Auditor job

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Discussion

phil1967

Original Poster:

308 posts

191 months

Tuesday 15th April 2014
quotequote all
Hi,

Does anyone on here do this? I am looking for a career change and this looks like something for me. Did anyone take any particular routes in qualification wise? if so what, how long it took etc. I see the IIA has a diploma ssytem that takes a number of years but there is a BSI system that is much quicker but not sure if it is useful career wise.

It would not be finance or IT i assume as they are not my specialism currently.

Thanks

Chilli

17,318 posts

235 months

Tuesday 15th April 2014
quotequote all
Auditing roles vary massively, so a lot depends on where you want to end-up. I used to be the Internal Auditor for a small bank and it was a good job. I didn't need any qualifications and did just fine.
However step into a big bank of one of the big Auditing firms and you will need to be fully qualified, which I think is down the accountants route first, followed by Audit qualifications.

Well, that's what it used to be when I were a ld, not sure now though. The main point being, is there are many, many auditing roles that require the complete spectrum of qualifications.

Didn't really help much, did it?!

Eric Mc

121,775 posts

264 months

Tuesday 15th April 2014
quotequote all
Depends on what type of auditing you envisage doing.

In the accounting world, auditing tends to mean that the individual has -

qualified as a Chartered or Certified Accountant

obtained the required number of years working in a firm of auditors

has applied for and received their Registered Audit status

For accountants, this Registered Auditor status allows them to sign off the audit reports of audited limited companies and plcs.

Shirt587

360 posts

134 months

Tuesday 15th April 2014
quotequote all
Generally it comes down to:
Financial Audit - you need to have significant financial audit experience, generally people start with a firm of accountants/auditors.
Internal Audit - more process/change management stuff. Essentially where is the process broken and how do we fix it. If you've done project management (as in properly, not just "I did PRINCE2") this might be an option.
Compliance Audit - be an expert in a particular area. One of our clients has their own compliance team whose job it is to turn up and argue margins with people. That's all they do because they're so experienced in actually making the product range they can look at a set of financials and say what's probably wrong.

To be brutally honest, if you're thinking about moving now and have limited experience, you're going to be starting near the bottom of the tree. The job market has picked up and there's quite a lot of fairly experienced people moving.

phil1967

Original Poster:

308 posts

191 months

Tuesday 15th April 2014
quotequote all
Thanks all for coming back. I am manager of a service for a local council, but the time has come to move on and i deal with some internal auditors from time to time so internal audit and assurance is likely the field i would look at. i suppose you could say my expertise is disaster management in regard to failing services and fixing them.

anonymous-user

53 months

Sunday 20th April 2014
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Internal audit is the only thing I've done since finishing uni. I started with the NHS; moved to practice with (mainly) public sector clients; and now I'm at a social housing group.

I did the IIA route which is popular with the public sector and trainees start on around £20k. Of the five trainees I joined with over 6 years ago I'm the only one still doing it.

It's a varied job with no real responsibility biggrin but the time pressures and occasional poor co-operation from some managers can get to people. Also a lot of organisations, particularly public sector are way behind the times with audit processes and techniques which results in little added value. IIA membership adds a lot here in my opinion.

Working inhouse is much better for your pay packet and work/life balance - when compared say to external firms. However, having a year or two of practice experience on your CV looks more appealing to employers.

I've been thinking about my next move and most commerical/financial services inhouse jobs seem to favour ACCA/ACA candidates and offer a lot more salary wise, so you may want to bear that in mind.

There's a job market/salary report for internal auditors on the Barclay Simpson website.

Careersinaudit is a good recruitment site.