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You now have the FedNow® Receive-Only Audit, 2026 Edition. Everything you need to run a defensible internal audit of your FedNow program is in your account.
Getting started
STEP 1
Find your files
Your files are in your Payments Professor library. Sign in and open FedNow® Receive-Only Audit, 2026 Edition. You also received a confirmation email with an access link.
Download all four files before you begin. You will want the workbook and the guide open side by side during fieldwork.
STEP 2
Read two pages first
Open the Instructions tab of the workbook and read the two blocks headed Audit vs. Risk Assessment and Two Risk Columns.
Those two blocks prevent the mistakes that cost first-time users the most time, and they take about four minutes to read.
STEP 3
Scope before you test
Complete the Institution Info tab before fieldwork. Several fields decide which sections apply to you, so filling it in first prevents testing requirements that do not apply.
Chapter 5 of the guide explains how to scope a shorter engagement defensibly.
Working with the files
Two things worth knowing before you open anything, so nothing surprises you.
The workbook will not ask you for a password
The Excel workbook is protected, but you do not need a password to use it. Everything you are meant to complete is already unlocked.
Blue cells are yours. Result, Auditor Comments and Evidence, Status, Follow-Up, Finding, Exception Severity and the Finding Narrative are all fully editable, along with every field on the Institution Info tab.
You can also adjust column widths and row heights, change formatting, insert rows, sort and filter, and select and copy any cell so you can lift content into your own workpapers.
What is locked is the Payments Professor reference content: the requirement text, the citations, the risk levels and the audit procedures. That keeps the methodology intact and the citations trustworthy.
What is in the download
Audit Workpapers (Excel)
94 audit items across 12 sections, 38 rated High risk. Instructions, Institution Info and Summary tabs, then one tab per section.
User Guide (PDF)
Item-by-item commentary on all 94 items. Opens normally with no password. Printing is enabled; copying and editing are not.
Sample Audit Report (PDF)
A finished specimen report showing what good looks like.
Audit Report Template (Word)
The same report as an editable file, so you can complete it for your own institution.
If your IT department filters downloads, allow www.paymentsprofessor.com.
AUDIT CUSTOMER RATE | 50% OFF
Train the people who run the controls you are about to test
Some of what an audit turns up is not a system problem. It is a knowledge problem: staff who cannot explain cycle day rollover to a customer, operations who did not know an Active connection profile still has to sign on, a front line that treats every Request for Payment complaint as a warranty breach.
The FedNow® Certificate Series is eight one-hour classes covering the service end to end, with quizzes and a certificate of completion. Standard price $499. As an audit customer, $249.50.
Add the Certificate Series — $249.50 (50% Off)Questions as you work through it?
Write to kevin@paymentsprofessor.com. If something in the program is unclear, or you hit a requirement your institution handles in a way the audit procedure does not anticipate, say so. That feedback shapes the next edition.
Also available: the FedNow Risk Assessment line, which pairs with this audit. Your audit findings should feed your next risk assessment cycle.
Email the Professor