+27 21 486 3920 Cape Town, South Africa
VAT 4820571639 EN
Methodology

The Karoo Ledger Method

A single, documented path from raw supplier data to a scored register that holds up in front of a board, a lender or an auditor. We publish how it works because a method you can't inspect isn't a method — it's an opinion.

ISO 19011:2018
Five phases
Documented & repeatable
A desk overlooking an arid Karoo landscape, evoking steady, grounded advisory work Steady ground for scored risk
The five phases

Built on ISO 19011:2018

Guidelines for auditing management systems — the standard that governs how we plan, sample and weigh evidence.

01 Scope & risk framing The boundary and the scoring criteria are written and agreed before anything is measured. This is what stops scope creep and what makes two reviews comparable.
02 Evidence collection One evidence file per counterparty, every field source- and date-stamped, drawn from registration data, financials, ownership chains and adverse-media records.
03 Verification & sampling Claims are tested against independent records using ISO 19011 sampling principles. Anything we cannot verify is flagged as unverified — never silently accepted.
04 Scoring & weighting A documented weighting model turns evidence into a 0–100 score inside a named band, reproducible by any analyst working the same file.
05 Reporting & monitoring A ranked register, a methodology appendix and an agreed monitoring cadence, so deterioration is caught between reviews rather than at year-end.
What you receive

Every engagement ships the same artefacts

  • Ranked counterparty register Every entity scored, banded and sorted by exposure.
  • Methodology appendix The weighting model and criteria used, printed for third parties to retrace.
  • High-risk case notes A written rationale for each Elevated and High counterparty.
  • Evidence files Source- and date-stamped records behind every score, handed to you.
  • Monitoring plan An agreed cadence and trigger list for re-checking clean names.
  • Board-ready summary A one-page view for people who won't read the register.
On the method

How the scoring holds up

Every score traces back to a stamped source and a published weight. A lender or auditor can pick any counterparty and follow the trail from the number back to the evidence.

Yes — the model is agreed with you before scoring. If your board weights ownership opacity heavier than we do by default, we set that and record it.

They are flagged and ranked, not deleted. You keep the commercial decision; we make sure it's an informed one.

Most clients run a full refresh annually with continuous monitoring in between. Faster-moving books — construction subcontractors, for instance — refresh quarterly.

Want the method applied to your book?

Send us a rough counterparty count and a deadline. We'll come back within one business day with a scope and a fixed fee.

Request a risk review