The PSAA executive team comprises four senior officers:
Tony Crawley
Tony is Chief Executive and leads PSAA and our staff. He carries overall responsibility for the implementation of strategy, delivery of services and development of the business. He ensures that our company’s business is efficient and effective in line with our statutory delegations, and the policies and strategies approved by the Board.
Tony ensures that PSAA’s work and business decisions serve the public interest; maintaining a reputation for good governance, management and service delivery; and that our independence is appropriately protected. With the Chair, he represents the company externally to build and enhance relationships with key stakeholders. This includes remaining well-informed about issues and challenges facing the sector and ensuring that the views and opinions of stakeholders inform strategy and policy development.
Local audit is subject to policy changes and technical and professional developments that are beyond PSAA’s remit. Tony leads our response to new circumstances, working closely with the Board and the sector to develop and implement strategies, and when necessary, an updated business model to strive for the best outcome for the local audit sector.
Tony qualified as a chartered public accountant in 1994. He worked for District Audit, the delivery arm of the Audit Commission from 1990 to 2012, and worked on secondment to CIPFA, the Audit Commission and the National Fraud Initiative. Tony became a District Auditor in the East Midlands in 2009, and transferred to KPMG LLP in 2012 where he was a Director specialising in local government and NHS external audits. He joined PSAA in October 2018, and is the Past President of CIPFA in the Midlands.
Julie Schofield
Julie is Chief Operating Officer and Deputy Chief Executive. She oversees all aspects of PSAA’s procurement and contract management activity, business management and project delivery. She assumes the role of Chief Executive in Tony’s absence and ensures efficiency and effectiveness across all operations.
Julie has overall responsibility for producing and reporting progress against the Business Plan and leads the delivery of an agreed set of projects and business as usual activities. Her responsibilities extend to company governance covering risk and information management, including compliance with information rights and data protection laws.
She leads and manages the delivery of the five-yearly project to prepare for a new appointing period which includes undertaking a public procurement process. Julie plays a key role in ensuring that PSAA’s business serves the public interest, and that it maintains a reputation for good governance and management, and excellent service delivery to our clients.
Julie is a qualified programme, project, and procurement lead. She originally worked with PSAA from September 2016 to March 2018 and managed the projects to set up the appointing person arrangements and the implementation of a CRM system. She re-joined PSAA in March 2020 and has progressed to this new role. Her career has mostly been in local government, and spans IT, procurement, project and programme management. Julie brings a broad knowledge and understanding of managing operational, project and programme delivery to this role.
Sandy Parbhoo
Sandy is Chief Financial Officer and works closely with the Board and Senior Management Team to develop, implement, and monitor PSAA’s financial strategy. She oversees the production of management accounts and other financial information. Sandy advises on the development and adoption of sound policies for both strategic and operational financial management, which support the efficient and effective conduct of our business.
She leads on the preparation of PSAA’s annual accounts, budgets, and medium-term financial plan ensuring transparency and efficiency in our financial operations. Sandy leads and manages all financial aspects of PSAA’s contracts with the firms for audit and related services, including: the appointment of auditors; maintenance of scales of audit fees; and the calculation of amounts payable to/due from firms of appointed auditors.
Sandy trained with Deloitte and qualified as a chartered accountant in 1995. She worked as a finance manager at a start-up organisation, setting up its finance department. She moved on to work at the BBC managing the finances of Newsnight and Breakfast TV. Sandy also worked for the Audit Commission from 2001 to 2015, starting as Finance Manager in the London region, and then promoted to Business Partner and Senior Contracts Manager. She joined PSAA in April 2015 as Finance Manager.
Andrew Chappell
Andrew is Head of Audit Technical and is PSAA’s senior subject matter expert on audit matters. He oversees the implementation of our audit quality work and leads on audit aspects of our statutory functions, remaining up-to-date on all aspects of audit that are relevant to the local government sector including professional ethics.
He is involved in the development of our strategy on audit quality matters; a critical strand of the company’s efforts to ensure that our work meets the needs of audited bodies and serves the public interest. This includes reporting regularly on progress and performance and reviewing information available to assess the quality of firms’ audit work.
Andrew provides technical briefings and leadership to PSAA colleagues, supporting them in areas including setting scale fees, fee variations, and contract management. He also presents on audit matters to external groups such as Treasurer Societies, Regional Audit Committee Chairs, CIPFA regional meetings, system partner meetings, and our Advisory Panel.
Andrew is a qualified Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants. He joined PSAA in June 2016 after a 25-year career in local audit with District Audit and KPMG. Having managed a range of external and internal public sector clients, he brings a wide knowledge and understanding of audit quality arrangements to this role.