Most organisations adopted AI before they decided how it would be governed.
Ethos Advisory is an independent AI governance, risk and assurance practice working with boards and executive teams across New Zealand and Australia.
That creates exposure, operational risk, legal liability, and reputational harm, often without board visibility.
Ethos Advisory helps you understand what’s happening and put the right oversight in place.
What Governance Failure Looks Like In Practice
An executive team adopts an AI hiring tool to manage volume recruitment. Eighteen months later a rejected candidate raises a discrimination complaint. No governance framework exists. No audit trail. The board is asked to explain a decision they didn’t know had been made by an algorithm.
A staff member uses an AI tool to summarise client data for a board report. The tool retains that data. No policy exists. No one knew it was happening. The board approves a report influenced by AI generated content without knowing it.
Neither of these is hypothetical. They are the predictable result of AI adoption without oversight, and in most organisations, the conditions for both already exist.
Services
AI Governance Readiness
A structured assessment of AI use across your organisation, identifying where governance gaps sit, what risk they carry, and what to do next.
AI Governance Assurance
Independent testing of whether the AI governance arrangements your organisation has adopted are operating in practice.
AI Strategy Advisory
Independent advice for boards and chief executives on what AI is authorised to do, and the arrangements that give effect to that decision.
AI Incident Review
Independent investigation when AI use has caused harm, or is about to, and the board needs an evidence-based account of what happened.
What Makes Ethos Different
Board & Executive Focus
Engagements are structured for governance and executive clarity, not technical teams.
No Conflicts
No vendor relationships. No implementation services. Advice that serves your interests only.
Grounded in NZ Context
Regulatory expectations, Privacy Act obligations, and the realities facing New Zealand organisations.
Evidence Based
Structured engagements with defined scope, clear deliverables, and measurable outcomes
How We Engage
1. Scoping Conversation
A confidential discussion to understand your situation and define the right engagement.
2. Structured Review
Structured assessment or advisory work, evidence based and board aligned.
3. Clear Deliverables
Written findings, governance recommendations, and a board-ready briefing.