Establish the evidence
Independent Audit
Examine the design and operation of agreed controls, reconcile evidence, and report findings and limitations independently.
Practice / Governance, Oversight, Control, and Risk
Akholi Practice / Phil Hatch
Governance, Oversight, Control, and Risk
Examine how decisions are made, how work is reviewed, and what happens when a control fails. Phil Hatch leads a scoped independent review or a separately commissioned program of governance and control correction.
Phil Hatch / Principal-led advisory / Financial institutions
Control Operation and Evidence
The institution needs clear ownership, effective oversight, authority to act, and evidence that controls operate in delivery. A policy, committee, or dashboard alone cannot establish those facts. The assignment examines the relevant financial institution, provider, center, and third-party responsibilities.
Akholi complements existing management, risk, compliance, and Internal Audit functions. Scope is agreed around a defined concern or portfolio subset rather than a blanket promise to audit an entire estate within a fixed number of weeks.
Independent Review and Management Correction
Make the arrangements work
Governance and control correction
Design and implement agreed ownership, decision, oversight, reporting, and control improvements under a management mandate.
Governance and Control Work Program
- Ownership and authorityResponsibilities across institutional functions, the provider or center, and material dependencies. Reachable authority for consequential decisions.
- Risk and issue managementShared records, accountable owners, escalation, containment decisions, and resolution of competing requirements.
- Human oversightReview demand and capacity, meaningful approval, exception handling, and tests of review quality.
- Change and suspensionApproval, notification, emergency change handling, monitoring, and authority to stop agent work when warranted.
- Reporting and manual alterationDefinitions and reconciliation of results, human intervention, authorization, disclosure, and records of material manual alteration.
- Evidence of correctionOperational tests, residual risks, closure criteria, and independent verification of material management corrections.
Control Deliverables and Accountability
A correction mandate can deliver an ownership and authority map, decision and escalation procedures, shared risk and issue records, oversight and change controls, reporting requirements, and tests of operation. Scope, implementation responsibilities, and evidence of completion are agreed for the actual engagement.
Legal and regulatory requirements are mapped with the institution’s qualified specialists. The service does not claim regulatory approval, statutory-audit equivalence, or certification of universal compliance.
Research Basis and Scope
Download the complete study PDFPhil Hatch’s 2026 study examines 150 agentic AI outsourcing engagements through accounts from 850 vendor delivery-team respondents. It identifies reported weaknesses in preparation, shared management, controls, reporting, and the visibility of human work.
At least one form of manual alteration was reported on all 150 engagements. Written accounts classified as governance weaknesses also occurred on all 150. These findings support examination of actual delivery and control operation. They do not establish failure of every control.
The Executive Action Plan proposes independent review, direct access to delivery personnel, corrective action, and independent verification of material closure. Akholi translates those recommendations into a scoped institutional assignment.
Related evidence: financial institution readiness, co-management, and manual alteration.
The sample is not industry-representative. The findings are observational. They do not establish causation or legal breach, and the study did not test the proposed remedies or measure GCC performance.
Governance and Control Enquiries
Start with the concern, the decision you need to make, and the people responsible. Agree scope, access, responsibilities, timing, and fees directly with Phil Hatch.