ICSAN Admin Risk study guide
ICSAN Admin Risk · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The ICSAN Administrative Risk Examination is a professional assessment focused on how administrative functions identify, assess, control and report risk. It suits office managers, administrative officers, compliance and internal control staff, operations supervisors and early-career risk practitioners who carry responsibility for day-to-day process integrity rather than enterprise-wide risk modelling. The ICSAN Admin Risk study guide has 9 sections and about 2,850 words.
01Risk Management Frameworks and Governance
This domain tests whether you can connect a risk framework to board-level governance rather than treat risk as a register kept by one officer. Expect questions on ISO 31000:2018 principles, the COSO ERM 2017 components, risk appetite, and the roles of the board, risk committee, chief risk officer and the three lines.
362 words, about 2 min02Risk Identification and Assessment
This domain examines how risks are found, described and scored before controls are chosen. The exam favours practical questions on risk registers, likelihood and impact matrices, inherent versus residual risk, and the difference between a cause, an event and a consequence.
322 words, about 2 min03Internal Controls and Control Environment
This domain tests the design and operation of controls, not just their existence. Expect questions on COSO’s five internal-control components, preventive versus detective controls, segregation of duties, authorisation, reconciliation, and the tone at the top that makes controls work.
326 words, about 2 min04Operational Risk in Administrative Processes
This domain focuses on losses from people, process, systems and external events in administrative work: procurement, travel and expenses, records, payroll, facilities, vendor management and company secretarial administration. The exam tests process mapping, key risk indicators, near-miss capture and third-party risk.
319 words, about 2 min05Compliance, Regulatory and Legal Risk
This domain tests whether you can turn a regulatory landscape into a managed obligation set. Expect questions on compliance risk, obligations registers, regulatory change, legal risk, and Nigerian requirements such as CAMA 2020 filings, data protection and anti-money-laundering duties.
320 words, about 2 min06Fraud Risk and Internal Fraud Controls
This domain examines fraud risk assessment and controls against internal fraud in administrative roles. Expect questions on the fraud triangle, red flags, segregation of duties, vendor and expense fraud, whistleblowing and investigation independence.
301 words, about 2 min07Business Continuity and Crisis Management
This domain tests whether you can keep critical administrative services running during disruption and manage the crisis response. Expect questions on business impact analysis, recovery time objectives, recovery point objectives, plan testing, and crisis communication.
313 words, about 2 min08Risk Reporting, Monitoring and Assurance
This domain tests how risk information flows to decision-makers and how assurance is coordinated. Expect questions on KRIs, dashboards, escalation thresholds, board risk reports, assurance mapping and combined assurance.
306 words, about 2 min09Ethics, Professional Conduct and Corporate Governance
This domain tests ethical judgement and governance behaviour in administrative and secretarial roles. Expect questions on integrity, objectivity, confidentiality, conflicts of interest, board duties, whistleblowing and the tone at the top.
281 words, about 1 min