23rd July 2021 – We are delighted to report that we have successfully concluded our annual Lexcel Practice Management Standard audit with another strong performance.The entire process took place remotely for the second year running.
There were no areas of major non-compliance.
There were 6 areas of minor non-compliance and 7 suggestions for best practice.
The auditor recognised 6 areas of good practice evidencing a diligent approach to meeting or exceeding the Lexcel requirements.
The good practice areas included:-
Our GDPR information audit with data map: the very thorough and well documented annual review of risk: the quality of our file review quarterly analysis; and our annual anti money laundering risk assessment procedures.
The report recognised that the firm moving to paperless files in 2018 left us well placed to support home working during the Covid restrictions.
The auditor commented:-
“The Annual Business Plan continues to provide a documented and thorough review of the functioning of all policies and procedures during the year and provides an alternative risk register, working well as such”.
Fairweathers’ CEO Nick Fairweather commented:-
“Once again, this was a challenging but worthwhile and rewarding exercise, putting to task our mangement structures and procedures. It seemed quite natural to be undertaking the exercise remotley this year whereas it was a novel experince last year. The Lexcel auditing process is very thorough and time consuming but acts as a invaluable ‘MOT’ to ensure the efficient operation of the firm in all its many and varied areas. It has always been my belief that, without Lexcel, there is a danger of firms drifting into non compliance and bad practice with this ultimately being reflected in a poor level of service to clients. With thanks to all staff especially the management team for all their hard work in achieving this outcome”.