Audit and Risk Committee Prequalification Scheme

What is the Audit and Risk Committee Prequalification Scheme

The Audit and Risk Committee (ARC) Prequalification Scheme (the Scheme) was established in 2009 as a requirement of TPP20-08 Internal Audit and Risk Management Policy for the General Government Sector.

TPP20-08 mandates Government Sector Finance (GSF) agencies and statutory bodies to establish an independent ARC. There are over 100 agencies in scope.

Agencies must select the chair and members for their ARCs from the list of prequalified individuals. The ‘prequalification list’ of the Scheme is a list of highly skilled individuals with extensive experience across a range of policy areas. Applications for prequalification are reviewed and approved by an independent Assessment Committee.

Prequalification allows someone to be considered for appointment as a chair or member of NSW Government ARCs. Prequalified individuals may be appointed to up to five committees at any one time. Each shared portfolio committee (formerly known as cluster committee) counts as one.

Who can become prequalified

To be prequalified as a member, you need to have a range of skills and experience including:

extensive senior-level experience in governance and management of complex organisations
understanding of the ethical requirements of government
functional knowledge in a range of business areas
ability to form independent judgments and willingness to constructively challenge.

To be prequalified as a chair you need to have:

the skills and experience of a member (see above)
leadership and communication abilities
knowledge of governance
knowledge of internal audit and risk management.

Prequalified individuals must also be independent. Current employees of NSW Government sector agencies cannot be prequalified.

Appointments need to be compliant with TPP20-08 and no conflicts of interest should arise on engagement.

Application process

1 . Apply for the scheme

The ARC Prequalification Scheme is open to new applicants. Before applying, please review the Application Guide (PDF 128.61KB).

In applying for the Scheme you agree to the Scheme Conditions (PDF 206.65KB) (PDF 206.65KB), the Code of Conduct (PDF 146.35KB) and to accepting the roles and responsibilities outlined in TPP20-08 (PDF 195.21KB) on being engaged to an ARC.

2. Assessment

Once you submit your application, the ARC Scheme Secretariat (the Secretariat) will review it for completeness. Incomplete applications are not considered for assessment and will be rejected.

Complete applications are forwarded to a panel of assessors for their consideration against the criteria in the Scheme Conditions (PDF 206.65KB). The panel consists of individuals from within the NSW Government and external independent assessors.

The assessment period typically takes up to eight weeks. If your application is urgent, please contact the Secretariat.

If the assessment process identifies a need for further information or verification by referees, the Secretariat will contact you via email.

3. Notification of assessment outcome

The ARC Scheme Secretariat will notify you of your application outcome by email.

Prequalification scheme experience questions

The prequalification scheme experience questions are provided below to help prepare for your application.

Please note, there is a 400-word limit for each question about experience. Working on the questions in a local document first can guide the word count of responses.

Recent experiences

Please provide examples demonstrating your experience in understanding and interpreting financial statements to the standard required of an ARC.
Please provide examples of management or governance roles you have held in complex organisations, including details of the kinds of organisations.

Capability

Please provide examples of when you have formed independent judgements and constructively challenged/questioned management practices and information.
Please provide examples of how you ensure you exercise your duties professionally and responsibly, and how this will support you in upholding the ethical requirements of government.

Functional experience

Please choose 2-5 functional experience areas from the list below in which you have the most expertise and provide a short example demonstrating recent experience.

Governance
Risk Management
Finance
Insurance
Internal audit
External audit
Controls, compliance and fraud control
Business operations
Performance management
Human Resource management
Information Technology
Project management
Health
Infrastructure
Climate Change
Cyber Security
Other

As a guide:

It is a requirement to have expert level experience in at least two functional areas for a successful application.
an expert is likely to have over five years direct professional experience.

Chair-role related experience (if applicable to your application)

Please provide an example of how you have demonstrated effective leadership, and promoted effective working relationships, in complex organisations.
Please provide an example demonstrating your ability to communicate complex and sensitive assessments in a tactful manner to senior stakeholders (e.g. chief audit executives, senior management, board members and ministers).

Application form

This form cannot be saved and must be completed in one go.

You can review the Prequalification scheme experience questions to prepare responses in a local document first.

There is a 400-word limit for each question about experience.

Support and contact

Email us for further information or advice.

You can also contact us about:

Re-submission

If you have already submitted an application and it was rejected, contact our team and we'll guide you through how to re-submit your application.

Prequalified members details update

To update your details, please email us.

Access to the ARC Prequalification Scheme list

Agencies seeking to engage ARC members need to provide an EOI (see template (PDF 148.33KB)) to the ARC Scheme Secretariat (auditriskmembers@treasury.nsw.gov.au), who will email the EOI to all ARC Pool individuals to let them know of opportunities. Interested ARC Pool members need to apply directly to the agency