The FCA will form a view of a firm early, and it is usually formed on governance. Boards that cannot show how a decision was reached, or who owned it, generate scrutiny that has nothing to do with the underlying business.

Board and committee effectiveness reviews

An independent assessment of whether your board and its committees are actually governing: information quality, challenge, decision records, and whether the right things reach the right forum.

SM&CR framework reviews

Statements of responsibilities, responsibilities maps, handover arrangements, certification and fitness and propriety processes. Particular attention to whether senior managers could evidence reasonable steps if asked, which is where most frameworks fail.

Senior manager readiness and coaching

One-to-one support for individuals taking on a senior management function, or preparing for a supervisory interview. Delivered by someone who has conducted those interviews from the other side.

Three lines of defence design

Structuring risk and compliance so the lines are genuinely distinct, proportionate to the size of the firm, and not simply a diagram in a policy document.

Risk appetite and management information

Translating risk appetite into thresholds a board can monitor, and MI that shows when they are breached.

Governance for growth and change

Governance frameworks for firms scaling, entering new markets, launching digital propositions, or preparing for a transaction. Governance that fitted a twenty-person firm rarely survives contact with a hundred-person one.