Internal Audit and Risk Assurance

Bishop Fleming's Internal Audit Service is designed to provide assurance and peace of mind about your company's risk management and control processes. With our service, you can rest assured that everything is happening as you think it is and that your company is protected against potential risks.

The Internal Audit Service offers a range of core internal audits, from pure internal compliance to wider risk-based, assurance-focused audits, as well as bespoke specific advisory reviews to help you answer particular questions.

What is Internal Audit?

Internal audit is an independent check and support function that helps organisations change, strengthen, and operate better. It is critical for any organisation to know that the controls on which it relies to mitigate key risks are working effectively in practice and, if not, having available pragmatic, practical suggestions to bolster and strengthen these core controls.

Bishop Fleming’s Risk Assurance Services provides your business with clarity about what your risks are and, equally, your ability to react to them. This is rapidly becoming a more explicit requirement across both the public and private sectors alike.

We offer several areas of support, providing pragmatic, solution-focused, clear and easily understood advice:

• Working with you to assess and strengthen how you monitor, manage and steer your business.
   
• Helping you reinforce your risk management, governance and internal control environment.
   
• Providing training, advice and related support to boards, audit committees and senior teams to enable and evolve your own assurance frameworks so you know how well you are mitigating risks in practice.
   
• Carrying out more bespoke specific advisory reviews to help you answer particular questions, for example, to demonstrate regulatory or contractual compliance in practice or focus on the efficiency or effectiveness of one of your functions or services.
   
• Helping set up or tailor your risk register/maps, widening this to fuller assurance “stocktakes” / mapping, facilitating risk workshops and training, implementing and strengthening your organisation-wide risk management systems, processes and culture.

Bishop Fleming’s Governance Advisory Services support organisations in delivering sustainable value to stakeholders. Services include, but are not limited to, external reviews of governance, training, succession planning, board management, corporate governance advisory, governance structures and code of conduct.

Our suite of services is designed to allow an independent view, supporting the board by providing triangulation and assurance of practice within an organisation by focusing on:

Education

• Our experts understand all the Trust governance frameworks as they work with them daily, both at Bishop Fleming and in their own positions as Trustees of Academy Trusts.
   
• Using various options for external reviews, we can ensure you comply fully with the Governance Handbook, Academy Trust Handbook, the Companies Act 2006, and the Charities Acts.

Charities

• Our team support charities by providing financial reviews and projections, strategic advice, due diligence, evaluating governance structures, compliance with the charity governance code and offering training to trustees.

Corporate Governance 

• Providing strategic advice, financial due diligence, evaluating the effectiveness of governance structures, offering training on regulatory or compliance requirements, and undertaking board effectiveness reviews. We support organisations with an independent evaluation of accountability structures, strategy and effective decision-making.

What is Governance?

Governance is the rules, practices, and processes that enable an organisation to be accountable and authoritative while maximising outcomes and benefits.  Although it is often associated with schools and charities, governance is increasingly important for profit-making organisations, as it allows them to make strategic decisions that take account of all parties involved.

Our expertise extends to vital aspects such as establishing and maintaining secure access to financial systems, implementing robust password policies, and overseeing meticulous data capture.

Additionally, we offer comprehensive cybersecurity awareness training for your staff, empowering them to navigate the digital landscape with confidence.