09 June 2020 
Nkechi Ijeomah, CHEIA Administrator
Message from the Chair
Dear All,
I hope you’re all keeping safe and well. It’s been a busy few weeks in the land of the CHEIA Executive! We’ve been organising and hosting Bitesize events to replace our usual face-to-fact regional meetings, running and attending virtual discussion fora, arranging this year’s quality assurance groupings and going live with our updated CHEIA website.
We’ve also been discussing how to simplify our membership structure ahead of membership renewals in July, and creating a brand new CHEIA award. Read on for more details!
Now I think it’s time for that holiday in Spain – or sadly not….
Juliet Simpson, Chair of CHEIA 2019/20
Head of Internal Audit, Newcastle University
juliet.simpson@newcastle.ac.uk
CHEIA Bitesize Events
The first two CHEIA virtual Bitesize events were well attended and well received. The first, on 28 April 2020, was on ‘Internal Audit’s role during and after the pandemic’ and was presented by Derek Jamieson, Regional Director and Liz Sandwith, Chief Professional Practice Advisor, at the CIIA. The second was on GDPR on 22 May 2020, presented by Fraser Nicol, Partner, Business Technology Consulting at Scott Moncrieff. We are very grateful to them for sharing their time and thoughts.
The sessions last for one hour and take place via Zoom and arrangements for our next Bitesize event are being confirmed. Look out for details on the CHEIA website for more information, but in the meantime please save the date for 19 June 2020.
Covid-19 Fora
If you have not already done so, why not join with other CHEIA Heads of Internal Audit on Thursdays at 11.00 via Teams to catch up and compare notes during lockdown.
The Chartered Institute of Internal Auditors has also been holding cross-sector weekly discussions, with Juliet Simpson representing CHEIA and HE internal audit. The notes from these meetings are available at: https://www.iia.org.uk/covid-19-hub/heads-of-internal-audit-forum/
Please do look at the other material made available by the CIIA in their Covid-19 Hub: https://www.iia.org.uk/covid-19-hub/
The New CHEIA Website is live
We are very grateful to Dominic Fryer, CEO of PHES who with Derventio has upgraded and migrated the CHEIA website www.cheia.ac.uk to the PHES platform. CHEIA members who were registered with the previous version of the website should have received an email with information about your log-in details. If you have not previously registered, it is very easy to do so – simply click on ‘register’ at the top right of the homepage – and you will then be able to access and contribute to the resources available to support members. ‘Login’ can now be found at the top right of the homepage. Why not try it – and please take a few minutes to check and update your personal details!
Quality Assurance and 2020 Exercise
The new version of the Quality Assurance Tool, with updated questions and the ‘spider’ graphs restored, is now available on the CHEIA website. We have received a very good response to the invitation to participate in this year’s review exercise, whether by self-assessment or peer-review. Those wishing to take part in a peer-review should have received an email with information about their groupings, which will take place virtually. As usual, we will hold another survey in August to collate the results, which will be anonymized and shared with those who submit information.
The CHEIA Award for Impact and Excellence in Internal Auditing
We are pleased to announce the very first CHEIA Award for Impact and Excellence in Internal Auditing, to recognize CHEIA members whose work has enhanced the reputation of internal audit, by delivering an impact to either the executive management team, audit committee or the wider internal audit profession. We want to hear about individuals or teams that have performed exceptionally and/or have achieved exceptional results – whether as part of business as usual or in relation to a specific review. Further information – and entry forms - are available on the CHEIA website. The closing date for entries is 31st July 2020, to the CHEIA Administrator via email: contact@cheia.ac.uk
CHEIA Membership Renewals for 2020/21
We are simplifying our CHEIA membership structure and for 2020/21 we will be introducing the following categories of membership:
i) HE provider membership (£300 plus vat), which will cover any member of staff employed by the HE provider, including in-house IA providers, internal audit ‘client manager’, risk manager, audit committee members, etc;
ii) other internal audit provider membership (£500plus vat), which will cover any member of staff within, for example, auditing firms and consortia;
iii) individual ‘friend of CHEIA’, eg alumni (£25 plus vat);
iv) corporate ‘friend of CHEIA’ membership, for staff within organisations such as funders, regulators, research bodies, related organisations (£250 plus vat).
