What is an Internal Controls Health Check?

An internal controls health check is a systematic review of a company's policies and procedures and the maturity of its control environment. It identifies gaps in areas like segregation of duties, financial approval limits, and data security to prevent fraud and ensure accurate financial reporting.

How is control maturity measured?

Control maturity is typically measured on a scale from informal/ad-hoc (where processes are undocumented) to optimised (where controls are automated, regularly tested, and integrated into the company culture).

Why is operational resilience important for SMEs?

For small to medium enterprises, a single disruption to systems or supply chains can be devastating. Business Continuity Planning (BCP) ensures that you have the muscle memory to respond to cyber-attacks or operational failures without losing revenue.

Does my business need a formal Risk Register?

Yes. A formal risk register and a focus on risk management allows senior leadership to move from reactive firefighting to proactive management. It ensures that the most significant threats to your strategy are identified, owned, and mitigated.

What does my Maturity Score mean?

Developing: Controls are ad-hoc, undocumented, and largely reactive. Establishing: Basic controls exist but are inconsistently applied or lack formal evidence. Maturing: Controls are documented, communicated, and reviewed on a regular cycle. Optimised: Controls are integrated into the business culture with automated monitoring and continuous improvement.

What might follow-on work look like after the assessment?

A high maturity score is the goal, but the real value lies in closing the gaps. Follow-on support typically includes: Self-Assessment Verification to ascertain whether the controls you believe are in place are actually functioning well; End-to-End Framework Audits providing a formal opinion on whether controls are designed correctly and operating effectively; Remediation and Roadmap Design to bring areas rated Developing or Establishing up to standard; ICFR and Audit Readiness for businesses scaling toward an exit or major audit; and Resilience Simulations to test your Business Continuity Plans through interactive tabletop exercises.

Free Internal Controls & Risk Maturity Assessment Tool

Benchmark your governance, financial reporting, and operational resilience against industry standards.

In an increasingly complex regulatory environment, "good enough" controls are no longer sufficient to protect your business value. Whether you are preparing for an audit, scaling your operations, or strengthening your Financial Reporting Controls (ICFR), understanding your current maturity level is the first step toward resilience.

This health check is designed to provide a high-level gap analysis of your control environment.

Why take the Navpoint Health Check?

🌐 Comprehensive Coverage: Evaluate your business across 5 critical domains: Governance, Risk Management, Financial Controls, BCP, and Systems Security.
💡 Instant Insights: Receive a maturity score (from 'Developing' to 'Optimised') upon completion.
✅ Expert Foundations: Our methodology aligns with frameworks used throughout the world by internal control and risk management experts.

Controls Health Check | Navpoint Group

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Controls & Risk Health Check

Find out how your business scores across five key control domains in around 15 minutes.

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How mature are your controls?

This free assessment — developed by a Chartered Accountant with nearly ten years of experience across FTSE 100 and Top 10 accountancy firms — gives you an honest picture of where your business stands.

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Maturity rating

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FAQ

An internal controls health check is a systematic review of a company’s policies and procedures and the maturity of its control environment. It identifies gaps in areas like segregation of duties, financial approval limits, and data security to prevent fraud and ensure accurate financial reporting.
Control maturity is typically measured on a scale from informal/ad-hoc (where processes are undocumented) to optimised (where controls are automated, regularly tested, and integrated into the company culture).
For small to medium enterprises, a single disruption to systems or supply chains can be devastating. Business Continuity Planning (BCP) ensures that you have the "muscle memory" to respond to cyber-attacks or operational failures without losing revenue.
Yes. A formal risk register and a focus on risk management allows senior leadership to move from reactive "firefighting" to proactive management. It ensures that the most significant threats to your strategy are identified, owned, and mitigated.
- 🔴 Developing: Controls are ad-hoc, undocumented, and largely reactive.
- 🟠 Establishing: Basic controls exist but are inconsistently applied or lack formal evidence.
- 🟢 Maturing: Controls are documented, communicated, and reviewed on a regular cycle.
- 🟡 Optimised: Controls are integrated into the business culture with automated monitoring and continuous improvement.
A high maturity score is the goal, but the real value lies in closing the gaps. Based on your results, follow-on support typically falls into these structured engagement types:
- Self-Assessment Verification (The "Reality Check"): We perform a targeted gap analysis review of your answers to this health check. The goal is to ascertain whether the controls you believe are in place are actually functioning, and functioning well. This bridges the gap between management’s perception and the operational reality.
- End-to-End Framework Audit: An expanded, deep-dive assessment across all five domains. While this tool uses 26 data points, a full framework assessment (which can be tailored to your organisation) uses an expanded testing set to provide a formal opinion on whether controls are not only designed correctly but are operating effectively over a period of time.
- Remediation & Roadmap Design: For areas identified as "Developing" or "Establishing," we build a prioritised roadmap to bring them up to standard. This includes drafting formal policies, mapping workflows (such as Purchase-to-Pay), and ensuring robust segregation of duties.
- ICFR & Audit Readiness: Specifically for businesses scaling toward an exit or a major audit, we can guide you to strengthen your Internal Controls over Financial Reporting (ICFR) to meet upcoming requirements, ensuring no surprises during the year-end process.
- Resilience Simulations: We facilitate interactive tabletop exercises to test your Business Continuity Plans, moving beyond "having a plan" to "proving the plan works."

Free Internal Controls & Risk Maturity Assessment Tool

Benchmark your governance, financial reporting, and operational resilience against industry standards.

Why take the Navpoint Health Check?

Controls & Risk Health Check

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