Audit Quality - Improvement Team Senior Manager - Financial Services

Ideas People Trust

We’re BDO. An accountancy and business advisory firm, providing the advice and solutions entrepreneurial organisations need to navigate today’s changing world.

We work with the companies that are Britain’s economic engine – ambitious, entrepreneurially-spirited and high growth businesses that fuel the economy – and directly advise the owners and management teams leading them.

We’ll broaden your horizons

As experts on a wide number of issues, our Audit Quality Department (AQD) provides support to our specialists in audit/assurance and other business streams. From being on-hand to help with complex enquiries, to implementing and advising on policy and processes, AQD are the people tasked with finding solutions to some of our teams’ most complex technical issues. As part of this supportive and knowledgeable team, you’ll have a chance to use and develop your technical skills and experience, find solutions to technical queries and contribute daily to the firm’s commitment to deliver high quality output. Learn on the job. Lead and manage projects. Build a network of experienced specialists. Whatever level you are, this could be the role for you.

We’ll help you succeed

The work we do is underpinned by quality. We deliver audits which are trusted and transparent which can be relied upon by companies and their stakeholders.

You’ll be someone who is comfortable working pro-actively and, managing your own tasks, as well as confident collaborating with others and communicating regularly with Senior Managers, Directors, and BDO’s Partners. You’ll help deliver accurate and transparent reporting to all relevant stakeholders as you provide long term value.

The firm is the leading challenger firm to the Big Four and the spotlight from all regulators, in particular the FRC, continues to intensify as the firm takes on ever larger and more complex audits. The firm is subject to a number of external regulator reviews from the FRC (AQR), QAD and PCAOB and, internally, the firm conducts annual audit quality monitoring across all of the firm’s audit work.

In the continually changing and strengthening audit regulatory environment, improving audit quality is a key strategic priority for the firm’s Leadership who are supporting a significant investment in our newly established Audit Quality Improvement Team (‘AQIT’) within the Audit Quality Department (‘AQD’). This is a role where the individual can have a real impact in improving the firm’s audit quality.

The role will provide the individual with a unique insight into the areas of audit quality concern and best practice being identified by Regulators and enable these to be quickly reflected in the firm’s internal audit quality monitoring. This will ensure that the firm’s own monitoring reflects the robustness of the Regulator so that audit quality improvements can be made more quickly. You will actively contribute to helping the firm improve the consistency of its overall audit quality.

The role will involve a combination of:

• Internal quality monitoring – reviewing completed AQR in-scope audits, assessing the quality of audit work and its compliance with auditing standards and the firm’s internal policies and procedures and discussing any quality findings with RIs and audit teams with a view to agreeing actions to achieve improvement.
• Regulator review support – providing support to audit teams undergoing an external Regulator review (principally AQR) to help them navigate the requirements. You will review the selected audit file and support the team in responding to the Regulator’s informal verbal queries, drafting written responses to the Regulator’s formal queries and findings, including helping to develop the specific actions to address the findings raised.

You’ll be someone with:

• ACA or similar professional accountancy qualification
• Considers themselves an expert with regards to the UK auditing standards
• have experience of financial services audits
• An awareness of the regulatory requirements in Jersey, Guernsey, Isle of Man or Ireland is useful but not essential.
• As this role will involve reviewing completed audit files in the scope of AQR review for quality purposes, experience as an audit manager is essential and experience of AQR scope audits is preferable
• Wide-ranging practical experience regarding application of ISAs and audit methodology is essential; experience in IT auditing techniques would be an added advantage
• Ability to be objective and sceptical and to have confidence to challenge more senior members of an audit team
• Ability to work both independently and collaboratively as part of a small team and able to use own initiative
• High attention to detail
• Strong problem solving skills
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal, including an ability to communicate difficult messages
• Takes personal responsibility and accountability for own work

You’ll be able to be yourself; we’ll recognise and value you for who you are and celebrate and reward your contributions to our business. We’re committed to agile working, and we offer everyone the opportunity to work in ways that suit them, their teams, and the task at hand.

At BDO, we’ll help you achieve your personal goals and career ambitions, and we have programmes, resources, and frameworks that provide clarity and structure around career development.

We’re in it together

Mutual support and respect is one of BDO’s core values and we’re proud of our distinctive, people-centred culture. From informal success conversations to formal mentoring and coaching, we’ll support you at every stage in your career, whatever your personal and professional needs.

Our agile working framework helps us stay connected, bringing teams together where and when it counts so they can share ideas and help one another. At BDO, you’ll always have access to the people and resources you need to do your best work.

We know that collaboration is the key to creating value and satisfying experiences at work, so we’ve invested in state-of-the-art collaboration spaces in our offices. BDO’s people represent a wealth of knowledge and expertise, and we’ll encourage you to build your network, work alongside others, and share your skills and experiences. With a range of multidisciplinary events and dedicated resources, you’ll never stop learning at BDO.

We’re looking forward to the future

At BDO, we help entrepreneurial businesses to succeed, fuelling the UK economy. Our success is powered by our people, which is why we’re always finding new ways to invest in you. Across the UK thousands of unique minds continue to come together to help companies we work with to achieve their ambitions.

We’ve got a clear purpose, and we’re confident in our future, because we’re adapting and evolving to build on our strengths, ensuring we continue to find the right combination of global reach, integrity and expertise. We shape the future together with openness and clarity, because we believe in empowering people to think creatively about how we can do things better.