RISK MANAGEMENT AND BOARD ASSURANCE April 2017 Introduction - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

RISK MANAGEMENT AND BOARD ASSURANCE April 2017

Introduction • Purpose of the project • Project approach • Feedback from discussions • From Risk Management to Board Assurance • Next steps

The Project approach Interview discussions • H ow are college Governing bodies assessing and implementing strengthened assurance and risk management frameworks in the light of current developments in the sector e.g. area review, possible introduction of insolvency provision?

The Project approach Participating colleges • City of Wolverhampton College • Walsall College • Hereford School of Arts • Herefordshire and Ludlow College • North Warwickshire and South Leicester College Discussions with Clerks and Finance Directors; and where possible Chairs of Audit Committees.

Feedback - Risk management • FDs act as Risk Champions / co-ordinators of Risk Registers. • Risk management systems developed based on experience of staff. • Focused toward and linked to strategic plans. • Excel based - using likelihood & Impact as basis for scoring risk; no bespoke software used.

Feedback - Risk management • Risks assessed monthly / 6 weekly / termly by management; termly by Audit Committees / Boards. • Generally 20 to 30 risks identified as priority issues; filtered via Audit Committees to top 10 for Board purpose. • Systems subject to development and refinement commensurate with college needs -eg. embedding processes; scoring systems.

Feedback - Future challenges for boards • Key Risks identified by college management and challenged by Audit Committee - how complete and systematic is the assessment and challenge process? • Top 3 risks identified - finance (& funding) as a common thread; and a combination of Quality, Estates, Area reviews- are risks assessed on a generic framework? eg. political / financial / quality / reputational / strategic etc. • Identification and management of risk is a dynamic process - colleges striving to make registers and assurance mechanisms operate on a similar basis - not tick boxed based exercises; value added principles important.

Feedback - Future challenges for boards • Internal Audit seen as a critical friend (20 to 40 days a year) but other specialist independent assessors considered necessary to augment assurance coverage. eg HR; Funding. • Value For Money (VFM) principles an essential ingredient - focused activity to enable boards to discharge their duties over risk management. • Considerable importance attached to skill sets of a Board - training and development programmes; succession planning.

Feedback - Changing assurance arrangements • Rolling 3 year Internal Audit plans used and agreed by Boards via Audit Committees - these are used as Board Assurance Framework?- are these documents the same? who owns the framework? • Independent specialists, not necessarily Internal Audit, a growing resource to help satisfy assurance responsibilities.

Feedback - Changing assurance arrangements • Development of Management Information (MI) - KPIs, Dashboards, Heat Mapping used to assist Boards in triangulating assurance processes - eg. finance, curriculum, recruitment and retention..... • Committees and Boards more demanding and challenging of Management - but who drives the scope and coverage of assurance programmes.