Because leaders don’t need more noise.
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Are your playbooks right for right now?
A lot is happening in the world right now. The difference between chaos and confidence is a clear map. Here’s how we can help.
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Less
Less is more. This is particularly relevant for board and executive comms. But equally relevant to many domains. Particularly technical domains. Here’s a quick thing to keep in your kitbag. If you ever find yourself reducing the font size in a slide deck or paper, or running a single idea over two pages it’s a…
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Institutionalised
During innovation surges like the one being driven by AI, institutions often fail to keep up – acting more like historians after the event than war correspondents reporting in real time. Another case of auditors bayonetting the wounded? It doesn’t have to be. Here’s why and what to do about it. A colleague, Tom (often…
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Get oriented before you paddle in
A bias for action can be helpful when the way forward is clear. But when things are in flux, sometimes the best course of action is to prepare and get your team oriented. My bias towards action was high this week. Every instinct told me to move fast. Like that moment when you activate the…
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TDA 3.0 is coming
I’ve taken three months out to reimagine the business—deeply, from first principles. The big insight is that less is more. Simplicity beats complexity.Focus beats clutter.Principles beat templates.Wayfinding beats gates. And noise, complexity and clutter are the enemy of strategy, clarity and execution. They don’t serve. They don’t scale. This isn’t just our theme for 2025…
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We’re releasing our playbook. One principle at a time.
Our blog has a new name: Signals.Same voice. Same rhythm. Sharper intent. If you’ve followed our work for a while, you’ll know how we write—real-time thinking, field-tested insights, and sharp provocations shaped by what’s happening now. That’s not changing. What’s new is what we’re putting into it. We’re sharing the guiding principles we’ve used for…
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Innovation Profiles: Why some teams clash while others click
The X-Factor in Audit & Risk Teams that no one talks about If you’ve ever experienced tension with a boss or a team member—the kind where you just can’t seem to get on the same page—there’s a good chance this is the missing piece. I’ve seen this countless times in audit and risk teams, and I’m thankful to my…
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The $10,000 hour. Why AI prompt engineering is the skill of 2025 and how to get across it quickly.
Today’s breakthrough meeting What a great way to round out the weekend. I just finished a call with a client who hadn’t used AI large language models before, but had access to Microsoft CoPilot at work. The client has a herculean project that would take many teams at least 12 months to get done. A…
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Seven things you need to know about the new Internal Audit Standards
The 2024 changes to the IIA Standards are the biggest in a generation. Here’s seven things you really need to know to get in front.
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Why the IIA’s mandatory Topical Requirements are a bad idea
There are already 223 mandatory requirements in the new internal audit standards. Topical Requirements add even more. Here’s what you need to know.
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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.
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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?
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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…
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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.
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What is the difference between coaching and consulting
Coaching, mentoring, advisory and sponsorship are all different things. This is how we think about it.
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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.
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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,…
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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…
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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…
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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.
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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.
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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…
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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…
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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.
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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…
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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?
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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.
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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Strategic Risk Management?
Opinion I’ve been deleting the word strategic from a lot of documents lately. And it’s assisting immensely. You see I’ve got this idea that the more times a person uses the word strategic, the more likely it is that the person is puffing or bluffing. In the risk and assurance space using the word strategic…
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Two Steps Forward, One Step Back
Why internal audit practice always lags and GRC snakeoil salesmen are alive and well I turned 40 recently. And my work is making me feel old. You see I’ve become that guy who says things like “back in the mid-90’s when we were rolling out CSA, we used to produce these great assurance maps…” or…
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Time to Mandate Internal Audit?
Comment The Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) has been campaigning for regulatory change in Australia for more than 10 years. Much of what they’ve been saying has fallen on deaf ears. Australia has one of the highest public exposures to listed shares as a result of mandatory superannuation. While prudent fund managers should be underweight…
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Reform required to ASX’s Principle 7?
Comment As the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) Corporate Governance Council starts its regular review of the Principles and Recommendations, the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) has fired an early salvo on the need for change. Although we’ve learned a lot from the global financial crisis and the destruction of value, the reality is that when…
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All Gone to Custard – Another take on Assurance Maps
A recent survey by the Economic Intelligence Unit indicated that 67% of companies believed they had overlapping coverage in two or more risk functions. 50% suggested there were gaps in coverage between their risk functions, and 62% believed they could get better coverage with less spend. Assurance mapping can be a useful tool for getting…
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A look back, top 10 risks for 2010
About 12 months ago I wrote the feature article for the Institute of Internal Auditors’ global e-zine on the top 10 risks for 2010. I received an email this week about the article which prompted me to have a look back at what I’d said, and also some of the comments which had been made…
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Black Swans, Turkeys, Ostriches and other Christmas Poultry – a tale of Strategic Risk
A festive story about a quest to find the elusive black swans As the global financial crisis (GFC) was starting to stabilise in Australia I talked to some of my peers to find out what was going through the minds of Australia’s prominent directors and what questions were coming up in their audit and risk…
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Is your risk framework adequate? Questions Directors, Investors and the C-Suite should ask.
Key points Despite significant investment in risk management, it still falls short in dealing with disruptive change Regulatory changes seem unlikely to get to the heart of what really matters in avoiding significant destruction of shareholder value in the future In looking through the standard disclosures on risk management, there are seven areas investors, boards…
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Governance Risk and Compliance (GRC) – The Great Risk Con
What is GRC? Is it something new that we need to be across? Or is it the latest bit of marketing spin used by software companies to lure new buyers?