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2017 started as 2016 ended, with more PSIAS reviews. Once again, there were problems with the brevity of the audit brief and so demonstrating the expanse of the planning that had been undertaken, but otherwise they were all generally good services.
Off to Brussels (hooray!) to provide training on internal controls, risk and fraud. We survived 50 minutes on the first day before Brexit and Trump came up - they are both such useful examples in the context of risk management and internal controls. I also had an interesting day training new internal auditors in London: it's lovely to see how excited people are now at the thought of a career in internal audit. In between these two training sessions, I spent a lot of time glued to my keyboard writing risk documents for the Government of Jamaica. I also had a very useful afternoon talking PSIAS reviews with CIPFA colleagues.
I managed to attend my first risk TISOnline meeting in a year on St David's Day (Welsh cakes provided) - always interesting and I left with various documents to draft and check. Later that week I worked with a group of members and senior officers to revise their risk appetite and came away buzzing. It was so clear that they use their risk appetite to make decisions and set the organisation's path. Risk management truly in action. I also spent a week in Jamaica develop risk training for government employees, a real eye opener. From Jamaica I went to Alicante to deliver fraud and ethics training and enjoy one of the best vegetarian meals I have had in a long time. And the remainder of the month was taken up with two PSIAS reviews, both of which were a challenge, but for different reasons.
The monthly trips to Jamaica, which aren't quite as glamorous as they sound, continued, this time to provide training on risk to all levels of the Government. We had some lively discussions and it was enjoyable but providing back-to-back half day training sessions for almost a week is exhausting. I managed some time out on Friday afternoon to visit the art gallery, finding the art from slave trading times very disturbing, and I went for a drive into the Blue Mountains on Saturday - it was lovely to be cool and see lush greenery and winding down the windows to smell coffee was strange. I also had a week in Lisbon (on holiday!), visiting the amazing Sintra and other Lisbon museums. And I finished the month by providing audit committee training, my first for a while.
Another month of travelling, starting in East Anglia to carry out a follow-up of the PSIAS reviews I had previously completed and moving on to a complete PSIAS review. I had my final trip to Jamaica to carry out risk identification and risk appetite setting workshops. The output was mixed - facilitating more than 30 people is not easy. And it poured with rain, resulting in flooding, chaos and general mayhem. I went straight from Kingston to Alicante, via Gatwick. Thank goodness for business class ... There we trained on ethics and fraud again, with some groups of more than 50, which proved challenging. However, the views from their offices and the evening strolls along the front more than compensated. I ended the month in another risk identification workshop - again it didn't go to plan, but we have one well-described risk and another eight or so to work on.
With the election (local government), new audit committee members have been recruited and need training and that seems to be the theme for the summer. I kicked off with a lively evening session in Kent, followed by internal audit training and developing EC slides for their revised training. And I ended the month with a trip to Cornwall to talk to an audit committee there and take advantage of the trip by spending a few days flexing my National Trust card and enjoying cream teas, both Cornish and Devonian.
The elections have led to an explosion of audit committee training and I had a short visit to York to meet members of three different audit committees. Another successful day I think as members left full of good cheer and officers left grumbling about the additional work I've probably created for them. At the end of the month I had a fun afternoon working on risk appetite matters: it's so good to see risk appetite being used in practice and to know that what I've suggested works! I also had a quick trip to Brussels to start planning for the revised EC training.
A week of singing with the fabulous Voces 8 and a week of PSIAS reviewing made for a nicely balanced summer. Once again I was shocked to find a chief executive who has no interest in the information and support that audit can bring but I'm hoping that the increased focus on risk by the team will change this.
Training and PSIAS reviews once again dominated my month. I had a few days in Brussels piloting and then revising the new slides. It was lovely to talk to an engaged and informed audience, but I do wonder how representative they are of the likely "normal" attendees. In a complete contrast to the August PSIAS, this team was very much part of the overall governance arrangements in the authority and an important source of support and help. I ended the month attending a book launch (a first for me), for The Governor's new book on boardroom behaviour. His animal metaphors are interesting and converting the Nolan principles into Ooh Lisa amused everyone. I also attended the TISOnline risk board: it's always a learning experience for me and I hope that my contributions are also useful.
This month included a full PSIAS review of a partnership (much more complex than I had allowed for) and my first PSIAS self-assessment validation (easier than anticipated). As ever I learnt from these and have built that learning into other PSIAS bids and advice that I give. I also delivered audit training to an investigation team to support their move to undertaking fraudits. Apparently they had not been looking forward to the day, expecting to be bored, so I was really pleased with the positive feedback at the end. That said, I'm still not sure that they quite grasped that fraudits are proactive, looking for weaknesses in systems that could result in problems rather than a proactive hunt for frauds that have happened and investigation after the event.
I started the month with an audit committee observation: these are always fascinating and I really should go to more of them to support the training that I undertake. I had a week in Brussels training on audit and auditing risk management with engaged (and challenging) groups for each. The talk routinely turned to Brexit and Trump: such excellent examples of risk management gone wrong. This was followed by a full PSIAS review and two self-assessment validations. I remain astonished at the many different ways of doing internal audit. I had a fun afternoon discussing audit committees with some interested members and then back to Brussels for more training courses. I'm deeply frustrated that, just as I have enough points to upgrade to Carte Blanche, they have changed their loyalty scheme and I'm still stuck without my privilages.
The travelling levels remained high, training in Brussels and Wales and being transported in a police van to my hotel in snowy Gwent. Definitely poor risk planning on my part for that journey. And then I could relax into the cold that I'd been heading off for the past week to get ready for Christmas in Portugal. Boa Natal!
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