Specialist Internal Audit Services for Local Councils
Independent internal audit for town, community and parish councils across Wales and England
Our Partners
About Working the Greener Way - online
A Modern Internal Audit Approach
The expectations placed upon internal auditors under the Practitioners’ Guide and the Accounts and Audit (Wales) Regulations 2014 continue to evolve. Internal audit is no longer limited to checking invoices or bank reconciliations — it is a key part of a council’s wider governance and assurance framework.
Our audits are proportionate, evidence-based, and risk-focused, providing councils with meaningful assurance and practical recommendations that support continuous improvement.
What We Review:
- Governance and decision-making
- Financial Regulations and Standing Orders
- Internal financial controls
- Procurement and authorisation processes
- Budgetary control and reserves
- Risk management arrangements
- Banking and reconciliations
- Asset management
- Payroll and PAYE compliance
- Website transparency and publication requirements
- Legislative compliance
- Cyber and operational risks
- General Power of Competence readiness
- Audit trail and governance culture
What You Get In Return
- Qualified auditors
- Independent assurance
- Professional insight
- Practical recommendations
- Annual Internal Audit Programs
- Interim Audits
- End of Year Internal Audits
- Governance Health Checks
- Financial Control Reviews
- Policy & Procedure Reviews
- Risk Management Reviews
- Advisory & Improvement Support
- Confidence in the council’s governance arrangements.
Our reports are clear, structured, and tailored to the sector, helping Councils demonstrate good governance, maintain public confidence, and prepare effectively for external audit scrutiny.
About us
Working the Greener Way online
Claire Lingard - Practice Manager
Claire Lingard - Practice Manager
Founded in 2014, Working the Greener Way - online has multiple clients including Town, Parish, Community Councils in England and in Wales. We spcialise in assisting Third Sector organisations working flexibly and seamlessly with them to help them become the most efficient and performant organisations they can.
To complement our in-house capabilities, we have several proprietary solutions: Internal Controls Management, Modular Training, Smart Internal Audit, and translation services, and an ecosystem of partners who specialise in the provision of products and services to Third Sector organisations.
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More than 85 percent of our work is now conducted digitally and remotely.
In the past few years, even during the pandemic, we’ve served hundreds of clients and completed numerous internal audits, business transformation projects, training & development courses, mentoring and translation projects.
We help our clients develop the controls, culture and capabilities needed to be fully compliant with prevailing legislation whilst being agile and innovative - ahead of their market sector.
We deliver confirmation, confidence and real change that matters.
Claire Lingard - Practice Manager
Claire Lingard - Practice Manager
Claire Lingard - Practice Manager
Claire Lingard lives in Wiltshire and holds a Bachelor of Arts with First-Class Honours in Humanities with Classical Studies and post-graduate qualifications in Business Administration and Strategic Business Management and sits on the Executive Committee of the Internal Audit Forum.
Claire has also undertaken post-graduate research in Modern and Classical Languages and Literature including Japanese, Norwegian, Russian, Greek, Classical Greek, Latin, Aramaic and Sumerian (Cuneiform).
Originally working for global multinational organisations such as Goldman Sachs, Oracle and Shell, Claire was awarded the BAWE 'Women into Business Award' in 1998, the FCEM 'Most Original New Business in Britain' Award in 1999, and gained second place in the British Inventor of the Year Award in 1999.
Claire has a career spaning over 40 years working initially as a Programmer and Technical Support manager and ultimately as a Managment Consultant for Global Multinationals and for the last twelve years developing an Internal Audit Practice focused on Town, Parish and Community Councils in England and in Wales.
Mark Nielsen - Audit Lead Wales
Claire Lingard - Practice Manager
Matthew Thomas - Consultant Internal Auditor
Mark Nielsen lives in Monmouthshire, holds an MBA from Ealing University in strategic business and risk management, is a qualified Credit & Risk analyst and a Member of the Institute of Credit Management ( MCICM).
Over the past 25 years Mark has specialised developing and deploying commercial initiative & practice drivers, impacting & developing renewed industry standards from point of sale through to closing GL mechanics.
During this period Mark acted as an interim consultant in aspects of Risk & Route cause analysis, ( Internal / External) Project Management,
Business Process Reengineering, Functional Practice Management, Auditing and Audit conformance tracking across multiple industry sectors for global multinationals such as Credit Lyonnais, McCormick Inc, Aerotek Inc, St. Ives Plc and Onecom UK.
Most recently, Mark has been working with third sector specialist: Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc as an EU specialist - linked NHS purchase group.
Matthew Thomas - Consultant Internal Auditor
Kerry-Leigh Grabham - Consultant Internal Auditor
Matthew Thomas - Consultant Internal Auditor
Matthew Thomas is based in Port Talbot and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Marketing from the University of South Wales, alongside the Certificate in Local Council Administration (CiLCA) awarded by the SLCC.
He has over a decade of experience in the financial services sector, having worked with major institutions including Principality Building Society, Lloyds Banking Group, and Barclays Group, which involved holding a range of roles across the financial services sector, encompassing investigative, case-handling, and assurance responsibilities, and delivering clear, fair, and well-supported outcomes.
Since 2020, Matthew has been building substantial experience within local government, currently holding a statutory role as Council Clerk and Responsible Financial Officer in the Swansea area.
