Family Office Audit & Assurance

Achieving ambition. Managing risk.

Leaving a rich legacy.
 Family Office Audit & Assurance |
 Achieving ambition. Managing risk. Leaving a rich legacy.

Family Office Audit

& Assurance
From safeguarding assets for future generations to
optimising return on investment decisions, every family
is different and every family office has a different set
of goals. Whatever is key to your family, you deserve
assurance over the value of your assets and the
governance structures, processes and controls in place
at your family office.

Having oversight and autonomy of your Whatever is worrying you about your family
family office can be challenging; be it office, (and for those things that you don’t
voluntary or reluctantly, you cannot know you should be worrying about that
always be physically present. However, we you should) the Deloitte Private Audit
recognise the importance of knowing that & Assurance team has the experience, the
your family office is acting in accordance global reach and the expertise to help.
with the family’s wishes at all times.

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Family Office Audit & Assurance |
 Achieving ambition. Managing risk. Leaving a rich legacy.

Family Office Audit

Providing assurance over your financial statements and other performance reporting

It is a well known fact that family We know that you may not “need” an you have legal entitlement to the assets
offices are seeking to professionalise audit, so a non‑statutory audit is about you think you have, and that they are worth
and operate more like a traditional PE providing you with the level of assurance what you think they are worth. It is only by
firm or wealth manager – with a robust you require, in a way that best suits your having confidence in your current position
control environment and governance organisation. It may even be that you that you can successfully start planning for
framework. A critical step in that would be better served by other forms the future.
journey is an independent external of assurance reporting – such as a review
audit to validate the information being of your performance reporting to your But, an audit is more than “just an audit”.
reported internally. families – such as wealth statements. We lift the lid on your family office; and
We would work with you to explore the through the process of performing an audit
An audit is about much more than just the options available and to identify the level of are able to provide valuable insight and
numbers though. It is about attesting to assurance that would best suit your needs recommendations based on best practice,
the performance of your family office and and requirements. and our wealth of experience from working
helping you to optimise your reporting in with other families, private equity houses,
a way that is most useful for the family and So why would you have an audit in the first wealth managers, sovereign wealth funds
other key stakeholders. place? To provide you with assurance that and endowment funds.

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 Family Office Audit & Assurance |
 Achieving ambition. Managing risk. Leaving a rich legacy.

Family Office Assurance

For a family office, risk is not limited just to investment strategy
– although we recognise this may be high on your agenda! It can
be challenging to determine best practice when putting in place
the processes and controls needed to ensure that due process is
being followed and risk is being mitigated in the daily running of
the family office. Our family office assurance team is experienced in
performing governance and internal control reviews in order to assist
you in identifying gaps in existing processes and controls, as well as
performing independent controls reporting to help you put your minds
at ease over the controls in place at your family office.

Our team can assist you in a multitude of ways (as demonstrated by the following
pages), but some recent examples include:

• Demonstrating to your families that • Performing “review and recommend”

your family office’s internal control projects across your operations by
environment is robust and effective reviewing key business processes
and designed with their best interest and providing recommendations
in mind. Our assurance team has to ensure that your key risks are
recently worked with a family office being effectively mitigated through
building a service organisation control a strong controls environment and
report under a recognised standard for an effective governance framework.
wealth managers. We can perform an We have worked with a number of
audit of your internal controls in line with families to perform reviews of specific
your chosen recognised framework (such areas of their business to assist them
as AAF01/06 or ISAE3402), or based on in improving existing processes and
a structure agreed in advance with you, controls and bring insights into industry
and provide an independent report to best practice in light of increased
give assurance on your controls. regulatory scrutiny and pressures.

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Family Office Audit & Assurance |
 Achieving ambition. Managing risk. Leaving a rich legacy.

