AML training has no set number of hours

People search “how long does AML training take” because a course provider has quoted a day, a colleague has quoted twenty minutes, and both sound like a rule. Checked against AUSTRAC's page on your obligations, including what it says about personnel due diligence and training, on 5 October 2026. This is general information, not legal advice. This page does not reproduce that guidance. The course-shaped page on this site is AML/CTF training. Free material already published here is free AML training in Australia. The order of a first day is the new starter checklist. The sector map is /tranche-2.

The test is the role, not the clock

AUSTRAC expects a business to conduct personnel due diligence on the people who perform AML/CTF functions, and to train personnel so they understand the obligations and know how to follow the firm's policies, procedures and systems. The point of that training is that they can identify, manage and mitigate money laundering and terrorism financing risks in the work they actually do. A page written that way cannot be turned into “two hours” or “a full day” without inventing a figure. This page will not invent one.

A receptionist who books appointments and must not collect identity documents into a private inbox needs a short, concrete session. Where the program is. Who the compliance officer is. That a suspicious matter is not a topic for a client conversation. That a check is a link the firm emails, and the client pays. That session can be done before lunch on day one. It is useless if it happens after they have already opened files for a fortnight. Length is not the virtue. Timing and content are.

The compliance officer is a different student. That person approves the daily operation of the program, deals with hits, and is the name on the AUSTRAC relationship. Their learning includes the designated services the firm actually provides, initial and ongoing customer due diligence, when a suspicion is reported and the timeframes, and what staff must not say. Spreading that over several sittings is normal. Compressing it into the receptionist's induction is how officers discover a gap during the first real file. Neither sitting comes with a statutory duration.

What to record so the time is not the argument

• Who attended, and the date. A signature or a calendar entry is enough. A glossy certificate is optional.
• Which version of the program. Training against last year's draft does not count for this year's services.
• What was covered, in a few lines. Officer, designated services, checks, reports, and what not to tell a client. Not a slogan.
• What they still cannot do. A new accountant who has not been shown beneficial owners should not sign off a company file.
• When you will do it again. AUSTRAC does not, on the page read for this article, set an annual hour quota. Your program can still say you refresh when the services or the people change.

Where firms waste the time

Buying a generic course and filing the certificate, without opening the firm's own program, trains people in someone else's business. Reading AUSTRAC's starter material is useful because it is the regulator's. It still has to be tied to the services this firm provides. A jeweller, a conveyancer and a tax-only accountant who does not provide a designated service are not the same class. If you are not a reporting entity, do not sit the firm through a reporting-entity course in order to feel compliant. If you are, do not send the officer to a twenty-minute video and call the program trained.

FreeAML does not issue an AUSTRAC certificate and does not time your staff. The training pages on this site are there to be read. The induction order is on the starter checklist. Use them as the content. Put the date in your own register. That is the length of the job.

Where this page stops

This page is duration. It is not the syllabus for non-specialists, which is AML training for non-specialist staff.

What the client pays

On FreeAML the firm suite is A$0. The firm emails the client a link. Verification is client-pays. On the public list a personal KYC check is A$20 and a company or trust KYB check is A$40. There is no subscription. Confirm the live amounts on FreeAML pricing. Staff training is not a client check and is not billed as one. FreeAML does not sell a training subscription.

Frequently Asked Questions