COMPLIANCE AUDIT SERVICES & CORPORATE AUDIT SUPPORT
Supplier & Contract Compliance Audits
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Supplier & Contract Compliance Audits are performed independently of joint venture audit mandates and are typically commissioned by Operators seeking structured verification of vendor billing and contract compliance within their operated assets. We conduct detailed reviews of contractor and supplier invoices under master service agreements, drilling contracts, EPC agreements, logistics and marine contracts, framework agreements, and infrastructure or storage arrangements. The focus lies on verifying that invoiced amounts accurately reflect agreed commercial terms, pricing schedules, escalation clauses, rate applications, change orders, and contractual conditions.
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Drawing on extensive experience from numerous joint venture audits across multiple operators and jurisdictions, we bring deep familiarity with how large upstream vendor contracts are structured, administered, and subsequently scrutinised under audit. This perspective allows us to assess billing practices not only for mathematical accuracy, but also for structural robustness, internal control integrity, and defensibility under potential partner or governmental review.
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Audit procedures include reconciliation of invoices to contract terms, purchase orders, work orders, field tickets, service confirmations, rig and marine logs, production or lifting statements, and supporting operational documentation. We evaluate rate application, scope adherence, quantity verification, and contractual entitlement to ensure that charges are commercially justified, operationally supported, and properly authorised within the Operator’s internal governance framework.
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The objective is to strengthen contract compliance, reduce financial leakage, enhance billing transparency, and reinforce internal controls - independent of, but informed by, deep contractual and cost-allocation expertise developed through joint venture audit practice.
Integrated Corporate Audit Support Services
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In many upstream organisations, joint venture audit and corporate internal audit functions operate in parallel, although they address closely interrelated financial, operational, and governance risks. We support corporate audit departments in integrating these disciplines into a coherent control framework that links contractual compliance under JOAs, PSCs, EPSAs, and licence regimes with enterprise-wide risk management and internal control objectives.
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Our approach begins with a structured mapping of risk exposure across operated and non-operated assets, distinguishing between contractual cost recovery risk, allocation risk, overhead governance, intercompany charging structures, and operational compliance risk. Based on this assessment, we assist in developing risk-based annual and multi-year audit plans, aligning joint account reviews with corporate internal audit cycles to ensure consistent methodologies, coordinated scoping, and harmonised reporting standards.
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We support the development of integrated audit manuals, aligned documentation standards, shared risk assessment matrices, and structured issue-tracking systems that prevent duplication and close control gaps between functions.
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At portfolio level, we work closely with corporate audit leadership in defining audit priorities, scoping complex assignments, and allocating resources across jurisdictions and contractual regimes. Engagement models include co-sourcing arrangements, embedded specialist support during execution, and structured training on the job, where our specialists work alongside in-house auditors to transfer joint venture, petroleum contract, and allocation expertise.
Our objective is not merely to execute audits ourselves, but to strengthen institutional capability, enhance control maturity, and embed sustainable, robust audit discipline within the corporate internal and joint venture audit function and across the upstream portfolio.