The Davies Report Archives

  • Insights from the Global Internal Audit Standards Glossary

    Can you understand an entire body of work from reading the glossary? Maybe. Here’s the first in a series of first impressions on the Global Internal Audit Standards.

  • Why everyone needs a Nigel Godrich in their life

    The Beatles had George Martin. Beck and Radiohead had Nigel Godrich. Who have you got helping you?

  • Sleepwalking into structural decline

    Change is rarely linear. Small changes can add up to massive achievements or strategic risk and structural decline. All leaders need to take a longer term view. Here’s how.

  • Australian Government Climate Risk Assessment

    Envisaging the first, second and third order impacts of climate change requires a lot of thought. The Australian Government’s new climate risk assessment is a great starting point.

  • What does your risk function need to be great at – the results

    Designing the right portfolio, position description and search brief for the Chief Risk Officer is an evolving task. We decided to tackle this systematically. Here’s what we found.

  • Setting your risk function up for success

    Chief Risk Officer role function and portfolio design are highly specialised and evolving. Priorities and focus need to match to what the organisation needs. Here’s how we tackled this.

  • Seasons Greetings and 2023 wrap

    A quick note from me after another very full year. The year TDA went global For years I’ve made the case for accessing the best talent in the world, and not just in the city in which people are based. This was a call to arms meant for others, but in 2023 people took me…

  • Thought Leaders vs Influencers

    There are a lot of new thought leaders around. How to you spot a genuine one, and what is the difference betwene the new crowd and the ones that have been at it for the past few decades.

  • What is the difference between coaching and consulting

    Coaching, mentoring, advisory and sponsorship are all different things. This is how we think about it.

  • Our Submission to the IIA Standards Board

    IIA ran an unusual process of making all submissions private and not available to the public. A number of thought leaders have made their views public. We’ll be running a ruler over their response in due course. Here’s our submission in full. Dear Team IIA Exposure Draft Submission IIA ran an unusual process of making…

  • What you need to know about the IIA Exposure Draft

    IIA’s consultation period on the proposed IIA Standards ends shortly. There’s a lot in it and too much for many to get through. Here’s our quick summary of what’s in it, what’s working and what needs to be done to bring it home. Please use and share if you find it useful. And please do…

  • The Davies Report – February 2023 – Flow State February

    Flow state February Welcome to the February edition of the Davies Report, our irregular bulletin for progressive and emerging audit and risk leaders. In this edition: January reset Back in March 2021 I commented on the early signs of widespread burnout that was emerging after the first year of the pandemic. This is now well accepted, showing…

  • Chat GPT AI meet up

    “AI won’t take your job, but someone using it might.” Chat GPT AI meet up It’s hard to open LinkedIn without someone talking about the implications of ChatGPT.  Long-time collaborator Tom McLeod and I have been putting it through its paces since day 6 of the public beta. We’ve had a chance to explore some…

  • The Davies Report – July – Lock in your talent, and your providers

    In this edition, we focus on talent – specifically risk and assurance talent in whatever form you may buy or hire it. We discuss the market, retention, tips on burnout, focus and simplification.  We also briefly discuss changing risk profiles and provide four questions for you to know if yours is in good shape.  What…

  • Video Summary: How to measure CRO effectiveness

    If you’re running a risk maturity process without getting clarity on intention, you need to stop and read this first. We give a framework on how to think about it.

  • 2021 reset – why this year is different and what to do about it

    2021 was always going to be a different year. But I’d like to narrow it down a bit to the psyche and energy of you as a leader. Normally in this part of the world people would take the summer to step back, reflect and get into the new year with fresh eyes, fresh energy,…

  • What does your risk team need to be great at?

    Throughout October we’re looking at CRO and risk role clarity. Are you clear on what you need from your risk team? Take our free diagnostic to find out.

  • From compliance to effective control

    At a glance – from compliance to effective control. A framework to help untangle conversations about #compliance, #internalcontrol, #quality systems, #improvement, #riskmanagement #assurance and #culture.

  • Nothing’s binary anymore.

    Shrodinger’s Cat walks into a bar. And doesn’t. A theme this week has been on trying to predict the future – whether one outcome or another will be the likely result.

