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What we do

Each kind of organisation below has a defined first step. You do not need to know which service you need before getting in touch.

Where to start

Find your starting point

For growing organisations

Organisations that have outgrown the way they were run.

For accountable institutions

Businesses listed in Schedule 1 of the FIC Act.

For any organisation

Boards, funders and owners who need an independent view.

How we charge
For growing organisations

For organisations that have outgrown the way they were run

Growth exposes governance. The controls that worked at forty people do not work at two hundred. The board starts asking questions nobody can answer quickly, and responsibilities that were obvious when everyone sat in one room are no longer written down anywhere.

Risk Priority Session

Your time

Two hours with you and whoever else leads the business, and an hour beforehand gathering what already exists.

How long

The session within two weeks of booking. The note within five business days of the session.

Fee

A fixed fee, confirmed in writing before the session.

For
A founder, chief executive or leadership team who knows something needs attention and wants to know what matters most.
What we look at
What prompted the question, how decisions reach the board, the risks you already know about, and the ones nobody owns.
What you receive
A short written note: the priorities, the order to take them in, and what each would involve.
Not included
Legal advice, or a detailed review of documents. If the session shows one is needed, that is a separate engagement.

How to start. Book a call and say you would like a Risk Priority Session.

Book a call

Governance and risk framework

Your time

About a day a week from whoever will own this afterwards, because a framework nobody inside the business helped build is one nobody inside the business will run.

How long

Eight to twelve weeks.

Fee

A fixed fee, agreed in writing before work starts.

For
Organisations that need the framework built, not only the priorities named.
What we look at
The people closest to the work, and what already exists: policies, registers, committee papers and board packs.
What you receive
An agreed and prioritised plan. The framework documents themselves. A risk register and reporting pack your team runs without us, in whatever your organisation already uses rather than a system you now have to maintain. Board reporting that stands up to a question.

We design and build what should be there: a risk framework sized for your organisation, clear governance and accountabilities, risk appetite that guides decisions rather than describing them, policies people use rather than file, and reporting a board can work with.

Sizing is the whole skill. King V is a voluntary code, not law, and for a private company it binds nobody. What it does is set the benchmark. A funder or acquirer may well ask about it. Your board will be measured against it the moment you say you follow it. And a South African court assessing whether your directors met the standard in section 76 of the Companies Act will treat King as generally accepted governance practice. Knowing what proportionate looks like for a company of two hundred people is the judgement you are buying.

If the board has started asking for better information, bring the last pack you were unhappy with.

Book a call

Part-time chief risk officer and board advisory

Your time

A monthly session with the chief executive or chief financial officer, and board papers before they go out.

How long

Between one and four days a month, on a monthly retainer. Interim cover is available where scope cannot be set in advance.

Fee

A monthly retainer set against an agreed level of involvement. A day rate applies only to interim cover.

For
Organisations that need senior risk judgement at the table a few days a month, or an independent view alongside a risk function they already have.
What we do
Advise the executive team, strengthen governance and risk appetite, improve what reaches the board, and challenge decisions where challenge is useful.
What you receive
A risk appetite statement the board has approved and can apply. Board papers short enough to be read and specific enough to be argued with. A standing challenge session, minuted, so the record shows the question was asked. A written handover brief, so the work does not leave when we do.

This is a seat at the table, not a monitoring service and not a compliance officer for hire.

Against hiring: a compliance or risk manager at your size costs [R650,000 to R900,000] fully loaded, and has to be found, hired and supervised by someone who knows the subject. A retainer is a known monthly number, can start within a fortnight, and the handover brief stays with you.

Bring the decision you are about to take to the board.

Book a call
In practice

What one finding looks like

Illustrative example. It is not drawn from any client and describes no real organisation.

01

Observation

The board risk report lists forty-one risks. Thirty-six have been rated amber for six consecutive quarters, and no rating has changed in that time.

02

Why it matters

A register in which nothing moves is not being used to make decisions. The board is being shown a list rather than asked a question, and the report gives it no way to see whether anything has improved or deteriorated.

03

Evidence needed

The last six board risk reports, the minutes of the meetings that received them, and the date each rating was last reviewed and by whom.

04

Recommended next action

Cut the board report to the risks that could change a decision this year. For each, state what would move the rating and who is watching for it. Keep the full register as a management tool rather than a board paper.

For accountable institutions

For accountable institutions under the FIC Act

Estate agencies, motor dealerships, galleries, auction houses and other dealers in high-value goods, and the other institutions listed in Schedule 1 of the Financial Intelligence Centre Act.

FIC Readiness Review

Your time

About a day of your compliance officer’s time, and access to files.

