Our menu
We only engage in areas that we can do unusually well. These are our House Specials and Done Differently menu items.
We also innovate to meet today’s challenges. These are the items in our Test Kitchen.
Here’s what’s on the menu.
House specials
Our House Specials are areas that we’re usually good at. They’re where we can deliver higher value at lower cost because we’ve already tested all of the options.
Risk function design & transformation
Maturity models are not the answer. Clarity on desired impact is.
Our approach prioritises the 16 areas a risk team could be leading and build consensus on which ones are important and not just urgent or required by someone else. From there we’ll accelerate excellence through our Signal Chain process.
Audit function design and transformation
Standards and maturity models are not the answer. They’re mechanisms for ensuring you don’t fall too far behind. We’ll work with you to shift from activities to impact, either by sponsorship or stealth and get Broccoli Pizza on your menu. (Yes, that’s not a typo).
Reporting that doesn’t suck
Cognitive load is real. And clarity is rare. We help solve that. When this is clear then everything else falls into place.
Audit & Risk Committee delivery
2-3 hours per quarter to get across everything. That’s the Jon of the ARC and what we call driving the information torrent through the eye of the proverbial needle. Drawing on over 15 years in the ARC hot seat we help audit and risk teams to understand what their ARCs need from them and hit the mark every single time.
Emerging, Strategic and Material Risk
If you’re not playing here, you’re not on the field. At the enterprise level – irrespective of sector, emerging, material and strategic risk are the main game. But they require different capabilities to everything else on the risk register.
The Test Kitchen
The Test Kitchen is our innovation hub. It’s where we work on what’s not yet standard or readily available, but should be.
Audit Reimagined (with AI)
AI will change everything. But how do you engage strategically? If you could delegate nearly everything to an AI, what would you keep? What is the human superpower in each role? How do you supervise work? In every step of the audit value chain? What proven methods stay? And which ones is it time to retire? This is not data analytics, its is audit transformation. Audit Reimagined with AI.
Brand and reputation
Does your organisation’s actions match what the organisation says about itself? If not, you’ve got reputational risk growing and a future event or valuation event looming. In an era where brand is the most valuable asset a company has this is where culture and strategic risk coverage. Our approach operationalises the national webinar the Australian Institute of Company Directors commissioned us to do while the Hayne Royal Commission was in full flight, drawing on brand, social, deeds vs words and “more feedback than Jimi Hendrix.”
Integrated assurance
An assurance map is a good start, but that’s all it is. The real deal requires full coordination and integration. A joined up approach across teams and shared language and infrastructure. With no unintended overlaps or gaps on the things that matter.
The energy climate nexus
Our grey rhinos and environmental work started here. Planet and energy system resilience. Whole systems transformation at scale. This something we’ve been at since just after the global financial crisis and follow closely across the entire value chain through the lenses of market shaping. disruptive strategy and business model innovation.
Done differently
These are things that often done, but are more confusing and less impactful than they should be. Or maybe just hard work. Here’s our approach to making this work more impactful… and even fun.
External Quality Assessments
An independent review that doesn’t clarify strategy and accelerate impact is a missed opportunity and dead money. In our view an EQAs shouldn’t be a tick box exercise. But they don’t have to be expensive or conflicted either. If you want to use your EQA spend to help set and accelerate your strategy with sponsor buy-in and excitement, without an agenda to pull punches or sell services, here’s how we do that.
Risk appetite
A great risk appetite can align the board and set and test strategy. Many just set limits. It’s the difference between an exciting menu or an allergen list Here’s our take on risk appetite.
Off menu
Many of our House Specials started as client needs or requests that weren’t already on the menu. As long as they’re “in our wheelhouse” and we can execute well we’re happy to take these on. Use our existing menu as a guide of what we’re good at and if there’s a likely fit let’s talk.