About KCG

 

Overview

KCG is an in-house shared services Consortium, formed on 1 August 2005 as an Unincorporated Association by the founding Member institutions:

• Goldsmiths, University of London
• Heythrop College, University of London
• Kingston University
• London Metropolitan University

 

From 1 August 2006, the four founding Member institutions were joined in the KCG Consortium by four further Higher Education Institutions (HEIs):

• London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of London
• Royal College of Music
• Royal Veterinary College, University of London
• School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London

 

From 1 August 2007, the KCG Consortium admitted a further two Member institutions:

• University of Westminster
• School of Pharmacy, University of London

 

The KCG Consortium has constinued to expand its Membership, admitting the following institutions at the dates indicated:

•    University of Kent                                  1 August 2009

 

All staff of the KCG Consortium are jointly employed by the Members of the Consortium in the provision of professional services between them. These services are delivered on a shared cost and not for profit basis.  Kingston University is currently the host Member of the KCG Consortium, providing all administrative support for the provision of services across all Member institutions. The KCG Consortium has an established Board of Management with representation from all of the Member institutions, each of which has equal voting rights. The Board of Management governs the strategic direction of the Consortium and also provides oversight of the Consortium’s business planning arrangements, management processes and procedures, financial management, and appointment of the Consortium’s executive Directors. The KCG Managing Director reports directly to the Board of Management.

 

The Members of the KCG Consortium have also established Kingston City Group Limited, a Company Limited by Guarantee, to deliver services to non-Members of the Consortium.

 

The Establishment of KCG - A Brief History

Kingston City Group (KCG) was formed on 1 August 2005 by the founding Member institutions to serve the internal audit and management assurance needs of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in London and the South East on a shared services basis. It was established to address concerns raised by a number of HEIs in the region, through the London Universities’ Purchasing Consortium (LUPC), regarding the quality of internal audit service provision through both outsourced and in-house arrangements.

 

The formation of the KCG Consortium required a number of prerequisites for success, including an initial minimal critical mass of institutions with shared expectations and high standards for internal audit, the establishment of a Board of Management that represents the Consortium, and a Member institution to support administration. The KCG Consortium was established on the premise of long term partnership between the Member institutions. It has successfully combined the strengths and advantages of both outsourced and in-house models and minimised the associated weaknesses.

 

The KCG Consortium was formed as an Unincorporated Association jointly owned by the Member institutions. This arrangement has allowed all Member institutions to be actively involved in the strategic direction and planning, governance, management, and operations of the Consortium, to share in all benefits, and to generate savings on VAT costs associated with staff resources. The Consortium’s Member institutions (ie those institutions that join the Consortium as full Members) share all costs in proportion to those benefits received.

 

All staff of the KCG Consortium are jointly employed by the Member institutions in the provision of internal audit and management assurance services between them. This allows the KCG Consortium audit teams to be genuinely embedded within the Member institutions on an "in-house" basis for service provision. The KCG Consortium Board of Management is now well established, with senior representation from each of the Member institutions.

 

The Members of the KCG Consortium have also established Kingston City Group Limited, a Company Limited by Guarantee, to deliver services to non-Members of the Consortium (ie those institutions that have not joined the Consortium as full Members and are serviced on a fully outsourced basis with VAT charged on the full cost of service provision). KCG Limited has been dormant since its establishment, with all non-Member transactions accounted and analysed separately within the KCG Consortium’s annual financial statements. The provision of services to non-Members is expected to increase significantly in the next three years; KCG Limited may become active in this period.

 

Kingston University is the administrative centre for the Consortium as the host Member, accommodating the Consortium’s Head Office and supporting all aspects of central administration. Kingston University receives an annual “management charge” intended solely to cover the cost of the provision of these administrative services to the Consortium Membership. It predominantly acts as paymaster in relation to all jointly employed staff. The recovery of monies by Kingston University from the other joint employers is not subject to VAT as it is treated as a disbursement.

 

The KCG Consortium also continues to develop its collaborative partnership arrangement with a top 10 accountancy and audit firm, Tenon Group, for the provision of additional and specialist staff resources on a call-off basis as and when these are required by the Consortium to support its operation.

 

Since its establishment in August 2005, the KCG Consortium has grown from four founding Member institutions to 11 Member institutions with combined total annual income of nearly £1 billion. The KCG Consortium’s turnover is now approximately £1.2m per annum from the delivery of over 2,000 audit days for Member institutions and commercial fee-based services for non-Members. The Member institutions are bound by the provisions contained within the Consortium Agreement and Deed of Adherence (29 October 2007 - last revision). The KCG Consortium currently employs 14 staff operating from a number of audit offices within the larger Member institutions across London and in Canterbury. It is now widely recognised across the Higher Education (HE) sector as an innovative service provider of internal audit, risk management, governance, and advisory services that offers high quality service and value for HEIs in London and the South East. The KCG Consortium has built a national reputation with a growing brand.

 

The KCG Consortium is not profit-making from its Membership. However, surplus funds have been established for re-investment purposes from the provision of additional services to Member institutions at Membership cost rates, and from services provided to non-Member institutions on a commercial fee basis.