Internal Audit

I’m determined to create an open-door culture where functions across NFU Mutual see us as a destination for problem-solving and continuous improvement. In our team, we co-create the 12-month strategy and a plan of Audits that will happen over the course of the year. We can also accelerate and improve our model through consultancy and education.

No other function has the opportunity to help transform, and protect, our systems and services like we can. My vision is to raise awareness of our skills and services across the business and encourage teams to see us as the creative-thinking consultancy that can help them solve any challenge they’re presented with. And to do this, we need people to come and talk to us. Even if they think the problem is small, we can always help.

After 11 years at a Big 4 consultancy, I was at a point in my life where I wanted to do a job that was more than simply be rewarded for increasing stakeholder value. External Audit exposes you to expertise, the latest technology and a vast resource of colleagues to share knowledge with and gain experience from, but it’s more reactive. Internal Audit really appealed to me as I could see the opportunity to be more proactive in the way I work, and I was totally engaged with the strategy and the purpose of NFU Mutual.

And the reality is that we’re still connected to powerhouse consultancies. We consult with them for their broad knowledge when needed. These co-sourcing partners help us gauge our decisions against those of the business world around us and they act as a sense-check for our actions and decisions. And when our own Audits are sizeable, we know we can turn to them for extra resource. It’s a best of both worlds’ scenario.

The ambition to become a more consultative Internal Audit function is something I’m excited about and really proud of. My role is so much about the relationships I can build and strengthen, which changes the dynamic when large-scale audits happen. But equally, it changes the perception colleagues have about who we are and what we do.

More and more, people are coming to me with a challenge and asking for our advice. And I think this creative-thinking element of the role is fascinating. When I balance all of this with my own personal development plan, which I drive, I think this is the best place for me to learn and grow. I can see opportunities to take my career in whichever direction I choose.

The team and I all believe that we’re at the start of something very special. And with the leadership we have in place, I think Internal Audit is going to become a destination to help solve some of the biggest challenges across NFU Mutual.

We have an acronym that we all focus on. It’s called ACE and it stands for Assurance, Consultancy and Education. If we can build relationships and help educate our colleagues, we’ll get more of the consultancy work that will help us turn Internal Audit into a proactive, consultancy-led function.

We’ve also seen how ACE is helping in an external capacity. We’ve worked with a couple of suppliers to help them look at their processes and we’re getting great results and feedback from our work. I think the next five years are going to be very exciting!

I’ve been on the Graduate Programme for 12 months and I’m absolutely loving it. There’s so much support from the team and I’m learning new skills all the time. One of the things I find amazing is the level we operate at. Even at this early stage in my career, I’ve had the opportunity to work with senior stakeholders from so many different functions, and this exposure is helping me see where my future career could be.

I love the variety of Audits here, both big and small. And then there’s also the consultancy work that we do. More and more teams across the business are recognising the value we can add and are seeking us out to help them find solutions to some of their trickiest challenges. It’s the best of all worlds.