Job Description
Our vision is that public money is well spent to meet the needs of Scotland’s people.
Do you thrive on making a difference and are you passionate about ensuring public services are run properly for the people of Scotland? If so, we can offer you the chance to lead audit teams and contribute to the leadership of Audit Scotland.
You can find more information about Audit Scotland’s work on our website.
To achieve our vision, we support the Auditor General for Scotland and the Accounts Commission to provide clear, independent and objective assurance on how effectively public money is being managed and spent. Our work covers about £59bn of public spending, over 200 public sector accounts, and the services and projects that affect all people and communities in Scotland.
As well as what we do, how we do it is integral to delivering our vision and critical to our wellbeing and our organisational success. We put our organisational values of equality, independence, innovation, integrity and respect at the heart of everything we do.
We employ around 340 staff in a wide variety of roles, working from our main offices in Edinburgh,Glasgow, Inverness and Aberdeen.
There has never been a more interesting or important time to join us. We offer a rewarding place to work, a supportive and open culture and a wide range of professional development opportunities.
Benefits include 42 days of annual leave including public holidays, an attractive local government defined benefit pension scheme with 17.6% employer contributions, personal development allowances and flexible working hours.
Overall purpose of the role
We have an opportunity within our Audit Services Group where you will lead multiple audit teams to make complex audit judgements over a varied audit portfolio.
As a senior audit manager in ASG, you will be an experienced and qualified external auditor. Your audit portfolio will include leading financial audits from across the public sector including central government, local government, NHS bodies and further education colleges. You will develop a strong understanding of the important issues and risks facing our clients and you will establish and maintain effective relationships with stakeholders across your portfolio.
How you can help us
You will play a pivotal role in leading audit teams and in the strategic planning and execution of our work. You will:
- provide effective leadership, build capacity and resilience in the team and motivate, support and encourage people to achieve their full potential
- deliver a range of reports and other outputs and present findings at the highest client and stakeholder level, including the Scottish Parliament, Accounts Commission, local audit committees and conferences
- take lead responsibility in identifying, developing and maintaining relationships with key staff at the highest levels within clients and stakeholder organisations
- develop and maintain a wider view of the external environment to understand any developments that could affect the context of the audit in the medium to longer term, and develop appropriate audit activity for the dynamic work programme
- undertake significant risk-based decision making, using considerable judgement about the quantity and depth of research, investigation and auditing required in proportion to the circumstances and communicating this to the team
- constructively challenge team judgement and add value from a strategic perspective
- have responsibility for quality and accountability for signing off audit work
- ensure work is properly resourced in terms of people, abilities and knowledge and communicate this to the team
- conduct an ongoing review of the team’s work to ensure that it is delivered to time, quality and budget
- embrace and promote best practice and share it across the organisation to improve quality
- influence organisational culture and contribute to the management of Audit Scotland by participating in and contributing to corporate activities.
Specific knowledge and experience
You will be a fully qualified accountant (CIPFA, ICAS, other CCAB, or equivalent) and have practical experience of managing high-quality external audits, preferably in a public sector environment.
Please see the job profile on the careers page on our website for more information.
Interested? Next steps
Click the apply button to complete an application form. If you wish, you can also share your CV. We offer a range of benefits, please visit our careers page for more information.
Our application deadline is 13th January 2025 at midnight. Interviews will take place in person in our offices on a date to be confirmed.
Diversity and Inclusion
We value the unique perspective a diverse workforce brings to what we do. Therefore, we’re keen to increase representation in our workforce and support progression of minority ethnic groups. We are also a proud disability confident employer.
How we work
We employ around 340 staff in a wide variety of roles. They work in a hybrid environment, covering time in the office, at home, as well as at client sites across Scotland. This isn’t your typical work from home or work from office type job. We’re flexible about working patterns and we’ve transformed how we deliver high-quality public audit.
We support you to work in the ways that achieve the best results for you, your team and the business, including your physical location and how you manage your hours.
Put simply, we trust you to do your job, and want you to have the ability to have a rewarding work-life balance and best support your individual circumstances, be that childcare, adult carer responsibilities or managing disabilities.
