1. Authority: who can approve what?
Set clear approval limits and ownership for each material transaction. Make it explicit who can initiate, approve, release and review, including how exceptions are recorded.
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Financial Controls & Governance
Build proportionate financial controls with clearer evidence and a more orderly audit process.
Want a quick, tailored review? Take the Financial Controls Assessment — it's free and takes a few minutes.
In plain English
This is about putting rigorous controls around your money and decisions — the approval rules, checks, and audit trails that reduce error and fraud risk. The aim is clear evidence of what happened and why, making external and internal audit more orderly. Complete, accessible evidence can reduce manual fieldwork and disruption, but the result depends on your systems, controls and audit scope.
A proportionate starting point
Which financial controls should come first?
Prioritise by materiality, risk and how a transaction moves through the business. These five control areas create a practical starting order; the right design depends on your organisation and obligations.
2. Separation of duties: where should work be split?
Avoid one person controlling a transaction end to end. Separate initiation, approval, payment or posting and review; where a small team makes that difficult, document a compensating independent review.
3. Reconciliations: what must agree, and when?
Reconcile cash, sub-ledgers, inventory and other key balances on a defined cadence. Assign an owner, investigate differences promptly and retain evidence of the review and resolution.
4. Access: who can change the record?
Limit system access by role and review privileged permissions. Keep joiners, movers and leavers current, and periodically test whether access still matches each person's responsibilities.
5. Evidence: can you show what happened?
Keep timestamped records of approvals, changes, reconciliations, exceptions and remediation. Evidence should be easy to retrieve and retained in line with your policy and obligations.
This is for you if…
Any of these sound familiar? Then this is exactly what you need.
Approvals happen informally, by email, or not at all.
Preparing for an audit is a stressful, all-hands scramble.
You couldn't quickly prove who approved what, and when.
You worry about error or fraud slipping through unnoticed.
How we deliver it
A clear path from diagnosis to a working system — built and run by our own team, not handed off to a third party.
1
Controls review
We assess how money and decisions flow through your business today and where the gaps and risks sit.
2
Framework design
We design approval rules and controls that protect the business without slowing it down.
3
System implementation
We build those controls directly into your systems so they're enforced automatically, every time.
4
Ongoing assurance
We keep your controls sharp as the business changes, so you stay protected and compliant.
What you get
The outcomes you can expect once it's in place.
A clearer path to audit readiness, with less last-minute scramble
Potentially lower audit effort when evidence is complete and accessible
Approval rules enforced automatically
Sharply reduced fraud and error risk
Stronger evidence for demonstrating compliance
Where this helps
This service powers some of the most common challenges we solve:
Proof it works
financial-services
Building Board-Grade Financial Controls for a Fast-Growing Financial Services Business
A rapidly scaling UK financial services business had outgrown its controls environment. Revenue had doubled in three years, audit findings were escalating, the CFO had lost confidence in the management accounts, and the…
- Audit Findings
- 12 → 0
- Reporting Cycle
- Day 3 close
- CFO Confidence
- 100%
Recommended next step
Not sure where you stand? Take the Financial Controls Assessment.
Get a free review of how robust your financial controls and governance really are — where the risks are quietly hiding, and how much smoother and cheaper your external and internal audits could be.
It takes just a few minutes. You'll get a tailored review of where you stand — then our team will help you act on it.
Ready to discuss your requirements?
Book a no-obligation consultation and we'll show you exactly how Financial Controls & Governance would work for your business.