FREE TEMPLATE
WISP Training Documentation Template
Create an organized record of employee cybersecurity training, including what was covered, who participated, when training occurred, and what supporting evidence was retained.
Setup: 5–10 minutes · Cost: Free · Email required: No
Built for accounting, tax, bookkeeping, and payroll firms.
Turn Training Activity Into an Organized Documentation Packet
A firm may provide useful employee cybersecurity training and still struggle to answer basic documentation questions later. Completion certificates may live in one folder, attendance in a spreadsheet, onboarding notes in email, and course references in a vendor portal.
This resource brings those pieces together so the firm can document what was taught, who received it, when it happened, what evidence exists, and what follow-up is still needed.
This template documents training. It does not determine whether the training itself was sufficient for every legal, regulatory, contractual, or cybersecurity requirement.
Training Session Record
Document one employee security-awareness activity: what happened, when, who delivered it, and who it was intended for.
Topics, Objectives & Training Materials
Document what the training actually covered and what supporting material was used.
Training Topics Covered
Select every topic actually included in this training activity.
What Should Employees Understand After This Training?
Record intended learning objectives. Documenting an objective does not prove mastery.
Training Materials Used
Reference the course, presentation, handout, video, policy, checklist, or internal file retained by the firm. This tool does not upload files.
Participant & Completion Record
Document who was assigned training and whether it was completed. Consider initials, employee IDs, or other internal identifiers instead of unnecessary personal information.
| Employee / Identifier | Role | Employment Type | Assigned Date | Completion Date | Status | Acknowledgment | Notes | Actions |
|---|
Training Evidence & Follow-Up
Document what evidence exists and what should happen next. These are organizational fields, not a claim that every item is legally required.
Training Evidence Checklist
Use the evidence appropriate to your firm’s training process, WISP, internal policies, and applicable obligations.
Where Is Supporting Evidence Stored?
Document the internal location. Do not upload evidence to this public page.
Follow-Up & Refresher Plan
Training documentation should make it easier to see what happens next—not only what already happened.
Optional Employee / Contractor Training Acknowledgment
This acknowledgment confirms participation or receipt. It does not guarantee comprehension, compliance, or mastery.
Annual Employee Security Training Summary
Use this section to summarize the year. It is an organizational summary, not an annual compliance certification.
Topics Covered During the Year
Review & Print
Review the record, then print a completed packet, save it as a PDF, print a blank packet, or export participant records as CSV.
Before relying on the packet for recordkeeping, review it against your firm’s WISP, internal policies, applicable requirements, and retention practices.
What Should Employee Security Training Documentation Include?
A useful documentation packet should make it possible to understand the training activity without reconstructing it from scattered files later.
What Was Taught?
Record the training title, topics, learning objectives, and materials used.
When Was It Provided?
Record relevant assignment, training, and completion dates so the timing of the activity is clear.
Who Received It?
Document employees, roles, seasonal staff, or contractors where relevant, using appropriate internal identifiers.
How Was Completion Documented?
Identify whether completion was shown through attendance, platform completion, a certificate, acknowledgment, or another method.
What Evidence Exists?
Reference the presentation, course, completion record, certificate, acknowledgment, or other supporting evidence retained internally.
What Happens Next?
Document outstanding training, follow-up actions, the next refresher, and the next review.
Documentation Does Not Replace Training
A detailed training record does not make weak training effective. Documentation should reflect the training the firm actually provided—not create a record for activity that never occurred.
Document the training you actually provide. The purpose of this packet is to organize what occurred, who participated, what evidence exists, and what still needs follow-up.
Training Tracking and Training Documentation Serve Different Purposes
Employee Cybersecurity Training Tracker
Best for ongoing administration across many employees and assignments: Who was assigned? Was it completed? When? What remains outstanding?
WISP Training Documentation Template
Best for creating a fuller record of a training event or period: What was taught? Who received it? What materials were used? What evidence exists? What follow-up was identified?
Don’t Lose Documentation for Seasonal Employees
Tax practices may onboard temporary staff quickly during filing season. The documentation process should make it possible to identify which seasonal employees received training, when they received it, what topics were covered, whether onboarding training was completed, and whether follow-up was assigned.
Document Refreshers, Not Just Initial Onboarding
Training records should be capable of showing recurring awareness activity rather than only the first day an employee joined the firm. A simple annual record might show a tax-season phishing refresher, an incident-reporting review, MFA and account-security training, payment-verification awareness, and an AI-assisted impersonation refresher at different points during the year.
Document the Topics Employees Need in Real Work
Incident Reporting Should Be a Documented Training Topic
A useful record can show that employees were told what should be reported, who to contact, how to report, and that uncertainty is enough reason to ask.
Document Phishing Awareness and Verification Training
Training documentation can show whether employees received awareness related to suspicious email, unexpected attachments, login requests, impersonation, verification, and incident reporting.
Give Employees an In-the-Moment Verification Tool
The Suspicious Email Verification Checklist can reinforce the practical behaviors taught during phishing-awareness training.
