Audit Quality - Regulatory Team - Senior Manager

Job Description

Ideas | People | TrustWe’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 Audit quality is central to our strategy as an Audit Stream, the key ingredient to our success. Consistent high audit quality enables us to attract, develop and retain talented people and be proud of our work. Audit quality allows us to compete in the marketand demonstrate that we can play a key role in market reform.Consistently high audit quality does not happen by chance. It requires a mindset and culture of challenge and professional scepticism, appropriate resources both people and intellectual, investment in central support for engagement teams and technology solutions.Within the last year we have increased our headcount significantly, invested in new partners, and commenced a significant investment programme in our central quality support team.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 transparentreporting to all relevant stakeholders as you provide long term value. This is an opportunity for talented, high performing and ambitious Senior Manager to join the Regulatory Team in the Audit Quality Directorate (AQD) in an exciting period and help to shape the role and the expanding team. You will report into the RegulatoryTeam Partner and work closely with Regulatory Team Director.The Firm is the leading challenger firm to the Big Four and as a leading audit practice is subject to oversight and scrutiny from various regulators, in particular the FRC. The regulatory environment in which the Firm operates is dynamic and will remain sogiven audit market reforms. The Firm is subject to a number of external regulator reviews including by the FRC, QAD and PCAOB and, internally, the Firm conducts annual audit quality monitoring across all of the Firm’s audit work.Quality is paramount in the Firm’s objective of serving the public interest. The continually changing and strengthening audit regulatory environment, are also drivers for the Firm Leadership’s key strategic priority of improving audit quality one aspect ofwhich is continuing significant investment in our Audit Quality Directorate (‘AQD’). This is a role where the individual can have a real impact in improving the Firm’s audit quality.Responsibilities The role will be split into two key parts.Working with others within the regulatory team to oversee, develop and monitor the Firm’s Single Quality Action Plan. This is a key quality management tool that the FRC have requested all Tier 1 firms to develop and is an important way of demonstrating theFirms’ commitment and underlying approach to the continuous improvement of quality over time. This role will involve helping to challenge actions, and then monitor the completion and the effectiveness of the actions. This process will help the Firm determineis the actions are delivering a measurable improvement in its audit quality. Actively contributing to helping the Firm improve the consistency of its overall audit quality by overseeing and managing the Firm’s response to requests from the Audit Firm Supervisionand Audit Market Supervision teams at the FRC. This will provide the individual with a unique insight into the regulatory process, primarily that of the FRC.The individual will report to a director and partner within the regulatory support team. The role will provide the individual with a high profile within the Firm as, in the main, the individual will be dealing with senior people throughout the Firm in bothaudited-entity and non-frontline roles and reporting to the Firm’s senior management. Other aspects of the role will include:

• Challenge, define and implement more focused and relevant actions for timely remediation of findings and to evaluate the effectiveness of these actions.
• Attending and contributing at meetings with regulators ensuring that detailed records are maintained of these meetings.
• Build meaningful relationships with Senior Stakeholders in the audit practice and in the Central Functions.
• Raise profile in the Firm by working with a diverse group of people, in different functions across BDO, with different skillsets and expertise, to contribute to an open and collaborative process where multiple viewpoints are considered.
• Participation from time to time in other AQD activities.

The individual will need to have audit experience to senior manager level and will ideally have had previous experience in an audit quality role. The individual will have the ability to communicate clearly and concisely both verbally and in writing. This willinclude being able to converse with individuals of all levels within the Firm and with our Regulators. Youll be someone with:

• the ability to work both independently and collaboratively as part of a team and that are able to use their own initiative to challenge, identify and propose potential solutions.
• Strong communications skills (oral and written reports) and confidence engaging with a variety of senior stakeholders.
• Excellent project management and organisational skills.
• ACA or similar professional accountancy qualification
• Experience as an audit senior manager (essential)
• 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.
• High attention to detail.
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal, including an ability to communicate difficult messages.

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, andthe task at hand.At BDO, we’ll help you achieve your personal goals and career ambitions, and we have programmes, resources, and framewo