Kerry-Leigh Grabham - Consultant Internal Auditor
Kerry-Leigh Grabham - Consultant Internal Auditor
Kerry-Leigh Grabham - Consultant Internal Auditor
Kerry-Leigh Grabham is an experienced audit and governance consultant based in Carmarthenshire, with over 20 years’ professional experience, including 10 years working within local government.
Kerry-Leigh is currently the Chief Officer for a local council, providing senior leadership across governance, finance, compliance, and organisational assurance. She holds the AAT Level 4 Professional Diploma in Accounting and brings extensive hands-on experience across finance, payroll, and HR functions within a statutory local authority environment.
Over the course of her career, Kerry-Leigh has specialised in internal audit delivery, financial controls, governance assurance, and compliance improvement, supporting councils and community organisations to strengthen internal control environments and meet regulatory and audit expectations, including Audit Wales requirements.
Kerry-Leigh is known for her pragmatic, supportive, and collaborative approach, translating audit findings into clear, proportionate, and achievable recommendations that recognise operational realities while driving sustainable improvement.
Commitment to Net-Zero Carbon
Kerry-Leigh Grabham - Consultant Internal Auditor
Kerry-Leigh Grabham - Consultant Internal Auditor
Working the Greener Way - Online is committed to maintaining its Net-Zero Carbon footprint through adoption of science-based targets aligned with the Paris Agreement – which seeks to limit global warming to 2° Celsius above pre-industrial levels and pursue efforts to limit warming to 1.5°. But what does ‘net-zero carbon’ mean in practice – and what have we achieved?
Data Protection
Working the Greener Way - online, hereinafter referred to as WGW online, respects the privacy of each person who visits our website. We would like to inform you of the types of data collected by WGW online and how they are used. You will also learn how you can exercise your data subjects’ rights.
All information relating to Data Protection is published in our Privacy Statement. This enables you to inform yourself at any time about the data we are collecting and how we use such data.
This Data Protection Statement does not apply to websites accessible via hyperlinks on WGW online websites.
FAQs
Business Associates
Business Associates
Working the Greener Way - online works with a small number of specialist organisations who are specialists in the provision of products and services to the Third Sector.
Our business associates
Partner organisations
Net-Zero carbon footprint with ecoflow solar power stations
Working the Greener Way - online
Working the Greener Way - Online is committed to maintaining its Net-Zero Carbon footprint through adoption of science-based targets aligned with the Paris Agreement – which seeks to limit global warming to 2° Celsius above pre-industrial levels and pursue efforts to limit warming to 1.5°. But what does ‘net-zero carbon’ mean in practice – and what have we achieved?
Net-Zero Carbon
A commitment to net-zero carbon means reducing greenhouse gas emissions with the goal of balancing the emissions produced and emissions removed from the earth’s atmosphere. For example, if ten onsite days of consultancy are delivered, we can achieve carbon neutrality for those 20 corresponding journeys by reducing the number of journeys, by buying enough carbon credits or by supporting renewable-energy projects to offset the emissions (or a combination of the two).
To achieve net-zero carbon, WGW online offers a primarily digital services to our clients, offering onsite services only at the request of the client. To offset the emissions we create:
- We continuously monitor Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions created by our business.
- Offset secondary emissions by virtue of a tree planting scheme on our farm where only native trees are planted in a reforestation project.
- We generate all our own electricity using EcoFlow DELTA Pro Solar Power Stations. We have been using these systems since the 1st August 2022. Even on a cloudy day we produce enough power to run our office with power to spare.
Why did we select EcoFlow as our Energy Partner of choice? Read the press release below and click on the links to visit EcoFlow's website - This may be the solution for you too.
"LOS ANGELES, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire:
EcoFlow DELTA Pro Power Station
EcoFlow, a portable power, and renewable energy solutions company, has been recognized by the 2022 Red Dot Design Award, with the EcoFlow DELTA Pro and the ecosystem’s accessories named the winner in the Product Design category. The Red Dot Design Award is one of the biggest design competitions in the world, with its distinctive “Red Dot” serving as a marker of outstanding design around the world for over 60 years.
“We are thrilled to see the EcoFlow DELTA Pro ecosystem recognized by the Red Dot jury,” said Thomas Chan, R&D Director at EcoFlow. “It is a wonderful acknowledgment of our product design philosophy, which sought to create a sustainable future for all from the very beginning. This is yet another accolade and milestone for EcoFlow and our products.”
On the same day, EcoFlow also announced that the long-awaited full release of the EcoFlow DELTA Pro ecosystem will take place on April 15. The entire ecosystem, which includes the DELTA Pro Portable Power Station and all of its accompanying accessories, is the industry’s first integrated energy solution to address the generation, storage, and usage of power, enabling a sustainable approach to energy for individuals and businesses alike.
“EcoFlow has become an important participant in the world’s mission to become carbon neutral through the constant development of innovative renewable energy solutions, and the success of the EcoFlow DELTA Pro ecosystem marks yet another major step forward,” Chan said.
First launched on Kickstarter in July 2021, the EcoFlow DELTA Pro ecosystem quickly raised over $12 million, shattering the platform’s record for the most funded tech project at the time. Later that October, the base unit of the ecosystem – the EcoFlow DELTA Pro Portable Power Station – was named in TIME’s list of 100 Best Inventions of 2021."
The EcoFlow DELTA Pro Power Station - powering Working the Greener Way online 365 days a year.