Skip to content

ACCA Strategic Professional · Strategic Business Leader · Leading and managing projects

Halden Bank's core banking replacement project is reported as 'green' by the project manager each month, based on her own progress reports. After go-live slips by six months, a review finds that the steering committee never received independent assurance, and issues were escalated only informally. Which governance weakness best explains the late discovery of the problems?

The weakness is lack of independent project assurance and formal escalation routes. The steering committee depended on the project manager's own reports and informal escalation, so slippage was not challenged until too late. Risk appetite, stakeholder analysis or quantitative methods are not what the facts describe.

  1. AAbsence of a defined risk appetite for the bank
  2. BLack of independent project assurance and formal escalation routes in project controlCorrect
  3. CExcessive use of quantitative risk analysis
  4. DPoor stakeholder analysis at the initiation stage

Explanation

The facts point to reliance on self-reporting with no independent check and only informal escalation, which are control and assurance failings. Risk appetite and stakeholder analysis are not indicated by the facts. Quantitative analysis was not mentioned at all.

Did you get it right without looking?

One question tells you little. A timed set on Leading and managing projects shows your real accuracy, how long you take and where you lose marks.

Practise Leading and managing projectsFree diagnostic mock

More Leading and managing projects questions