CHEIA September 2020 Update

Message from the Chair

Dear All,

This week should have been our wonderful annual conference in Aston.  I’m very disappointed that we won’t have the opportunity to meet together person to person this year. On the plus side, I haven’t had the annual humiliation at Morrisons (‘that’s a lot of chocolate’….). Even I can’t manage 80+ grab bags all at once! Please do mark the date for next year (08 to 10 September 2021) in your diary, and I hope you will join me and the Executive on 08 October this year for our AGM, via Teams.

Juliet Simpson, Chair of CHEIA 2019/20
Head of Internal Audit, Newcastle University
juliet.simpson@newcastle.ac.uk

CHEIA Annual Conference – thank you for helping to grow it.
You are reading this in what would have been the week of our Annual Conference, which, sadly, we had to cancel because of the pandemic. However, we want to use this opportunity to show our appreciation to all our previous delegates as well as those who will be joining us in future. Thank you very much for being part of and contributing to what has become a sought after and well-received event in the CHEIA calendar. We look forward to a great gathering at Conference Aston from 08 – 10 September for the 2021 Conference.

CHEIA Annual General Meeting 2020: 08 October 2020
But we still have to hold our AGM for the year, and this will now take place on 08 October at 10 am, via Microsoft Teams. Please register on the website to receive your meeting link and look out for further information in the next couple of weeks. Please make time to be part of the meeting, it is important that we have a quorum. Please email contact@cheia.ac.uk to let us know if you do not have Microsoft Teams.

CHEIA Bitesize Events
We have done very well with our Bitesize events which have done more than replace our physical regional events since the lockdown commenced; we are very grateful to our guest presenters. Please do let us have any feedback or suggestions for future topics you may have. Registration for our next virtual Bitesize event, the sixth in the series, is now open on the CHEIA website. This one will be on Staff Wellbeing and will be presented by Stephen Haynes from the charity, Mates in Mind, on 01 October 2020 at 11 am. Please register by 25 September 2020, if you wish to join the session so that we can send out the meeting link.

CHEIA Membership Renewals for 2020/21
Thank you to everyone who has renewed their CHEIA subscription for 2020/21. We will be updating our records at the end of September 2020, at which time all individuals whose organisations have not paid their 2020/21 membership fee will no longer have access to the members’ only section of the CHEIA website or receive information and invitations via direct emails. Please check your emails and check that you have responded to the renewal invitation, which was sent out by PHES in early July. Continue to spread the word and encourage your contacts to join CHEIA.  

Quality Assurance 2020 Exercise and Benchmarking
If you have undertaken the review exercise, whether by self-assessment or peer-review, please complete the survey which is now available on https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/MCN97LL to collect your results and feedback about the exercise. The anonymised benchmarking results will be shared with those who submit information.

The CHEIA Website
This is a reminder that the Discussion Board on the website is available for all members to use, so feel free to use it to start a conversation or request information and support from others.
We can also post your job vacancies on the website.
We want the website to support CHEIA members in your work and professional development, and to do this we need to continue to build up our ‘resources repository’. Please send us (contact@cheia.ac.uk) any resources you have which you’d be happy to share.

Covid-19 Fora
The CHEIA Heads of Internal Audit are continuing to catch up on Thursdays at 11.00 via Teams to compare notes during lockdown with the notes made available on the CHEIA Discussion Board. 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 are available at https://www.iia.org.uk/covid-19-hub/heads-of-internal-audit-forum/. Since August, the forum has turned its attention away from COVID-19 and will look into a number of other topics over the coming months. 05August was on ‘Build back better’ and 19 August was on ‘Data Analytics’. https://www.iia.org.uk/covid-19-hub/

Other Sector News
‘Planning for the unknown: the what, why and how’
‘Planning for the unknown: the what, why and how’ was one of the presentations at the HESPA (The Higher Education Strategic Planners Association) Conference in February this year. Miranda Routledge, Director of Planning at Loughborough University, who co-presented the workshop has now written a blog, ‘The power of Coronavirus versus crystal ball gazing’ on www.hespa.ac.uk, looking back at their slides from February while looking at how the Coronavirus pandemic and the events of the last six months have transformed the HE sector.  

Update on TRAC
In the unlikely event that you have not seen this, the TRAC guidance v2.5 (for reporting on academic year 2019-20) is now available on the TRAC website and the ‘Frequently Asked Questions on the administration of TRAC during the pandemic’ document has been updated.

Auditor Spotlight
Gillian Bagwell, Head of Internal Audit, University of Warwick
1. Why did you become an internal auditor?
I was on secondment in Bangor to cover maternity leave at the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology as Station Secretary and saw a trainee auditor vacancy advertised at HQ in Swindon. I have always been curious about process and thought the job would suit my personality traits - I've never looked back! 
2. What is your favourite CHEIA memory?
I've only been in the sector since February 2019, so don't yet have a favourite. I can say that I've been amazed and delighted by how welcoming the CHEIA community has been, which has been extremely important to a newcomer like me.
3. What are your hobbies/interests outside of audit?
I like to grow vegetables especially those that you can't get in the shops - last year's offering was Tomatillo, which is great in chilli. I have three dogs, so they keep me fairly busy so it's a good job I enjoy walking.
4. What do you wish you knew more about?
If you'd asked me before the Covid-19 crisis, I would have said mechanical engineering - my father is re-building a 1956 Triumph and it would be nice to help him. Since the crisis, I'd have to say contingency planning and crisis management.
5. What’s your favourite food and drink?
Roast dinner - especially the potatoes - and a nice cup of tea!
6. What is the most annoying habit that other people have?
Not reading to the end of an email. I have to admit, though, that I sometimes do this myself!

Contact CHEIA:
contact@cheia.ac.uk