The Centre for Investigative Journalism
 The Centre for Investigative Journalism
Menu

Financial Investigations – Online (AM)

Whatever your beat – from politics or conflict, to sport, fashion or travel – pursuing impactful investigations requires journalists to examine the actions of private companies. Despite a world of corporate PR spin and complex financial structures that often work to obscure what’s actually going on, there are a wealth of tools and techniques to help investigators.

Knowing what you can find, where to look for it and how to make sense of it, both for yourself and for your readers, will allow you to explore and understand financial details so you can draw conclusions and drive your projects forward.

This training provides tools for deep financial research and guides participants through investigations that lead to offshore accounts in secrecy jurisdictions.

Technical Requirements

This course will need you to have the following software/apps/tools on your computer:

  • Zoom app
  • Camera and audio

This course will be hosted on Zoom. To find out more about how we use Zoom, please check out our Zoom InfoSec page.

Course Structure

Exercises and additional viewing of tutorial videos will be provided to supplement the training between sessions.

Important

Our training is not recorded: if you miss a session, it is lost – you cannot watch a recording of it, nor will you be allowed to attend that session at a later date.

6 February 2024 – Company Accounts

10:00–13:30
This session will teach you how to find information on Companies House, how to use its search tools to find meaningful data and how to interpret the information you come across. It will also provide guidance on the limitations and insufficiencies of the registry.

7 February 2024 – Financial Open-Source Intelligence

10:00–13:30
Open-Source Intelligence (frequently referred to as OSINT) has become crucial to many investigators’ ability to cross-examine allegations and reports of serious financial crimes. These practical sessions will take you through real-life cases to teach you the core techniques to conduct deep-dive investigations to uncover opaque global company structures used to facilitate money laundering, corruption, bribery, tax fraud schemes, and more.

8 February 2024 – Follow-the-Money Case Studies

10:00–14:00
These sessions guide participants through real life investigations into dodgy dealings, offshore scams and shell companies. Each case study will provide participants with inside understanding of a particular follow-the-money investigation, highlighting through example and exercises important learning points, tips, resources and pitfalls identified through the trainers' own experiences.

Diogo Augusto

Diogo Augusto comes from a background in Sociology, having worked as a lecturer and researcher for 10 years in universities in Portugal and Belize. As a sociologist he specialised in cultural and political issues.

Dylan Kennedy

Dylan Kennedy has over two decades of expertise in the United Kingdom’s leading international Law Enforcement Agencies, Global Correspondent Banking Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Investigations, and Global Express Courier Logistics sectors.

Stefania Spezzati

Stefania Spezzati is an award-winning reporter covering European banking at Reuters. Based in London, she chronicles all things finance, breaks news and digs deep into the world's biggest banks. Prior to joining Reuters, Stefania spent about a decade at Bloomberg News.

Leila Haddou

Leila Haddou is former data journalism editor for The Times and Sunday Times. Before that, she worked on investigations at the Financial Times and the Guardian. She has an avid interest in how technology can aid investigative reporting and co-organises the monthly Journocoders meet up event.
  • 6 February 2024 10.00–13.30 Timezone: BST (UK Time)
  • 7 February 2024 10.00–13.30 Timezone: BST (UK Time)
  • 8 February 2024 10.00–14.00 Timezone: BST (UK Time)
Timezone: BST (UK Time)
Location: Zoom meeting
Fully booked:
23–25 April 2024

Financial Investigations – Online (AM)

Whatever your beat – from politics or conflict, to sport, fashion or travel – pursuing impactful investigations requires journalists to examine the actions of private companies. Despite a world of corporate PR spin and complex financial structures that often work to obscure what’s actually going on, there are a wealth of tools and techniques to help investigators.

The Investigative Journalist’s Guide to Company Accounts

by Raj Bairoliya

An introduction from the author, Raj Bairoliya A little history is in order. A dozen or so years ago, I was complaining to my friend Michael Gillard about the standard of financial investigative journalism in the UK – it was a matter of serious concern to me as I make my living from investigating wrongdoing.

£11 Buy Handbook