Eleanor Vail, from QAS accredited organisation Isio, gives an insight into the process and experience of becoming part of the IFoA's Quality Assurance Scheme
I managed Isio’s Quality Assurance Scheme (QAS) accreditation process, and I am now one of Isio’s three Senior Quality Assurance Representatives (SQARs), alongside Mike Shimwell, Isio’s Chief Actuary and Teri Viney.
Both Isio’s leadership and the wider team are delighted to have achieved accreditation under the QAS and to be able to bring the QAS accreditations of Premier Pensions Limited and Deloitte Total Reward and Benefits Limited into Isio’s accreditation, as they have joined the Isio Group following acquisition. QAS accreditation has been awarded to our Actuarial & Consulting and Investment Advisory service lines.
Isio applied to join the QAS scheme to confirm our commitment to and to showcase the high standards we hold ourselves to and the commitment Isio has to its employees. These have been key focuses for Isio since our inception. In addition to having the opportunity to have our policies and processes rigorously tested by ICAEW on behalf of the IFoA, we also wanted to join and contribute to the wider QAS community – now composed of 42 member firms.
The QAS accreditation process was made simpler by having a clear handbook to follow and the friendly and pragmatic QAS team, at the IFoA. The majority of my work involved ensuring that our written policies fully reflected our actual practice across the business. This review required me to engage with all the different parts of our business. Before commencing the work, we had agreed that every action we took and communicated to our teams should focus on making the business better.
As a consequence, we were able to improve our policies and processes as we went through the review and to communicate these updates to our teams.
Our QAS audit was conducted entirely online by the ICAEW and our auditors managed to put us at ease, whilst impressing us by ensuring no stone was left unturned. Whilst we already interacted with the IFoA on many issues and have several volunteers on various committees, the QAS accreditation process has only served to strengthen our relationship with the IFoA.
In practical terms, our membership of the QAS CPD Scheme will be the biggest difference the team will see.
I strongly believe that membership of the QAS CPD Scheme will allow us to increase the quality and relevance of the CPD our people undertake and the subsequent Reflective Practice Discussions (RPDs) our team experiences. We have particularly valued the opportunities to meet with the specialist advisors and discuss and receive feedback. We have a process of continual improvement for all our policies, but participation in the specialist review on CPD was particularly encouraging. This has fed into the ongoing evolution of our employees’ experience.
I believe that achieving QAS accreditation has been a recognition of our high standards and values as an organisation, but the accreditation is just a step on a journey of continual improvement, working alongside the IFoA and the QAS community.
Learn more about the Quality Assurance Scheme
