© InvestAssure 2015 paul.wenman@investassure.net

Re-shaping Assurance

Whether you are concerned with supply chains, investment portfolios or customer bases, there is

a need to get assurance that business risks are being managed. Traditionally, the audit has been

the main tool for achieving this. But many doubt the overall cost-effectiveness of large corporate

audit programmes. Although the audit will always be an important tool, we believe that it can be

more cost-effective as part of a wider assurance process which uses web based support.

By combining SMART and NIMBUS and applying them intelligently in conjunction with targeted

audits, we believe much more cost-effective assurance and risk management can be achieved.

SMART

SMART facilitates the rapid communication of corporate requirements (policies, codes, etc.) and

guidelines across a wide network of users. Combined with integral tools for self-assessment,

benchmarking, accessing good practice guidance, improvement planning and optional reporting,

the SMART can form the core tool for an assurance programme.

NIMBUS

NIMBUS monitors the growing amount of 3rd party information becoming available via web

sources on corporate allegations, facility incidents, non-compliances, corruption, labour disputes

etc. In many cases this information would not be identified unless and until an audit is

undertaken, resulting in potentially significant unknown risks. NIMBUS provides feedback all year

round—unlike an audit, which only gives a snapshot view.

© InvestAssure 2015 paul.wenman@investassure.net

SMART Management and Assurance of Business Risks

Managing business risks across commercial networks can be complex and costly. There is a need

to: 1. Inform 2. Assess Compliance; 3. Improve Performance; 4. Deliver Assurance. Each of these

steps presents huge challenges for corporate managers. SMART is an online platform for cost-

effectively easing the process, enabling flows of information between managers at corporate and

asset levels on compliance and risk management.

SMART can support three levels of an assurance programme. Simply communicating expectations

effectively, along with practical guidance and tools for benchmarking and improvement planning,

provides a first level of assurance to be achieved cost-effectively and rapidly across a whole

supply chain or portfolio. Optional self-disclosure of self-assessments and improvement plans can

be used as a second level of assurance to corporate managers. Thirdly, these can then form the

basis of a ‘verification and support’ audit, should the facility/company be considered high risk.

Simple, Logical, Intuitive

SMART has been developed with these three criteria as drivers. We have seen from decades of

business consulting and assurance that simple tools are most rapidly adopted. The workflow fits

logically with the typical risk management and assurance process. The user interface builds upon

the natural intuition to read, understand, test and plan. Instead of relying on separate PDFs,

databases and spreadsheets, SMART users can use a single platform to plug into an shared

process for management and assurance of risks.

© InvestAssure 2015 paul.wenman@investassure.net

N I M B U S - Monitoring the Web for Business Risks

The web is now the de facto channel for reporting corporate performance - the good, bad and

ugly. If a company gets out of line, word usually gets onto the web. If it's your supplier, investee

or customer, you need to know. Acting as a corporate risk radar, N I M B U S keeps watch on

corporate behaviour in emerging markets. It monitors the web for reports of incidents and non-

compliance, allegations and negative commentary which could cause business risks.

Our international research network and topic experts carefully filter and categorise alerts initially

identified from automated web scans of news sites, NGO articles, blogs and social media. This

team can optionally undertake focused investigations, interviewing NGOs, communities and/or

employees.

Portfolio Monitoring

N I M B U S can provide a cost-effective, solid basis to an assurance programme. By delivering

regular risk-alert reports, we can help monitor portfolios of suppliers, investees or customers

who may be causing environmental or community impacts or are involved in ethical allegations.

This allows you to maintain an ethical risk radar and deal with potential problems earlier, before

they become a crisis. In conjunction with other information, such as SMART self-disclosures, this

can help target audits to highest risk companies and facilities.