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Your governance review
"The ultimate objective of governance is to ensure the creation of sustainable organizational success and stakeholder value. Therefore, governance in an organization should be more than a compliance exercise. Good governance involves giving appropriate attention to both conformance and performance, and is the backbone of the entire organizational cycle of strategic planning, resource utilization, value creation, accountability and assurance. Such a holistic approach ensures that governance is built in - integrated into all aspects of an organization."
- The International Federation of Accountants
A governance review is a great way to start to consider adopting and embedding parts or all of the SUCCEED governance system in your organisation. The aim of the review is to identify adjustments to your current performance governance for you to consider and to propose where SUCCEED might best help you next. Both the SUCCEED system and our review can stand alone or, if you have an internal audit activity, the system and review can support you in meeting the Institute of Internal Auditors’ International Performance Standard: 2110 Governance. We can work with your compliance officers, fraud investigators, internal auditors, quality managers, risk management professionals and security experts.
We are independent people who are genuinely interested and can offer objective, unbiased opinion to leaders of all types and sizes of organisation to help address complex strategic, tactical or operational challenges. We are willing to stand up and be counted on the design of solutions at the outset, as much as providing assurance (telling you how well the systems and processes designed to keep the organisation on track are working) and consulting (to improve those systems and processes).
Time and scope
A review typically takes 2-3 days, including an interactive presentation to you and your team. It starts with desktop research and us asking you for some information and asking you questions about how your business works so we can assess at a high level how well the elements of your business currently align. We'll check our understanding with you in order to identify adjustments for you to consider and to propose where SUCCEED might best help you next. Very often the review is a useful checkpoint in a company's calendar annually ahead of year end or board appraisals. Here's the information we look for and why:
Visionary
This is the governance context in which your organisation is currently situated. We examine your:
- Purpose
- Values
- Mission
- Vision
Our aim is to understand whether you should be able to promote appropriate ethics and values within the organisation. We also want to consider how you currently frame and articulate your vision for the organisation.
Strategic
The key components of the direction-setting mechanism for enhancing business performance are situated here. Its nature is driven by the values. We examine your:
- Strategy
- Governance
- Goals
- Objectives
Our aim is to understand the extent to which you are able to make strategic, tactical and operational decisions within the organisation. We also want to consider how effectively you are able to coordinate the activities of, and communication of information among, the board, external and internal auditors, other assurance providers and management.
Tactical
This is your the start of your execution process. Most organisations with sub-optimal or declining performance have low execution competence. We examine your:
- Tactics
- Engagement
- Initiatives
- Projects
Our aim is to understand the way you choose how to implement the strategy and what to do when. We also want to consider how programmes and projects are currently selected, led and managed.
Operational
This is where what your customers receive happens. It’s where companies focus most of their efforts and investment in disciplines aimed at service and experience for customers, and efficiency and productivity for the organisation. We examine your:
- Actions
- Culture
- Benefits
- Performance
Our aim is to understand the effectiveness of your organisational performance management and accountability, including what employees think about how they contribute to the organisation and how customers feel about their ability to get their job done. We also want to consider the nature of reporting at this level and upwards.
Other
In addition to the questions we ask on the topics above, we ask supplementary questions to understand your policy and procedures approach, key systems, and how you oversee and manage internal control and risk, including how you communicate on these to the relevant areas of the organisation appropriately. However our focus is on enhancing business performance and we do not supplant external or internal audit of these aspects.
