The HIRE 3D Audit

Each domain is assessed against evidence, not intent.

The audit examines three core domains of workforce, management, and employment risk that materially affect business resilience and enterprise value.

1. Employment & Legal Exposure

Uncontrolled hiring practices, unclear contractual terms, inconsistent processes, and weak documentation create latent legal and financial exposure that escalates rapidly under growth.

2. Operational Control Failure

The absence of defined control frameworks, ownership, and decision controls for workforce critical activity increases reliance on founders and key individuals, weakening execution resilience and scalability.
In this context, ‘controls’ means the documented ownership, decision rights, evidence trails, and operating routines that prevent avoidable exposure under growth.

3. Execution & Leadership Risk

Execution gaps under growth pressure increase the likelihood of poor decision-making, management load failure, execution slippage, and operational drag.

The HIRE 3D Audit is delivered on a standalone basis, separated from implementation.

We test for demonstrable controls and evidence trails.

Where evidence cannot be produced, the control is treated as absent.

It includes:

The HIRE 3D Audit produces a decision-grade workforce and management risk assurance output designed to support capital, credit, and governance decisions.

The primary deliverable is a board-level workforce and management risk assurance report, structured to support informed intervention, escalation, or continued exposure.

A concise overview of:

Written for boards, investors, and relationship managers.

A clear Red / Amber / Green assessment across:

Ratings reflect risk severity and consequence, not organisational maturity.

A factual account of:

Where evidence cannot be demonstrated, controls are treated as absent.

Each material risk is accompanied by a clear statement outlining:

This ensures findings are decision-useful, not descriptive.

Where requested, high-level remediation options may be outlined after audit completion, clearly separated from the assurance findings. The audit itself remains independent and non-prescriptive.

The HIRE 3D Audit is a stand-alone workforce and management risk assurance audit.

It does not:

Its sole purpose is to identify, rate, and articulate workforce, management, and employment risks that threaten enterprise value, enabling informed action by those carrying financial and governance responsibility.

The HIRE 3D Audit is typically commissioned by parties carrying financial, governance, or reputational exposure to a growing business.

It is deployed at points where workforce and management risk can materially affect outcomes, valuations, or decisions.

Commissioned when:

The audit provides early visibility of workforce and management exposures that sit outside traditional financial reporting, supporting more informed credit oversight.

Commissioned when:

The audit supports investment, follow-on funding, and governance decisions by identifying risks that could impair enterprise value if left unmanaged.

Commissioned when:

The audit enables boards to distinguish between acceptable growth strain and material workforce or management exposure requiring action.

The audit is optimally suited to companies with approximately 15 to 150 employees, typically characterised by:

This is the stage at which people and management risk concentrates most sharply, and where failures most often crystallise as litigation, execution breakdown, stalled delivery, or loss of lender and investor confidence.

The audit may also be applied to larger, pre-institutional organisations (up to ~200–300 employees) where formal second-line risk or internal audit functions are not yet in place.

The HIRE 3D Audit is most effective when used: