Associate Inspector (Systems of Quality Management) in Birmingham

The Financial Reporting Council’s (FRC’s) purpose is to serve the public interest and support UK economic growth by upholding high standards of corporate governance, corporate reporting, audit and actuarial work. We are the UK Competent Authority for audit. We also set the UK Corporate Governance and Stewardship Codes as well as UK standards for accounting, auditing, and actuarial work. We monitor and take enforcement action to promote the quality of corporate reporting and operate independent enforcement arrangements for accountants and actuaries. Further information about our work can be found at www.frc.org.uk.

The Systems of Quality Management team, within the Audit Market Supervision (AMS) team, is responsible for inspecting the systems of quality management for firms that undertake public interest entity audits, and their compliance with ISQM (UK) 1 and ISQM (UK) 2. We identify and communicate findings and good practice to the audit firms to drive commitment to designing, implementing and operating systems that enable proactive management of audit quality. This work requires significant engagement with the audit firms and working closely with other teams across the supervision division.

The role involves:

• Carrying out ISQM (UK)‑based inspection activities, with supervision and support, across firms auditing public interest entities, focusing on the twelve largest firms to benchmark practices and identify findings that drive regulatory compliance and continuous improvement.
• Contributing to strategic discussions on how we plan and perform inspection activities for firms of different sizes and structures.
• Contributing to the communication of our key findings and concerns to internal and external stakeholders verbally and in writing.
• Communicating closely with other teams within the FRC to ensure a joined up and coordinated approach.
• Developing professional working relationships with audit firm contacts to explain questions and concerns in a potentially challenging environment.
• Flexible management of work on medium- and long-term projects (usually over several months), and ongoing management of project timelines and flow of information from audit firms.
• Analysing large amounts of information, balancing detail with the bigger picture, and recognising when to involve senior colleagues.
• Exercising judgment to highlight key concerns and omissions and consider how they can be persuasively presented.

The ideal candidate will have:

• Strong understanding of, and interest in, ISQM (UK) 1 and 2.
• Some experience at manager level in the audit profession in the audits of listed and other public interest entities, or a similar level role within the central functions of an audit firm.
• Strong technical understanding of audit processes and audit quality management mechanisms and systems.
• Aware of the audit market and the differences between large and small firms in the market.
• Understanding of our quality, competition, and growth agendas, and how these might influence our monitoring work.
• Strong written and oral communication skills, including drafting reports for publication.
• Strong analytical and critical review skills.
• Effective project and time management skills, and the ability to work with a reasonable degree of independence on long-term projects and identify where support and engagement are needed.

The FRC offers remuneration packages, including 30 days annual leave, ability to buy extra leave, and a generous employer pension contribution of 10%. Staff Employee Assistance Programme including confidential counselling and work life services. The FRC offers staff the opportunity to save at least 25% on the purchase of a new bike through the Cycle to work scheme. The FRC has a strong work/life balance ethos.

The FRC believes that equality of opportunity and diversity is important in the work that we do and we are strongly committed to being an inclusive employer. Our values of being fair and independent supports this commitment. Equal opportunities monitoring is an important means of demonstrating and implementing our commitment to promoting equality of opportunity and diversity.

The role is based in our central Birmingham office. The post holder should be able to work flexibly to support the team’s activities and also provide cover within the FRC as necessary. The FRC operates a hybrid working arrangement with its workforce, with an expectation that 40% of a person's working time will be located at one of our offices per week, with precise arrangements to be agreed between the employee and the line manager.