CHEIA March 2021 Update

Message from the Chair
Nothing is ever simple, it seems.  I thought about welcoming the Spring as an introduction to this Update, but given the weather (grey, damp and very cold) I thought I’d better check whether it is indeed Spring in case I got it badly wrong.  Good old Google tells me there are two alternatives: meteorological spring started on 01 March, but astronomically Spring occurs on the vernal equinox, 20 March 2021.  So as well as a contribution to lifelong learning, I hope the start of spring, with its lengthening days and hopefully, a bit of sunshine gives you all a boost after the dreary days of lockdown.
Juliet Simpson, Chair of CHEIA
Head of Internal Audit, Newcastle University
juliet.simpson@newcastle.ac.uk

CHEIA Conference 2021 – hold the date!
Yes, there will be a CHEIA Conference this year and we are making arrangements to hold it virtually, with a full programme of presentations, workshops and discussions and plenty of opportunities to catch up with colleagues. We want to express appreciation to everyone who participated in our recent survey. We will announce further details in due course, but in the meantime please hold the week commencing 06 September 2021 free in your diaries.

CHEIA Website – Get the Best out of it
There is so much you can do on the CHEIA website, like advertising any roles you have in your team, booking for CHEIA events, catching up with current and previous editions of the Monthly Updates (and finding out about your colleagues in the Spotlight) as well as looking up available materials which can support you in your work or personal development. 
Help us make the website a useful resource for higher education internal audit community by submitting materials such as:
- template documents (terms of reference, reports, working papers)
- work plans for particular audits (risk and control matrices or the like)
- audit policy papers/statements (such as how reports are graded, how we decide whether recommendations are H/M/L etc), business plans, resourcing strategies/models, training plans, QAIPs, etc.
We would welcome any resources that you find creative or useful. Thank you in advance. 

CHEIA Bitesize Events
Details for our next Bitesize session should be available shortly. Special thanks to all those who have helped us in organising and presenting the sessions. Here is a reminder of what we have had so far:
April 2020: Internal Audit’s Role during and after the Pandemic
May 2020: GDPR
June 2020: Covid 19 – Key Financial & Governance Risks, a WonkHE Perspective
July 2020: Leveraging Microsoft Teams
July 2020: Cyber Session
October 2020: Staff Wellbeing
November 2020: Data Analytics in a Small Internal Audit Function
December 2020: Global Audit Committee Survey 2020 - Point of View
January 2021: Data Protection in 2021
Were you able to join in any, some or all of the sessions? Do you have and any feedback or suggestions for future topics? Please email contact@cheia.ac.uk or feel free to start a conversation on the Discussion Board on www.cheia.ac.uk.

BUFDG Audit Survey
This year’s BUDFG Audit Survey is now open and your FD should already have received an email inviting them to respond.  Please encourage them to do so – and help them with the internal audit responses.
For those new to the process, the survey is used to produce a report, shared with all who respond, that helps inform the work of your audit committee.  It is also very useful in tendering exercises. Last year’s report can be downloaded from the BUFDG website.
CHEIA has been liaising with BUFDG and this years’ survey contains a few extra qualitative questions on both internal and external audit, in addition to the usual 10 or so quantitative ones.  BUFDG and CHEIA would also like you to answer one further question about extra internal audit assignments, via the discussion boards here.
The deadline for submissions is Thursday 18 March. Click here to download the list of questions in advance so you know what kind of info you’ll need to hand, or Complete the 2021 survey here.

Mentoring
One of CHEIA’s objectives is to bring together members to share ideas, experience, and good practice for internal audit in the HE sector. This means we are well-positioned to facilitate the creation of mentoring relationships across member organisations.
The CHEIA mentoring scheme offers members a chance to learn from others outside their own teams or institutions, whatever stage you are in your career.  It is particularly useful for those who are new to the HE sector. Please visit https://www.cheia.ac.uk/learning/ to find out more.

April 2021 Update – Be the Guest Editor
We are still looking for input from CHEIA members for our Monthly Updates. Are we missing anything? What else would you like to see in the Update? Would you like to be our guest editor for the April issue? If so, we want to hear from you. It will be circulated to members on 12 April 2021 so your proposal for the edition should get to us at contact@cheia.ac.uk by 9 April.  Please send an email to this email address to express an interest.

BUFDG Conference
The BUFDG (https://www.bufdg.ac.uk/bufdg-2021) kicks off on 15th and continues to 19th March 2021. It is taking place online via Hopin, a conferencing software. As previously mentioned, attendance at the BUFDG Conference this year is open to more people than usual and the cost is on an institutional, rather than individual basis. Check with your colleagues if you can be part of the booking in order to take advantage of the sessions on offer. If you do attend any of the sessions, please share your thoughts and any feedback you have on the CHEIA Discussion Board or email contact@cheia.ac.uk.

Auditor Spotlight
Nick Wilbraham, Audit Manager, The Open University
1. Why did you become an internal auditor?
I’d be lying if I said that internal audit was my childhood dream. However, when I graduated from University, I “fell into” insurance and then a year or two later, “fell again” into internal audit, initially on secondment. I found that it suited my strengths and I really found my niche. After over 10 years in the insurance and financial services sector, I jumped at the chance to work in IA at the OU. Overall, IA has given me the chance to meet new people (most of whom are far more interesting than I) on a regular basis and understand different ways of working.  I have to date found it to be an enjoyable and varied career.
2. What is your favourite CHEIA memory?
There is not much room for debate for me on this one. I only joined the OU in August 2019 so my first and only CHEIA conference was a few weeks later. Therefore, my favourite memory is being given bowl after bowl of mushrooms at our evening dinner on the final night – for some reason nobody else on my table liked them and I was hungry…now I have the unwanted reputation of being “mushroom obsessed”…hopefully future conferences will allow better memories to be made!
3. What are your hobbies/interests outside of audit?
I love cooking at home and lockdown has given me chance to try some new things and even tentatively get my young daughter to “help”. I really enjoy home “projects” and making things – my daughter is less help here but still tries! And finally, I am obsessed with football and Liverpool FC in particular 😊.
4. What do you wish you knew more about?
It’s trivial, but I wish I knew more about carpentry. I love building things with my daughter and I wish I had the knowledge and skill to really amaze her!
5. What’s your favourite food and drink?
Food-wise, generally anything Italian, but my favourite thing to eat is steak (not mushrooms as my colleagues would have you believe). Drinks-wise, G&T is my favourite.
6. Where is the best place you’ve visited and where would you most like to go?
My wife and I used to go on lots of city breaks and Berlin was my favourite. There was so much to see and do, good food and beer, and I found it to be more relaxing and much less intense than Rome, for instance.
Regarding where I’d most like to go, I’m going to be simple and say, “somewhere other than the back garden”. Lockdown has really changed my perspective and any holiday sounds like a real bonus.

Contact:
CHEIA Administrator 
contact@cheia.ac.uk