Fractional Audit, Risk and Governance Lead

The work I do

Advising on governance, investment operations, and risk management for financial institutions

Problems I solve

• Our new investor wants an audit committee and independent oversight of the numbers, and we’ve never had either
• A big customer is asking us to prove our controls work before they renew the contract
• We’re planning to raise money or sell in the next eighteen months and want to know what a buyer’s checks will find before they do
• The board gets a finance pack every month and nobody independent ever challenges it
• We’ve grown fast, the controls haven’t kept up and the auditors keep raising the same points
• The bank wants assurance on our numbers that our own finance team can’t give
• We’re a family business bringing in an outside investor for the first time and need someone neutral between the two sides
• We need an independent member for our audit or risk committee who has done it before

Who I work with

Financial institutions, investment funds, and government entities in the GCC and MENA regions

What I bring

• Independent audit and risk committee member who has held the seat, Currently on the audit and risk committee of a Saudi utility, previously on the audit committee of a major Middle East airport.
• Reviewing an investment before the money goes in, Every investment of the Islamic Development Bank’s infrastructure fund went through my review before its investment committee approved it: numbers, forecasts, the people behind the deal and whether the checks had been done.
• Pre-deal checks and investment memos for private investors, This year, a Gulf logistics business for a private investor: the books, the memo and the terms of a buyout.
• Explaining the numbers to owners and boards who aren’t accountants, Finance for non-finance managers and project management programmes for a European energy multinational, a three-day crisis management course in Dubai and governance training for a Saudi family group.

Commercial

• £750 / day