02 / Decide · Investment frame
Investment Governance Review
An independent review of the governance behind your capital investments: the framework, the gates and the decisions they actually produce.
The problem
Approved is not the same as decided
On paper, most capital investment governance looks sound. There is an investment decision framework, a delegation of authority, stage gates with defined deliverables, and a committee that meets on schedule.
Yet weak proposals keep getting approved. The questions asked at each gate rarely change the decision. Options are narrowed long before they reach the committee, benefits are set at whatever clears the hurdle, and capital allocation follows precedent and momentum rather than merit.
This is rarely a failure of diligence. It is a structural problem: governance designed to process approvals will process approvals. The test of an investment decision framework is not whether decisions get made, but whether bad investments get stopped and good ones get better.
Who it's for
Boards, committees and CFOs
This review is for boards, investment committees and chief financial officers in organisations that invest heavily in capital projects: miners, energy and infrastructure businesses, and government bodies with major programs.
The common signals: projects pass every gate and still overrun, the committee senses it is ratifying rather than deciding, and post-investment reviews keep finding problems that were visible before approval.
What we do
What we review
We review the governance of your capital investments end to end, from the framework itself to the decisions it actually produces.
The framework
gate definitions, decision rights and delegations, and whether they match the risk and scale of the investments passing through them.
The quality of scrutiny
whether options are genuinely tested, benefits are grounded, and risks are understood before approval.
Recent decisions
a sample of approved investments, traced from business case to outcome, to see what the framework caught and what it missed.
Assurance
whether independent review exists where it matters, and whether it reaches the committee unfiltered.
What you get
An honest read on governance
An honest read on governance quality, with specific findings on where the system is strong and where it misses the decisions that matter most.
Recommendations sized to your organisation, and support to implement them where you want it.
Related work
Resources
Making major-project performance predictable
A consistent investment framework that gave leaders confidence the business case would be delivered.
Resources / ESG
Helping leaders weigh value beyond the financials
A repeatable framework to weigh financial, environmental and community value in major investment decisions.
Facing this problem?
A short, confidential conversation is the fastest way to find out if we can help.