We turn scattered supplier records, unverified counterparties and gut-feel exposure into a scored, defensible view of where your money is actually at risk — quantified, documented and audit-ready.
ISO 19011 audit principles · CIPC-registered · Serving South African firms since 2019
Every engagement follows the same audited path, so findings hold up in front of a board, a lender or a regulator. The standard governs how we plan, collect and weigh evidence; the phases below are how it runs in practice.
Aligned to ISO 19011:2018 — Guidelines for auditing management systems.
We define the boundary of the review — entities, suppliers, capital flows and the exposures that matter to you — and agree the criteria each will be measured against. Nothing is scored until the rules are written down.
We pull registration data, financials, ownership chains, sanctions and adverse-media records into a single evidence file per counterparty, with source and date stamped on every field.
Following ISO 19011 sampling principles, we test claims against independent records rather than accepting self-declaration. Unverifiable items are flagged, not quietly assumed.
Each counterparty is scored against a documented weighting model. The number is reproducible: two analysts working the same file land within one band of each other.
You receive a ranked register, a defensible methodology appendix and a monitoring cadence, so a clean supplier that drifts is caught before it costs you.
A 45-minute scoping call to map your exposures, data sources and deadline. You leave with a written scope and a fixed fee — no open-ended retainers.
You share what you have — supplier lists, contracts, statements — through an encrypted channel. We tell you within two days what is missing and how we will fill it.
We run verification and scoring against the agreed model. Typical turnaround is 10 to 15 business days for a portfolio of up to 250 counterparties.
We walk your team and board through the register, the high-risk cases and the monitoring plan in a single working session, with the full methodology attached.
Each credential below changes something concrete about how your file is built and defended.
The method is constant; the risk criteria and evidence sources shift with your industry.
A Western Cape food manufacturer carried roughly 600 active suppliers on its ledger, almost none independently verified. A lender covenant required a documented supplier-risk position within eight weeks, and the finance team had spreadsheets, not evidence. Exposure was concentrated in a handful of names nobody had checked in years.
We ran the full five-phase method against the book: registration and ownership verification, sanctions and adverse-media screening, and financial-health scoring on every counterparty above a materiality threshold. Unverifiable suppliers were flagged and ranked rather than removed, so procurement kept control of the decisions.
Inside seven weeks the client held a ranked register with a documented methodology appendix. The covenant was met at first submission, and two of the top-ten suppliers were re-tendered before they failed the following quarter.
We are a registered advisory practice — Ardelio Financial Advisory (Pty) Ltd, CIPC reg. 2019/348217/07. We provide risk analysis and due diligence, not regulated investment product advice; where a licensed intermediary is required we say so and point you to one.
Each counterparty is measured against a written weighting model covering financial health, ownership, verification quality and adverse findings. The weights are agreed with you before scoring begins and shipped as an appendix, so the number is reproducible rather than a black box.
A portfolio of up to 250 counterparties usually takes 10 to 15 business days from full data handover. Larger books are staged, and we give you a fixed timeline in the written scope.
Supplier or counterparty lists, any contracts or statements you hold, and registration numbers where available. We tell you within two working days exactly what is missing and how we source the rest independently.
All data is processed under POPIA, transferred over an encrypted channel and deleted on an agreed schedule once the engagement closes. You own the register and the evidence files.
Engagements are fixed-fee against a written scope, priced on counterparty count and depth of verification — not an open-ended retainer. You approve the number before any work starts.
That is the point. The work follows ISO 19011 audit principles, every field is source- and date-stamped, and the methodology appendix travels with the register so a third party can retrace it.
Yes — we agree a monitoring cadence so a clean counterparty that deteriorates is flagged before it reaches your payment run, rather than at year-end.
Every counterparty lands on a 0–100 scale built from five weighted criteria. Weights are agreed with you up front and printed in the report.
| Criterion | Weight | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| Financial health | 30% | Solvency signals, judgments, payment-default records and available financials. The single largest driver of a score. |
| Verification quality | 25% | How much of the counterparty's own claims we could confirm against independent records versus what remains self-declared. |
| Ownership & control | 20% | Beneficial ownership traced, related-party links and offshore layers that obscure who ultimately gets paid. |
| Adverse findings | 15% | Sanctions, adverse media, regulatory action and litigation weighted by recency and materiality. |
| Concentration & dependency | 10% | How exposed you are to this single counterparty — single-source status, share of spend and switching difficulty. |
Bands: 80–100 Low · 60–79 Watch · 40–59 Elevated · 0–39 High. A score is never issued without a documented reason for the band.
Most supplier registers collapse under the first independent check. We break down the three fields lenders test first and how to close them before submission.
A number without a band and a reason is just noise. A worked example of how our five criteria turn into a single, defensible figure.
The two acts pull in different directions on data. Here is how we structure a file so it satisfies FICA obligations without breaching POPIA.
Tell us roughly how many suppliers or counterparties you carry and what deadline you're working to. We reply within one business day with a scoping call slot — no obligation, no sales script.
