Assurance is not the same as receiving information
More board reporting does not necessarily mean stronger assurance. Here is how non-executive directors can test what the evidence actually establishes.
BoardCue Live Editorial 2 min read
A board can receive detailed performance reports, financial forecasts and committee updates and still lack the evidence it needs for a decision. The problem is often the gap between what a report describes and what its conclusions actually establish.
A dashboard might show that an indicator is improving. A narrative might describe progress against an action plan. A committee might report that it has considered a risk. None of those statements, by itself, demonstrates that the underlying risk is controlled.
A useful way to examine a report is to distinguish information, reassurance and assurance. Information tells us what has been reported. Reassurance is a conclusion that things are progressing satisfactorily. Assurance explains why the board can have justified confidence in that conclusion, within clear limits.
Consider a service reporting that it has reduced waiting times. Useful questions include: Which part of the pathway is measured? Are people still waiting before the measurement clock starts? What happens to those who have been assessed but are waiting for treatment? What independent or patient-derived evidence supports the account?
Those are not attempts to catch management out. They are ways of clarifying what is known, what remains uncertain and what would change the board's judgement.
Five questions worth asking
- What is the source of this conclusion, and how current is it?
- What would we expect to see if the conclusion were wrong?
- Is the measure capturing the entire risk or just the easiest part to count?
- What have internal audit, external reviewers, staff or service users said?
- What should be reported back, by whom, and when?
A stronger board paper does not need to be longer. It needs a clearer line from the claim to its evidence, assumptions, limitations and proposed decision.
Uncertainty will remain. The board needs to understand its extent, its consequences and who is responsible for resolving it.
For boards: At the next meeting, select one major assurance statement and ask the paper's author to trace the evidence that supports it.
BoardCue's Triangulation & Assurance connects discussion with available governance evidence. Use any suggested connection as a question to investigate, and check the underlying material before taking assurance from it.