Family Office Assurance

Providing you with enhanced assurance

Strategic services – governance & oversight Finance and operations

• Design and review of family office alignment of • Perform independent operational due diligence over
interest between asset owners and family office investment portfolio, joint venture partners, other
• Strategy formation and review key service providers

• Assess structure of governance committees • Review and develop optimal organisational structure

• Asses control and risk management functions • Define roles and responsibilities

• Review of production mechanisms around reporting • Develop policies and procedures relevant to the
business
• Review use of spreadsheets and external reports
• Succession planning
• Understand reporting requirements and develop
reports that are fit for purpose • Review business processes and systems including
expense cycle, payroll, treasury, financial reporting,
• Review completeness and accuracy of data
and tax
• Review the use and oversight of third party service
• Assess the oversight and monitoring of outsourced
organisations
service providers
• Assessment of management information and KPIs
• Develop comprehensive internal controls for relevant
and its alignment with defined risk strategy and
business processes
strategic objectives
• Review design and implementation and operating
• Review of the family office’s consideration and
effectiveness of internal controls
policies, procedures and processes relating
to financial crime areas, including anti-money • Assess IT resilience and cyber security
laundering, anti-bribery and corruption, sanctions, • Review business continuity and disaster recover
anti-tax evasion facilitation and fraud protocols
• Review of the family office’s monitoring of financial • Perform independent testing of controls to provide
crime areas and risk appetite assurance to management that they are operating
as intended

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 Family Office Audit & Assurance |
 Achieving ambition. Managing risk. Leaving a rich legacy.

Investment processes Independent assurance Accounting services Internal audit function

• Assess and develop • Perform independent • Provide outsourced • Operate as either

investment policies and valuations of assets held by accounting services to a co‑sourced or outsourced
framework the family office to provide produce reports that are internal audit function
assurance over in house specifically designed for the to work with (or for)
• Develop robust investment valuations family or their key advisors management in order
processes including and to address their needs to monitor their control
sourcing, approval and • Perform a non‑statutory – either financial statements environment on an
execution audit and sign an audit or detailed management ongoing basis
opinion to confirm the information
• Employee monitoring, overall financial position of
review and individual the family office – including
accountability year on year gains and
the overall valuation as at
• Develop valuations policies a point in time
and procedures
• Perform ad hoc valuation
• Operational due diligence services throughout the
over potential investments year to provide assurance
or joint venture partners to support management
assessments – for example
at the point of moving
assets in and out of trusts

• Perform physical asset

verification reviews of your
physical assets

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Family Office Audit & Assurance |
 Achieving ambition. Managing risk. Leaving a rich legacy.

Key contacts
Terri Fielding Jessica Hodges
Investment Management Family Office Audit and
Governance Lead Assurance Lead
+44 (0)20 7303 8403 +44 (0)20 7303 8391
[email protected] [email protected]

Terri is an internal audit and governance expert who leads our Jessica is the UK Family Office lead for audit and assurance.
Internal Audit Asset Management practice. Terri use her wealth She specialises in external audits, controls reporting and using
of Asset Management experience to work with some of the most her experience of working with PE houses and wealth managers
professional family offices on their governance frameworks and to design bespoke assurance projects that suit the needs of your
internal control environments. family office, whatever they are.

Barry Christoforou Jutta Tornivaara

Director Senior Manager
+44 (0)20 7303 7568 +44 (0)20 7007 7510
[email protected] [email protected]

Barry specialises in governance and investment due diligence. Jutta is a senior manager focused on family office audit and
He has a wealth of experience with our highest profile PE clients assurance. Jutta has worked with a variety of family offices and is
and uses this to work with family offices seeking to professionalise. able to offer best practice advice and her views on the market.

Charlotte Lord Courtney Parrish

Senior Manager Manager
+44 (0)20 7007 5631 +44 (0)20 7007 4887
[email protected] [email protected]

Charlotte is a senior manager focussing on family office audit and Courtney leads the audits of some of our largest family office
assurance. Through her experience of working with family offices clients as well as some of our marquee investment management
she is able to recommendations to help align family offices with and PE clients.
best practise.

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 Family Office Audit & Assurance |
 Achieving ambition. Managing risk. Leaving a rich legacy.

Notes

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Family Office Audit & Assurance |
 Achieving ambition. Managing risk. Leaving a rich legacy.

Notes

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