OFFICIAL GUIDANCE
How Training Documentation Fits Into a WISP
IRS — Employee Management and Training
Current IRS WISP guidance identifies employee management and training as one of the core areas of a tax professional’s WISP and emphasizes that the plan should be appropriate to the firm’s size, scope, complexity, and customer-data sensitivity. Read current IRS WISP guidance →
IRS Publication 5708 — Sample WISP Materials
IRS Publication 5708 includes sample WISP materials and an Employee/Contractor Acknowledgement of Understanding. The publication describes acknowledgment documentation as a way to keep a record of training and understanding of WISP policies. Secure Team’s acknowledgment is an educational organizational template and is not the IRS form. Review Publication 5708 →
IRS Publication 5709 — Maintaining the WISP
Publication 5709 says a WISP should be maintained and updated and notes that making the WISP available to employees for training purposes is encouraged. Review Publication 5709 →
FTC Safeguards Rule — Staff Training
FTC guidance for covered financial institutions calls for security-awareness training and regular refreshers. It does not prescribe this Secure Team packet or require every field included here. Review FTC Safeguards Rule guidance →
Important: This template is designed to help firms organize supporting training records around broader employee-training expectations. It is not an IRS or FTC form, and the exact documentation appropriate for a firm depends on its own WISP, policies, and applicable obligations.
How Long Should Training Records Be Kept?
There is no universal retention period supplied by this template. The appropriate period can depend on applicable law, firm policies, contractual obligations, insurance requirements, WISP procedures, HR policies, and the type of documentation involved.
Use the retention period established by your firm’s policies and applicable requirements. Do not treat the existence of this template as a record-retention rule.
Continue With the Right Secure Team Resource
Need to Track Training Across Employees?
Use the Employee Cybersecurity Training Tracker to organize assignments, completion dates, outstanding training, and future refreshers.
Review the Broader Training Process
Use the WISP Employee Training Checklist to review onboarding, recurring awareness, tracking, documentation, and annual review.
How Organized Is Your Training Program?
Use the WISP Employee Training Readiness Assessment to evaluate how structured your employee-awareness process is.
Need to Plan the Next Training Topic?
Use the Annual Security Awareness Training Calendar to plan recurring employee-awareness topics throughout the year.
Documenting Seasonal Employee Training?
Use the Seasonal Tax Employee Security Onboarding Checklist to review the security expectations seasonal staff should understand.
SECURE TEAM
Move From Manual Training Records to Repeatable Training Management
Secure Team is being designed to help accounting and tax firms assign practical cybersecurity-awareness training, track completion, organize recurring refreshers, and maintain straightforward employee training records.
Documentation becomes easier when training assignments, completion, and recurring awareness are part of the same process.
WISP Training Documentation Template FAQ
What is WISP training documentation?
It is an organized record showing what employee security training occurred, who received it, when it occurred, what topics and materials were involved, what evidence was retained, and what follow-up may be needed.
What should employee cybersecurity training records include?
Useful records can include the training title, date, trainer or provider, delivery method, audience, topics, learning objectives, materials, participant completion information, evidence retained, and follow-up or refresher plans.
Do accounting firms need to document cybersecurity training?
Current IRS and FTC guidance places importance on employee training within information-security programs, but the documentation appropriate to a firm depends on its WISP, policies, and applicable obligations. This Secure Team packet is an organizational tool, not a legal determination.
Does the IRS require a specific WISP training form?
The IRS provides WISP resources and sample materials, including an Employee/Contractor Acknowledgement of Understanding in Publication 5708, but this Secure Team template is not an IRS form.
Does the FTC require a specific employee training log?
FTC Safeguards Rule guidance calls for security-awareness training and regular refreshers for covered financial institutions, but this Secure Team packet is not an FTC-prescribed training-log format.
Should employee training completion dates be recorded?
Recording completion dates can make a training record clearer and easier to administer. Whether a particular record is required should be determined from the firm’s policies and applicable obligations.
Should firms keep security-awareness training certificates?
If certificates are produced, they can be useful supporting evidence. This template lets the firm document where certificates are stored without uploading them to Secure Team.
Should seasonal employee cybersecurity training be documented?
Documenting seasonal training can help a firm understand who received onboarding or refresher training, when it occurred, what was covered, and whether follow-up remains outstanding.
Should contractors be included in training records?
Where contractors receive security training or are covered by firm policies, the firm may find it useful to document that activity. The appropriate scope depends on the relationship, access, policies, and applicable requirements.
What is a security-training acknowledgment?
An acknowledgment can document that a person participated in or received specified training and had an opportunity to ask questions. It should not be treated as proof that the person mastered every topic.
Does every employee need to sign an acknowledgment?
Not necessarily. Whether an acknowledgment is appropriate or required depends on the firm’s policies and applicable requirements. The optional acknowledgment in this resource is an organizational tool.
How should recurring security-awareness training be documented?
Record the refresher topic, date, audience, completion information, materials or evidence retained, and any next refresher or follow-up action.
How long should employee security-training records be retained?
There is no universal retention period supplied by this resource. Use the retention period established by your firm’s policies and applicable legal, contractual, insurance, HR, and WISP requirements.
What is the difference between a training tracker and a training documentation template?
A tracker is best for ongoing assignment and completion administration across employees. A documentation template creates a fuller supporting record of a training event or period, including topics, materials, evidence, and follow-up.
Can this template be printed?
Yes. The tool includes both a completed-record print option and a blank printable packet.
Can this template be saved as a PDF?
Yes. Use the Print Completed Record / Save as PDF option and choose your browser’s PDF destination.
Does Secure Team receive the information entered into the template?
No. Information entered into the browser tool is stored locally in the browser and is not transmitted to Secure Team by this resource.
Does completing this template make my firm WISP compliant?
No. The template is an educational organizational resource and does not create or certify a complete WISP or determine regulatory compliance.
Educational Use Only
This template is an educational organizational resource. It does not create or certify a complete WISP, determine regulatory compliance, prescribe a required record-retention period, prove that training was legally sufficient, or replace legal, cybersecurity, HR, compliance, or record-retention advice.