Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS) for Counter Terrorism Finance

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  • #200347
    HoosierDaddy
    Participant

    Anyone have any experience taking the Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS) exam? There are thousands of jobs nationwide when you search on indeed.com for AML (anti-money laundering) or CAMS (the certification described above). It seems like it would be an easy test compared to the CPA exam, especially when using the prep materials provided by the sponsoring organization, ACAMS.

    I have tried staff accounting, bookkeeping, taxation, and auditing; I don’t really want to do those again. I am hoping to find a job in anti-money laundering where I can do more detective work. If I am lucky I hope to find a job with a firm doing counter terrorism AML work. How cool would that be! Thanks for any advice on AML.

    -Passed all four sections of CPA exam in 2010 using Becker.
    -Former Seasonal Audit Senior with Big Four accounting firm.
    -Plan to sit for Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) and Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS)

Viewing 13 replies - 1 through 13 (of 13 total)
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  • #759470
    Tncincy
    Participant

    Are you looking for a Federal Job? It sounds exciting, maybe related to banking or Auditing, or Governmental in relation. Where can we find information on such a certification.

    It begins with a 75
    Been here too long as a cheerleader.....time to pass

    It begins with a 75
    Been here too long as a cheerleader....ready to pass

    #759471
    HoosierDaddy
    Participant

    A federal job would be great fit but they are hard to come by.

    Any company in banking or wire transactions (like Western Union) is required to have people trained in Anti-Money Laundering (AML) compliance. I am hoping to find an AML position within a international bank that involves counter terrorism.

    -Passed all four sections of CPA exam in 2010 using Becker.
    -Former Seasonal Audit Senior with Big Four accounting firm.
    -Plan to sit for Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) and Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS)

    #759472
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    I am taking the CAMS exam tomorrow morning for the first time. I will post another reply in a few days about how I studied, etc.

    #759473
    Skynet
    Participant

    I Laundered Money once when I left my wallet in one of my pants pocket.

    It came out of the Dryer smelling like Sunshine and Spring time though : )

    AUD - 90
    BEC - 78
    FAR - 84
    REG - 87
    World Domination Plan

    Phase I : Pass CPA Exams - Complete
    Phase II : Megan Fox - In Progress
    Phase III : Megan Fox & Scarlett Johansson Lingerie Pillow Fight
    Phase IV : Form the new Charlie's Angels with Megan Fox, Scarlett Johansson, & Gal Gadot
    Phase V : TBD

    BEC : 78
    REG : 87
    FAR : 84
    AUD : 90

    World Domination Plan

    Phase I : Pass CPA Exams - Complete
    Phase II : Megan Fox - Initiated
    Phase III : Bring back 8-Tracks
    Phase IV : Megan Fox & Scarlett Johansson Lingerie Pillow Fight
    Phase V : TBA

    #759474
    Nessie
    Participant

    Skynet, I have to say you are hilarious. You have a great sense of humor!

    AUD - 80
    BEC - 84
    FAR - 80
    REG - 88
    Using Becker Self-Study, Final Review and NINJA MCQs
    Sat for BEC Dec 6th, 2016 !!!! 84!!!!!

    REG Aug 20/15: 88
    AUD: Feb 29/16: 80
    FAR: Jun 10/16: 80
    BEC?

    Becker self-study, Becker Final Review & NINJA MCQS

    #759475
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    I took and passed the CAMS exam on Friday. Below is a summary of everything you need to know. If you go to the ACAMS website and download the Candidate Handbook, you can also find most of what I have summarized. I found the experience to be fairly easy and straightforward but I’ve had the benefit of already studying for and taking many similar exams. You definitely can’t just show up and pass it without studying but if you read the book and go through all the other prep materials once and have a little bit of relevant experience, you should be able to succeed.

    Eligibility:
    Like a lot of other certifications, there is a points system to determine eligibility. To take the exam you need 40 points. Points are earned as follows:
    Highest level of education; 10 points for Associate’s, 20 for Bachelor’s, or 30 for a Master’s Degree/PhD/JD or equivalent
    10 points for every year of professional experience
    10 points for every other relevant certification you have (CPA, CFE, FINRA Series, etc.)
    Basically if you have a CPA license and one year of work experience, you’re eligible to take the exam.

