Services / Audit and governance

Procurement audit and governance

Strengthen governance without slowing procurement down

Clear accountability. Proportionate controls. Evidence that holds together.

Strengthen procurement governance without creating unnecessary delay. Understand how controls work in practice, address the gaps that matter and give people approval pathways they can follow.

Discuss a governance review

Where it helps

Where is governance failing to support good decisions?

01 / Control review

Understand the gaps behind recurring findings

Review processes, decision records and selected transactions against agreed requirements, and separate isolated exceptions from problems in how a control is designed or run.

Your team: agrees the review scope and provides the relevant evidence.

02 / Policy and accountability

Make the right pathway easier to follow

Clarify delegations, roles, stage gates and escalation routes, and align policies and templates with the way procurement is actually commissioned and delivered.

Your team: approves policies and remains accountable for their operation.

03 / Probity and audit readiness

Build assurance into the process

Define evidence requirements, conflict-of-interest processes and decision records early, with probity or audit-readiness support scoped to the assurance required.

Your team: retains its statutory, legal and organisational responsibilities.

What it means for you

The same work, seen from four seats

CEO
Procurement decisions that stand up to scrutiny from the board, regulators and auditors.
CFO
Controls proportionate to risk, and recurring audit findings resolved at their cause.
CPO
Policies, delegations and approval paths that match how the work is actually done.
Category manager
A clear route to approval, and less time lost to ambiguous sign-offs.
How we work

A clear purpose at each stage

  1. 01

    Define the scope and test the baseline

    Agree the processes, requirements and evidence to review, and examine policy, responsibilities and examples of how procurement decisions are made.

    You leave with

    A scoped assessment of control strengths, gaps and the limits of the evidence.

  2. 02

    Design a proportionate response

    Prioritise findings by exposure and practical effect, and develop revised approval pathways, roles, templates or policy changes with the people who will use them.

    You leave with

    A remediation plan with priorities, accountable owners and proposed control changes.

  3. 03

    Embed and check the change

    Support implementation, explain the revised requirements and agree how adoption will be monitored and whether the change fixed the original issue.

    You leave with

    Working guidance, defined evidence requirements and a plan to check effectiveness.

Value you can evaluate

Look for better control, not more paperwork

We agree what success looks like before the work starts, and separate the benefits expected from those that can be evidenced as it progresses.

Coverage
Do controls address the material risks within the agreed scope?
Evidence
Can a reviewer follow the basis for a procurement decision?
Timeliness
Are approvals proportionate to the risk and available when needed?
Remediation
Are agreed actions completed and their effectiveness checked?
When to talk

Start where progress is getting difficult

Comprara brings advisory, analytics, delivery and capability into the same conversation, so the recommendation connects to the people and decisions needed to carry it through.

  • The same procurement audit findings keep returning.
  • Policies and delegations no longer reflect how work is done.
  • Approvals create delay without a clear assurance benefit.
  • A sensitive procurement needs defined probity and evidence requirements.

Questions before you start

Is a procurement health check a formal audit opinion?

Not necessarily. A health check, a control review, a probity assignment and a formal assurance engagement have different purposes and evidence requirements. We agree the purpose, method and intended reliance before work starts.

Can you help implement the recommendations?

Yes: revised guidance, templates, decision rights and training. Where we also support implementation, any later independent assurance should be performed separately.

How much evidence is needed?

It depends on the scope and the conclusion required. Policies alone do not show whether controls work; workflow records, approvals and transaction examples show how the process operates in practice.

Bring the issue, not a finished brief

Tell us what needs to change, the timing and the capability you have today. We will recommend a proportionate next step.

Discuss a governance review