Membership invoices for 2020/21 will be sent out by PHES in July. For members whose employers are members of other PHES special interest organisations (SIOs) such as BUFDG, AUDE, HESPA and UHR, a ‘composite’ invoice will be sent to your organisation. ‘Standalone’ CHEIA Members will also receive an invoice from PHES. Please could you check whether PHES is set up as a vendor on your payments system and if necessary take action to have them created in good time.
CUC Revised HE Audit Committee Code of Practice
John Rushforth has updated the Audit Committee guidance from CUC, which has now been published and can be accessed via this link:
https://www.universitychairs.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/CUC-HE-Audit-Committees-Code-of-Practice-doc-FINAL-260520.pdf
Sector News
There’s much news and commentary on the state of the HE sector, including this from the new outfit, Tortoise Media
https://members.tortoisemedia.com/2020/05/26/universities-in-crisis-main-piece-off-campus-cc/content.html?sig=xAfpreMWakvbOYUSEN11DkT7cUJMJGvDG-_bopA1zrI
And a blog from Professor Nick Petford, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Northampton which appeared on UCEA’s website on https://www.ucea.ac.uk/news-releases/blog/19may20/
In a move to a more agile way of communicating, UUK has created some custom topics of interest which you can sign up to be kept up-to-date with relevant publications, news items, events, press releases, blogs and calls for submission on that topic as soon as they are published. The topics of interest include Security and Risk Management. Follow this link to subscribe https://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/Pages/newsletter-sign-up.aspx
CHEIA Annual Conference September 2020 – Now Cancelled
In case you didn’t see the announcement in the last Update, our 2020 Annual Conference will not be taking place this September. Please ‘save the date’ so that you can join us at Aston from 08 to 10 September 2021.
Courses & Events from PHES and other Special Interest Groups
There are free courses available on the BUFDG website https://www.bufdg.ac.uk/learning/e-learning/. But you require a BUFDG website account to access them. If you do not have an account and you are a member of staff from one of BUFDG member institutions, there are options on how you can access the courses on the link provided.
Current events include 22nd June 12:30 – 2pm Research space and capacity and 2nd July 12:30 – 2pm Long term implications on space ‘The Green Restart’. These will be TEAMS online events and are open to all AUDE members so feel free to share with your colleagues if your institution is a member of AUDE. Account registration is free www.aude.ac.uk/register.
29 and 30 June 2020 Introduction to HE Data (running in two halves to make content easier to digest) 13.30 – 16.30 on both days available via https://www.hespa.ac.uk/eventbooking/view?id=3914. This is not a free event.
Auditor Spotlight
(our regular getting to know our members spot!)
Richard Cooper, Senior Internal Auditor, University of Nottingham
1. Why did you become an internal auditor?
My first encounters with Internal Audit back in the early 2000s were as an auditee during my time working as a Retail Manager with LIDL and then BP. In working with Internal Audit on various projects and investigations I became aware of the varied and interesting nature of what a career in Internal Audit offered and the value that it added. Subsequently, this led me to start my Internal Audit career in Local Government which then progressed into auditing for a Big 4 firm, then within Financial Services and most recently in HE. Being an Internal Auditor is both rousing and satisfying, you could say it is the gift that keeps giving!
2. What is your favourite CHEIA memory?
I most enjoyed attending my first CHEIA Annual Conference at Leicester University. Listening to the reflections of the Guest Speaker (Paul Manning) on the role of Internal Audit at UNICEF was fascinating and thought-provoking.
3. What are your hobbies/interests outside of audit?
Outside of audit, I enjoy spending time with my young family and when the (rare) occasion affords it listening to music, playing the guitar, watching films or walking somewhere new.
4. What do you wish you knew more about?
How Data Analytics is being used by Internal Audit functions in HE other than for P2P audits.
5. What’s your favourite food and drink?
Fajitas with lashings of hot chilli sauce and a crisp ice-cold lager!
6. Where is the best place you’ve visited and where would you most like to go?
I adore New York City and all its diversity and vibrancy and would love one day to take a trip around Brazil and possibly watch a football match with my Son at one of the mega stadiums.
Contact CHEIA:
CHEIA Administrator
contact@cheia.ac.uk
