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The Future of Compliance

It is often only when something goes wrong that the focus turns to compliance. Why did this happen? What went wrong? Recent corporate governance failures in Australia are a timely reminder of the need for vigilance when it comes to compliance. It would be fair to say that in some organisations there is passive resistance [...]

Procurement in Government

Note to readers: This blog is focused on government procurement. It is relevant to entities at all levels of government, including local, state, and federal. Most of the examples used in this blog will be drawn from the Commonwealth of Australia. However, the principles discussed are relevant to all government entities. For government entities, procurement

Designing an Effective EOFY Assurance Program for a Commonwealth Entity

For Finance Teams, the last half of the financial year brings a flurry of activity. First, there is FBT season with the FBT year closing on 31 March. Then, just three months later it is end-of-financial-year (EOFY). During this period, the workload is unrelenting. The focus is completing the next group of tasks and keeping moving

Innovation: Imagining and Creating the Future

My first memories of a telephone are quite vivid in my mind: It was a big wooden box attached to the wall of the hallway in our house. It had a handle on the side that you had to wind before you could use it. You could talk into a funnel shaped device that came

Navigating Risks with Wisdom and Preparedness

A wise person once said, "Risk management is not about avoiding risks, but about navigating through them with wisdom and preparedness". In my view, this has never been truer. In this blog, I am going to put forward three propositions. First, risk management is becoming increasingly important. Second, the old risk management tools won’t cut it

Managing Probation and Employee Performance

"Managing people is not a science, it’s an art. It requires creativity, flexibility, and a lot of patience." – Unknown Today we are looking at two important components of people management. First, we are going to look at the importance of the probation process. Then we are going to consider staff performance management more broadly. Having

Safety First

In 2019, a NSW organisation was fined $225,000 after it pleaded guilty to an offence under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011. In 2020, a Western Australian organisation was fined $330,000 for a series of workplace breaches. The cost of not managing safety properly can potentially be crippling for an organisation – not only financially,