open Integration
L-04

Mastery

Forensic accounting, prosecution, and systemic reform.

NQF 7
78 credits · 6 modules
20 lessons · ~12 h reading
54 quiz items · 19 essays

The Expert track binds together forensic accounting for evidential purposes, courtroom testimony, asset recovery litigation, and the design of national and international policy frameworks. The emphasis shifts from detection to durable, systemic response.

Intended audience

Senior investigators, prosecutors, policy architects, doctoral candidates.

Modules (6) · 78 credits · 17,373 words

Open Mastery