How long

Two to three weeks.

Fee

A fixed fee, confirmed in writing before we start.

For
Accountable institutions that hold a programme and want to know whether it would hold up.
What we look at
Your programme against the Act and Guidance Note 7B, the business risk assessment underneath it, and a sample of your records: recent client files, the cash threshold report register, the screening log and the training register.
What you receive
A short written report: what would hold up at an inspection, what would not, and what to fix first.
Not included
Rewriting the programme. That is the next engagement if you want it, and you are under no obligation to use us for it.

If your submission is due within weeks, say so when you book. The review then concentrates on the programme you are about to file and the gaps an inspector would find first. It will not turn a generic programme into one that describes your business in a fortnight, and we will not pretend it can. It tells you where you stand and what to do next.

How to start. Book a call and say you would like a readiness review.

Book a call

Estate agents and item 20 dealers in high-value goods must file their RMCP with the FIC by 31 October. If yours has not been checked against Guidance Note 7B, say so when you book.

FIC Act programme, built or rebuilt

Your time

A half-day a week from whoever owns compliance, access to your files, and an hour with each branch manager.

How long

Six to ten weeks.

Fee

A fixed fee, agreed in writing before work starts.

For
Institutions without a programme, or with one that does not describe the business.
What we do
Registration and goAML setup where needed. The business risk assessment. The programme itself. Due diligence, screening and record keeping your staff can follow. Cash threshold, suspicious transaction and terrorist property reporting, with the register and the filing routine. Staff training with an attendance register, a refresher cycle and a process for new joiners. Management and board reporting. Preparation for an inspection, and support during one.
What you receive
A programme that describes your business. The risk assessment supporting it. Working procedures for the people who use them. The registers and logs an inspector will ask to see. A prioritised plan for whatever still needs attention.

What a generic programme leaves out

If your business deals in high-value goods and receives payment of R100,000 or more in a transaction, it has been an accountable institution under item 20 of Schedule 1 of the Financial Intelligence Centre Act since December 2022. The threshold reaches linked payments, so three invoices of R60,000 to the same buyer in the same week are not three small sales. Getting that wrong is how a business discovers it has been an accountable institution for nearly four years.

There is a second number, and in daily operation it can matter more. Cash received or paid out of R50,000 or more triggers a cash threshold report under section 28, within three business days. It has nothing to do with whether you are in scope under item 20. Failure to report cash transactions was the principal finding behind the penalties the Centre published against motor and Krugerrand dealers in 2022, and the register is one of the first things an inspector can reconcile against your sales ledger.

A business-specific programme contains what a generic one does not: your products and how they are paid for, your branches and who signs off at each, your customer types and what higher risk means among them, the systems your staff use, the reports you file and who files them, and the training record for the people doing the work. A downloaded programme contains none of that, and since section 21 of the Act requires due diligence to be done in accordance with your own programme, every file is then measured against a document that is not about you.

Our article on template programmes sets out what a bought document cannot do.

Read the article

If you have a filing deadline this month, say so when you book and we will make room.

Book a call
For any organisation

When someone needs an independent view

Independent review

Your time

About six hours.

How long

Two to four weeks.

Fee

A fixed fee, agreed in writing before work starts.

For
A board that wants assurance, a funder or major customer that has asked for evidence, an auditor’s finding nobody inside can size, or arrangements left behind by someone who has gone.
What we look at
What exists against what is required: governance, risk management, due diligence, record keeping, reporting, monitoring, training and oversight, or an existing FIC Act programme.
What you receive
A short written report a board can read, and a remediation plan that is prioritised rather than exhaustive. If the arrangements are sound, the report says so.
Not included
Fixing what the review finds. The review is priced and delivered as a review, and you are under no obligation to use us for the remediation.

A straight answer about where you stand, for you, your board, a funder or a counterparty.

Tell us what has been raised, and by whom.

Book a call
Fees

How we charge

Fixed fee

Defined work is a fixed fee, agreed in writing before we start.

Monthly retainer

The part-time chief risk officer is a monthly retainer set against an agreed level of involvement.

Day rate

A day rate applies only to interim cover where scope cannot be set in advance.

[As a guide: a Risk Priority Session is R•. An FIC Readiness Review starts at R•. Your own figure depends on scope, and you will have it in writing before you commit to anything.]

Before any engagement begins you get a written scope, a timetable, a fee and a list of what we need from you.

Next step

You do not need to know where to start

Tell us what prompted the call and we will work out the first step together.

Book a call
Newsletter

Occasional notes on risk and compliance

An email when something changes that you should know about. Nothing else, and not often.

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