  • Agile Internal Audit – from theory to practice

    Todd Davies give a quick recap on a today’s session on practical application of agile principles in a way that dramatically shifts towards delivering on the agile promise.

  • How internal audit adds value in addressing COVID-19 risks – Interview with Richard Chambers of the IIA

    The occasion for the video Following on from the LinkedIn video series, Richard Chambers – Global President and CEO of the Institute of Internal Auditors asked Tom and Todd to share their thoughts as part of the launch of IIA’s new flagship Insights and Advice video series. The topic was How internal audit adds value…

  • Daily Broadcast: Mission complete

    In February 2020 the world was at a tipping point. CoVID was becoming widespread things looked grim. It had the early signs of one of those zombie apocalypse movies where everyone strips the stores of toilet paper. You might remember the scenes when everyone was starting to lose their minds and there was the start…

  • Video series: Risk and governance implications of COVID – final tranche

    In each brief video we unpack 3-5 key issues and give 2-3 take aways to help you get clarity and take action during COVID.

  • Video series: Risk and governance implications of COVID and beyond w/e 10 April 2020

    In each brief video we unpack 3-5 key issues and give 2-3 take aways to help you get clarity and take action during COVID.

  • Video series: Risk and governance implications of COVID and beyond w/e 3 April 2020

    Each video is around 4 minutes long and unpacks 3-5 key issues + provides 2-3 take aways to help you get clarity and take action.

  • The Davies Report – special pandemic edition – March 2020

    Different times call for a different response Welcome to this special edition of The Davies Report. I’m sure you’re being inundated right now with information and offers to help, so we’ve taken care to keep things brief – to help you focus on the most important priorities. Staying oriented and leading effectively During a period of…

  • Video series: Risk and governance implications of COVID and beyond | Launch video + series w/e 27 March 2020

    Different times require a different response. This daily video series provides 3-5 key actionable things that leaders can do during a period of massive disruption.

  • Video series: Risk and governance implications of COVID and beyond

    Different times require a different response. This daily video series provides 3-5 key actionable things that leaders can do during a period of massive disruption.

  • Video series: Risk and governance implications of COVID and beyond

    Different times require a different response. This daily video series provides 3-5 key actionable things that leaders can do during a period of massive disruption.

  • Service update – remote support during COVID and beyond

    As many are shifting into remote working we thought it timely to give you an update on how we can help. We have been running distributed teams since inception in 2007 and shifted into remote service and support as our preferred delivery mode during our launch of Project Emu in 2012 (covering more ground with…

  • Video series: Risk and governance implications of COVID and beyond | Launch video

    Different times require a different response. This daily video series provides 3-5 key actionable things that leaders can do during a period of massive disruption.

  • From the Archive – Risk and Responsibility

    In 2009 in the period immediately following the global financial crisis, University Colleges Australia (then AHAUCHI) held a breakthrough conference on the future of educational spaces and the role of colleges in Australia. It was an impressive program that brought together different voices and perspectives.  A handful of speakers were interviewed ahead of the conference…

  • The Davies Report – November 2019

    Insecure animals are the ones that bite you. In this edition: The regulators are revolting Cognitive overload – time for a prune? ASIC slams risk reporting Is internal audit reporting also losing its way? Are your RM, IC, and A effective and appropriate?

  • Risk reporting, Douglas Adams and the number 42.

    Risk reporting leaves a lot to be desired. We did a national study to find out what’s good and how to make it work. Here’s what we found.

  • The Davies Report – Summer 2018

    Note: This is a cut down version of our subscriber-only newsletter. The full newsletter contains exclusive content. If you’d like to receive the full edition please follow the prompts at the end of this page. What we’ve been up to lately 2018 has been a very big year for us.  It has been a year…

  • The Davies Report Summer 2017 – working at a scale and pace worthy of our times

    Are you working at a scale and pace worthy of our times? What we’ve been up to lately As signposted in our last bulletin we have been shifting our focus to trying to help as many organisations as possible (see more on that in our 2017 manifesto below). The result of this is that Q4…

  • The Davies Report – Spring 2016 edition – deep dives, hot seats, wet lettuce, fondue, bow ties and custard