    Cost:
    $1,790 (thankfully paid by my employer) which included one year of membership in ACAMS ($295) and $1,495 for the standard prep course/ exam fee. There is a higher-end prep course that includes live instruction for an additional $385. There is also a discount for government employees ($195 membership + $1,145 prep/exam fee). If you fail the exam, you have to wait 2 months to re-take it and pay a $290 fee ($190 for government employees).

    Study Materials:
    You can’t pay for the exam by itself unless you’re re-taking it after failing. You must buy a package that includes the exam fee and a prep course. I chose the cheaper package that does not include live instruction. The package I chose includes a textbook (referred to as the Study Guide) which is 435 pages, 11.5 hours of recorded lectures (the textbook being read word-for-word) that you can download to your phone/ other mobile device, 115 flash cards, and a set of 238 online-only interactive PowerPoint-type slides that summarize what’s covered in the textbook. One of the chapters of the book (54 of the 435 pages) is a set of 100 practice questions. After reading the textbook, listening to the lectures, and going through all the slides, I did all of the practice questions and got 90% correct. On the actual exam I got 92% correct. I did have the benefit of recently completing an internal AML compliance audit at work so that helped me pick up a lot of the concepts that were on the exam.

    Exam:
    The exam consists of 120 multiple choice questions and you have 3.5 hours to complete it. I finished more than an hour early and found I had plenty of time to read each question and possible answer multiple times to make sure I wasn’t missing a word or two that would change the answer. The exam questions were not super easy but not nearly as hard as the CPA exam. I would say the questions were comparable in difficulty to the CFE exam.

    Feel free to let me know if you have any other questions.

    #759476

    Interesting! This could be a fun expertise to add, and it goes well in the line of CFF/CFE…definitely something to add to the list of possibilities….

    MBA,CMA,CPA, CFF?, ABV?

    #759477
    Skynet
    Participant

    I need a consensus on Money Laundering.

    Is it best o presoak for 30 minutes or put in on the Delicate Cycle?

    AUD - 90
    BEC - 78
    FAR - 84
    REG - 87
    World Domination Plan

    Phase I : Pass CPA Exams - Complete
    Phase II : Megan Fox - In Progress
    Phase III : Megan Fox & Scarlett Johansson Lingerie Pillow Fight
    Phase IV : Form the new Charlie's Angels with Megan Fox, Scarlett Johansson, & Gal Gadot
    Phase V : TBD

    BEC : 78
    REG : 87
    FAR : 84
    AUD : 90

    World Domination Plan

    Phase I : Pass CPA Exams - Complete
    Phase II : Megan Fox - Initiated
    Phase III : Bring back 8-Tracks
    Phase IV : Megan Fox & Scarlett Johansson Lingerie Pillow Fight
    Phase V : TBA

    #759478
    nadroj
    Participant

    Neither. It's best to let your Auntie do it.

    #759479
    fabien71
    Member

    Is CAMS certification better than the CFE one ? Or is it just two different things ? What are the pros and cons for CFE and CAMS ?

    #759480
    HoosierDaddy
    Participant

    The CAMS certification is specialized. Unless you want to work in Anti Money Laundering (AML), the CFE might be a better choice.

    -Passed all four sections of CPA exam in 2010 using Becker.
    -Former Seasonal Audit Senior with Big Four accounting firm.
    -Plan to sit for Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) and Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS)

    #1454466
    kenixpinky
    Participant

    i want to take cams exam, but so afraid about the test.Any advise about learning process, study tips suggestion . I truly appreciate your help!. Thanks!

    #1718771
    mandywilson
    Participant

    I personally failed Cams twice before passing this exam.
    It’s apparently taking more time than what I expect it should be

    Main reason is because the exam is too board and requires some certain degree of memorising content

    do expect that the practice questions in their study material is very much different from the real examination.

    I do recommend you to know how the real exam format is before taking the exam, otherwise you won’t be able to prepare how to practice the exam and waste time flipping on the study materials

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