Audit Quality Inspector

The Endorsement Board; Birmingham; On-site; GBP 50,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading company in audit regulation seeks a qualified professional to join their Audit Quality Review team. The role involves conducting inspections of audits and firm-wide procedures for major audit firms, influencing practices to enhance audit quality. Candidates must have significant experience in external audit and strong technical skills.

Qualifications

• Accountancy qualification and membership of ICAEW, ACCA, ICAS or ICAI required.
• Significant experience at Audit Senior Manager or above level essential.
• Strong technical auditing and accounting skills.

Responsibilities

• Conduct audit file inspections focusing on larger UK listed entities.
• Inspect firm-wide procedures at major audit firms.

Skills

Technical auditing skills

Accounting skills

Project management skills

Communication skills

Relationship building

Education

Professional accountancy qualification (ACA, ACCA, or equivalent)

Job description

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) mission is to serve the public interest by setting high standards of corporate governance, reporting and audit and holding to account those responsible for delivering them. We are the UK Competent Authority for audit regulation. We also set the UK Corporate Governance and Stewardship Codes as well as UK standards for accounting, auditing and actuarial work, and monitor and take action to promote the quality of corporate reporting and operate independent enforcement arrangements for accountants and actuaries. Further information about our role can be found atwww.frc.org.uk.

Audit Quality Review (AQR) is made up of suitably qualified and skilled staff with previous audit experience, including sector and IT specialists. It undertakes inspections monitoring the quality of Public Interest Entity (PIE) audits, but specifically those for UK listed entities. AQR also performs full scope inspections of the major Local Audits, National Audit Office, third-country audits and certain Crown Dependency audit firms and staff participate in the monitoring activity performed by the Audit Market Supervision (AMS) team, who take a cross-market approach to areas of importance to audit quality and firm resilience. This includes, but is not limited to, AMS firm-wide inspection work to ensure compliance with ISQC1.

As a member of the AQR team, successful candidates will participate in reviews of audits conducted by the Big 4 and other large audit firms, demonstrating their technical experience and personal skills in dealing with senior partners and staff at those firms

The Role:

The role provides an insight into how the major firms operate and how they are responding to current issues in the profession and changes in regulatory requirements. Successful candidates will also have the satisfaction of being able to influence the practices and procedures of the major audit firms to enhance quality. The successful candidate will:

• Conduct audit file inspections, focusing on larger UK listed entities. File inspections include analysis of audit workpapers, information gathering through informal and formal questioning of the audit team, discussion with the audit firm of potential issues identified, and conclude with final written reporting.

• Conduct inspections of firm-wide procedures at the major audit firms as required and visiting audit firms and reviewing their processes and audit methodologies.

The Person:

An accountancy qualification coupled with membership of ICAEW, ACCA, ICAS or ICAI (or equivalent) are required as well as significant experience at least at Audit Senior Manager or above level in the external audit profession, being essential.

The ideal candidate will have:

• A professional accountancy qualification (ACA, ACCA, or equivalent).
• Significant post qualification experience in the audits of listed and other public interest entities.
• Strong technical auditing and accounting skills.
• A demonstrable interest in an audit firm’s audit quality initiatives.
• Broad business knowledge and interests to facilitate working across multiple sectors.
• Ability to understand and assess significant volumes of information quickly and through this identify aspects of potential audit quality concern.
• Ability to build constructive and professional relationships with senior audit team and audit firm personnel.
• Ability to challenge the judgements made and quality of work performed by audit teams authoritatively, and to present and discuss issues arising on their merits in a calm and professional manner.
• Strong written and oral communication skills including report drafting, presenting AQR findings accurately, fairly and convincingly.
• Enthusiasm to work collaboratively with AQR and other FRC colleagues.
• Effective project and time management skills.