    Welcome to Spring (southern hemisphere) Thanks for taking time out to read our seasonal update for Audit & Risk leaders. As usual this time of year comes on the back of audit committee season, annual reporting and all things to do with year end wrap-up for companies with a June year end.  This year’s spring…

  • The Davies Report – December 2015 Edition

    Seasons greetings! Thanks for taking time out to read our end of year wrap for Audit & Risk leaders. In this edition we’ll be giving you a quick summary of what we’ve been doing over the last six months, some of our thoughts and tips for 2016. In this edition: What we’ve been up to…

  • Davies Report Bumper Edition – July 2015

    Thanks for taking time to open our infrequent newsletter and our apologies for the long period between editions. There are a number of issues and trends that are hot in the risk and assurance space which we wanted to make you aware of. 1. New requirements kick in for listed companies (Principle 7)2. Updated audit…

  • July 2014 Newsletter

    Optimise your governance, risk and assurance. Get it humming. Current trends During this quarter we’ve been working around Australia across the private, government and not for profit sectors.  Four key themes have come up for us in recent months. 1. Disruption (strategic risk) 2. Risk appetite 3. Assurance frameworks 4. Stakeholder alignment 1. Disruption (Strategic risk) “Operational risk…

  • March 2014 newsletter

    Welcome to our March newsletter. This has been an important week in internal audit and corporate governance in this part of the world.  IIA’s SOPAC conference was held this week, bringing together leading thinkers locally and internationally and driving a flurry of new ideas and research.  In addition the ASX Corporate Governance Council issued the…

  • End of year wrap / Project Emu

    Festive Greetings / Another Big Year As 2014 rolls to an end, I just wanted to take the opportunity to thank you for your interest and support in what has been another big year for us at TDA. 2014 Highlights  This has been a very big year for us. Here’s a few highlights. Project Emu…

  • Our take on the recent changes to the IIA Standards (free white paper)

    Video: What you need to know about the changes in 90 seconds.This month the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) released their latest revisions to their global standards.  These standards come into effect from 1 January 2013. Much has been written about these changes, making it difficult to determine what’s really important, if anything. At first…

  • Doing More with Less

    In this month’s piece, we shift from our usual focus on risk and assurance effectiveness, to risk and assurance efficiency.  In other words, how to do more with less. ** Snapshot  Budget uncertainty and cost pressures remain widespread and are driving four common responses: 1. Cost cutting2. Defending existing budgets 3. Reshaping the audit program…

  • End of year wrap

    2011 was an amazing year for us and for our clients as we helped them get the most out of their risk and assurance functions. We gave advice to leading companies on their governance practices. We helped them make the case for an approach to integrated assurance. We saw through a category strategy for internal…

  • GRC – The Great Risk Con revisited

    “Use caution with Forrester Waves and Gartner Magic Quadrants.” Leading GRC Analyst.  In 2008 I wrote a piece for Risk Management Magazine called GRC – The Great Risk Con.  The article went on to make a number of controversial comments ranging from an inference which suggested that anyone who uses the GRC term may not know what they’re…

  • 2012 Prophecy – The death of that great ponzi scheme – the industrial age

    2012 is a year which comes up in a range of mythology as a period of great change. It seems everyone from the Mayans to the Mesoamericans and even Vishnu herself allude to a period of transition and renewal.  Given my comments on black swans in the 2010 Christmas edition of this bulletin, I figured…

  • Failing to keep pace with change – the biggest risk of all

    If you compare today’s stock exchange list with the same list from 10 years ago, you’ll see some big players missing. Some collapsed. Some lost relevance. Some lost value, and were gobbled up before their market value could be regained.  The single thread in nearly all of these cases is simple — the conditions changed…

  • Risk management – part of the problem or part of the solution?

    Todd Davies asks if a changing environment is a new norm – and explains how risk professionals can cope. Change is happening at a greater scale than ever before. We see it every day. This creates great uncertainty for the organisations that we serve, and should be a boon for us as risk professionals. After…

  • Could internal audit have prevented the News Corp Scandal?

    Viewpoint Could the internal audit team at News Corp have identified and clamped down on the illegal activities of their journalists? Todd Davies doesn’t think so. The News of the World scandal is causing ripple effects around the world, with commentators in Australia and abroad beginning to ask questions about News Corp’s corporate governance. They…