01 — Assessment

The PSI™ Assessment

A fixed-fee engagement that scores payroll exposure across 47 control checkpoints in five governance pillars — delivered in three weeks, with findings ranked by financial impact.

The Deliverable

A scorecard your board can read in ninety seconds

Every Assessment produces a one-page scorecard: a composite PSI score, five pillar bands, and findings ranked by dollar exposure. No forty-page report. No translation required before it goes to the audit committee.

Behind the scorecard sits the full findings pack — each material finding with its exposure range, the control that failed, and the remediation owner it should be assigned to.

PSI™ Scorecard — SampleIllustrative — Not a Client Result
0/100
Elevated
Estimated exposure range: $1.2M – $2.8M
Priority findings: 7 across 3 pillars
Compliance Integrity
0
Financial Accuracy
0
Operational Continuity
0
Governance & Controls
0
Technology & Data Security
0
Illustrative sample — figures do not represent a specific client.
What You'll Receive

Your Complete Risk Profile

Scoped in a 30-minute confidential review, delivered in three weeks. Your results include everything a CFO needs to understand and act on payroll risk.

0–100 PSI Score
An evidence-based governance baseline that communicates payroll risk posture to executives, boards, and advisors. Peer statistics are shown only when an approved comparable cohort meets ValuGuard’s publication standard.
Board-Ready Heatmap
A visual risk heatmap across all five governance pillars — structured for CFO and board-level presentation without translation required.
Remediation Priorities
Prioritized recommendations tied to dollar-denominated liability estimates — so you know exactly where to focus first and what it's worth to fix.
The Five Pillars + Intelligence Layer

What We Assess

01
Compliance Integrity
Exposure to external regulatory authorities — federal and state tax filings, FLSA classification, multi-state nexus, and the statutory obligations that can act against the company for what payroll does or fails to do.
02
Financial Accuracy
Whether every dollar paid, deducted, accrued, and reported through payroll matches the company's financial reality — and whether that reality is defensible to the CFO, the auditor, and the board.
03
Operational Continuity
The durability and scale-tolerance of the payroll operation itself — whether it would continue running cleanly through turnover, growth, acquisition, or system migration.
04
Governance & Controls
The control architecture that prevents unauthorized, erroneous, or fraudulent payroll activity from reaching paid status — and the audit trail that defends every dollar that did.
05
Technology & Data Security
The integrity, security, and architectural soundness of the systems that process payroll data — and the controls protecting the sensitive personal and financial information moving through them.
+
Strategic Intelligence Layer
The strategic overlay that sits above the five pillars and tracks where exposure is moving over time. Structured trend monitoring and future cohort comparison are governed capabilities — any peer statistic or predictive use requires sufficient approved data, version consistency, privacy controls, and disclosure.
Next Step

Consider the Full PSI™ Assessment

Begin with a confidential scoping review for the 47-checkpoint, evidence-based engagement. Not ready to scope it? The free PSI™ Snapshot offers a directional view first.

Get My Free PSI™ Snapshot Book a Confidential Review