We offer the benefits of an in-house audit team in terms of understanding the institution, whilst at the same time we have sector wide experience and knowledge.

We only audit the HE sector and are, therefore, specialists in this field.

We know each of our clients/ institutions on an individual level, we understand the unique challenges each of them faces and we listen to each of them to deliver a service that meets their expectations.

Talk to us. Tell us what you need and how you like to work. If you believe KCG is aligned with your requirements, we can provide a proposal and fee estimate for you to agree. It is not always necessary to go out to competitive tendering; single tenders are allowable in certain circumstances.

As part of the onboarding as a member of KCG, you will be required to sign a deed of adherence with the membership agreement; this document sets out the legal relationship between KCG and an institution, including respective responsibilities for contributing to the smooth running of the relationship.

All costs are shared between the member institutions in proportion to the work needed.

KCG is not profit-making from its membership; exempt from VAT on most of our costs within the cost-sharing group arrangement.

We charge a composite daily rate for all services. This allows us to allocate staff to an audit regardless of seniority; unlike our competitors we do not push work down to junior staff to meet company profit targets.

No.

KCG is a company limited by guarantee. Under this arrangement, the financial exposure for our members is a nominal £1.

No.

In 2019, KCG converted to a limited company and we changed the pension scheme for staff from a defined benefit scheme to a defined contribution one.

The historical pension liability that had built up was dealt with at that time, and no liability was brought onto the balance sheet of the new company.

We do indeed have a small team but one that has over 200 years, combined, audit experience.

We only focus on the higher education sector and the team has therefore built up a wealth of knowledge to ensure we give the best possible advice to institutions.

Members of the team have expertise in areas such as information technology, data analytics, risk management, governance, financial controls, and value for money.

No.

We have been consistent since our inception that institutions require auditors that have a few years’ experience under their belt, are able to engage at senior levels of an institution, and have the maturity and experience to be able to do so.

Every member of the team is fully qualified and because of our focus on the HE sector you benefit because they are fully equipped to navigate complex audits.

You would not become a training ground for inexperienced auditors.  

Yes – A Head of Internal Audit is appointed to each of the institutions we work with, who is supported by a programme manager.

The HIAs and programme managers are experienced members of the team who can be contacted at any time.

A key part of the way we work is that we build long standing relationships with our clients based on continuity of service.

By having a core team allocated to you, we avoid the constant churn in the people you get to see.

The majority of KCG staff have been with us for some time and we have a very low level of staff turnover.

Yes – we recommend regular (at least termly) meetings between the HIA, the Programme Manager and the nominated lead from the institution.

This meeting is used to discuss progress against the agreed annual internal audit plan, key issues being highlighted by our work, any feedback about the quality of service being delivered, and any problems in engagement with key University staff.

The Programme Manager and HIA have a hands-on approach to managing the work we carry out for institutions, and therefore identify any service issues immediately and implement corrective action.

This is supplemented by a layered approach to monitoring performance against agreed KPIs.

We also invite audit sponsors to complete a client satisfaction questionnaire on completion of every audit in order to provide continuous improvement to the service we provide.

Our audit team consists of locally home-based auditors and we will typically travel to client sites wherever practical to do so.

We combine site visits with remote working to deliver a flexible working approach to fit around our clients’ requirements.

This arrangement helps us to keep our costs down and contributes to environmental sustainability, as does our paperless approach to working. 

We have Cyber Essentials accreditation due to the enhanced data security protections we have in place, including:

• Centralised security management
• Regular, mandatory IT security training
• Complex password security policy
• Data encryption and multi-factor authentication
• Phishing controls, including spoof emails for training purposes
• Security monitoring controls

We have a number of information policies that all staff are required to comply with which reinforce the above security measures and therefore contribute towards protection of University data.

With respect to GDPR, we only hold confidential data to support our audit procedures and we have data retention policies to ensure that we do not keep data unnecessarily.

All personal data (e.g. from student records and staff personnel files) is anonymised and is deleted as soon as we complete an audit. The review of the audit file by the HIA ensures that this requirement is always met.

All data held in our cloud based data management system Pentana is subject to security controls that are compliant with the security standard ISO 27001.

The service agreement with the host company provides for compliance with the GDPR.

KCG was originally set up on 1 August 2005 as a consortium and unincorporated association by the founding member institutions.

On 1 October 2019, the organisation was transferred into a company limited by guarantee, KCG Audit Limited, with ownership being retained by the continuing members.

The formal, legal relationship between the company and its members, and between the members themselves, is set out within the Membership Agreement.

KCG remains a not for profit business. KCG Audit Limited is a Cost Sharing Group (CSG) under the UK Finance Act 2012 and in compliance with HMRC requirements.

The ‘cost sharing exemption’ detailed in the Act allows CSGs to provide services amongst the members substantially exempt of VAT and within an arrangement that is fully acknowledged and supported by HMRC.

KCG is governed by a Board of Directors, drawn from the member institutions and includes the company’s Chief Executive.

The KCG Board is responsible for the strategic direction of the company and also provides oversight of business planning arrangements and of operational delivery, management processes and procedures, and of financial management.

The current membership of the KCG Board is as follows:

Phil Harding (Chair) – Chief Financial Officer, Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance

Kevin Porter – Deputy Director, Royal College of Music

Robert Ewing – Director of Finance, Kingston University

Frank Richardson – Director of Finance, University of Kent

Trevor Hall – Finance Director, National Film and Television School

Alan Lees – Chief Executive, KCG Audit Limited

KCG Audit Limited recognises that it has a responsibility to the environment beyond legal and regulatory requirements.

We are committed to reducing our environmental impact and continually improving our environmental performance as an integral part of our business strategy and operating methods, with regular review points.

We encourage customers, suppliers and other stakeholders to do the same.

We have been proactive in driving down our carbon footprint as follows:

• In 2017, we implemented the Pentana audit management system to eliminate the use of paper when conducting audits. Other systems we use are also ‘paperless’.
• We have moved to a hybrid way of working, significantly reducing the amount of business travel required, made possible by our significant investments in information technology. We now work at least 50% of the time from home.
• All staff are encouraged to travel by public transport whenever it is possible to do so.
• We encourage travelling by bicycle and have been part of the Cyclescheme initiative for many years.

Our environmental policy helps guide all our decisions when managing our business. We consider efficient use of resources, including reducing waste, reusing what we can and recycling what we can’t.