Senior IT Audit Manager (Financial Audit)

Contract type : Permanent
Location : London or Newcastle office with a minimum of 2 days per week in the office in line with our hybrid working policy
Salary : Newcastle salary: c.£77,000, London salary: c.£86,000 (higher base salaries may be available for exceptional candidates) + civil service pension scheme

About the role
Senior IT Audit Managers play a vital role in making sure we deliver high quality external IT audit work to support financial audit teams in providing effective accountability and scrutiny. Senior IT Audit Managers will manage specialist IT audit teams across a wide range of audits, covering complex ERP and other systems significant to financial reporting across our audited entities. Taking the lead for a large central government department and a range of public organisations, the Senior IT Audit Managers will manage, support and motivate their specialist teams to deliver IT audit work that is both high quality and delivers value to help improve public services.

How to apply
To be considered for this role, please submit the following by the deadline of Sunday 7 December:
• An up-to-date CV
• A covering letter setting out briefly how you meet the candidate specification for the role (max. 1000 words)

Selection process
• Telephone interview - w/c 1st December
• Timed technical exercise - w/c 8 December
• Panel interview, including presentation - w/c 15 December

Nationality Requirements:
• UK nationals
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals from the EU, EEA or Switzerland with (or eligible for) status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)

Equal opportunities and diversity
Disability and Reasonable Adjustments

Applicants with a disability who wish their application to be considered under the Disability Confident scheme should confirm this when submitting their application. Under this scheme we guarantee an interview to an applicant with a disability who meets the minimum requirements for the role. You should also let our HR team know if you wish us to consider any Reasonable Adjustments at any stage of the process (HR Service Desk ( ).

Responsibilities
Your key responsibilities will be across the following areas:

•Supporting the Director, IT Audit in the development of IT audit within the NAO
•Supporting the development and planning of the annual programme of IT audit work and monitoring the delivery of that IT audit plan through good project and budget management
•Delivery of specific IT audit engagements
•Development of quality IT audit within the NAO
•Assisting with review and updating of the overall IT audit development strategy
•Assisting with developing IT audit skills of both IT Audit Specialists and financial audit teams on IT audit matters, with a focus on major ERP solutions e.g. Oracle, SAP, Workday
•In conjunction with the Director, IT Audit and Senior IT Audit Managers, reviewing the outcome of the annual audit quality review processes and then developing appropriate responses to ensure that any quality related issues are effectively responded to on a timely basis and our System of Quality Management updated, maintained and upheld.
•Designing, developing, planning and delivering a programme of IT Audit Specialist training
•Providing insight on IT matters to the wider office e.g. through such means as lunch and learn sessions, developing guidance notes, attending team meetings
•Assisting in developing IT audit approaches that respond to new and emerging technologies and related risks arising from IT
•Assisting in the review and development of the NAO s IT audit approach, and supporting tools and documentation, to ensure that the approach remains current and delivers the highest quality audit in an efficient and effective way e.g. annual and ad hoc update of standardised audit responses to risks arising from IT.

Supporting the planning and delivery of the annual IT audit work programme

• Responsible for a portfolio of IT audits, with overall responsibility for ensuring the provision of appropriate IT support to that portfolio and the delivery of high-quality IT audit work.
• Working with the Senior IT Audit Managers to: develop an annual plan of IT audit work to be delivered; to develop the resourcing plan to support the delivery of the annual plan; to ensure appropriate processes are in place to monitor quality and delivery of the annual IT audit plan and to respond proactively to any delivery or quality issues arising
• Collaborating with our Data Operations Team and AI and Data & Analytics Team who together with the IT Audit Team form the Digital Financial Audit Function, to ensure that the wider NAO is provided with guidance on how to use technology to ensure the most effective delivery of IT audit work that adds the most value at least cost.

Delivery of specific IT audit engagements
• Working with individual financial audit teams to scope and plan the IT audit work that needs to be done to support testing of automated controls and / or IT dependent manual controls plus supporting general IT controls work i.e. mitigate identified risks arising from IT in relation to financial statement audit;
• Establish and build excellent relations with audited bodies staff i.e. briefing on the IT audit work to be done and the reason for doing this, on-going engagement and maintenance of those relations with a view to adding value at all levels, including at senior levels e.g. C-Suite / Those Charged With Governance.
• Hands-on involvement in all aspects of the delivery of audit work, including: management of the IT Audit team; requesting and gathering sufficient and appropriate audit evidence; development and coaching of staff; review of IT audit work to ensure it meets high quality standards; reaching conclusions on the level of assurance that can be obtained over IT controls / whether the risks have been mitigated based on outcome of testing.
• Drafting reports for both audited body staff (including Those Charged With Governance) and the financial audit team to communicate the results and possible impact from IT audit testing and to address any issues arising with proposed recommendations for enhancement to controls and processes.

Skills required
Skills and Experience
Essential
•Strong understanding of how IT audit supports the financial audit and the factors that ensure high quality IT audit work
•Proven technical skills on the audit of IT systems. We would be looking for technical strength (in the context of the financial audit) particularly in Oracle eBS, Fusion, or in SAP with additional experience in some of the following: Active Directory, Azure AD / Entra ID, Unix, Microsoft Dynamics, SQL
•Experience of both hands-on delivery of IT audit work and acting as first stage reviewer to ensure quality IT audit work, pre-empting challenges arising from second-stage, internal and external quality reviews
•Exceptional project management skills, able to deliver high quality IT audit work efficiently while ensuring the welfare of your teams
•Experience of working with and advising financial audit teams, interpreting the results of IT audit work (whether from internal or external third-party) assurances
•Experience of drafting reports for client management on matters arising from IT audit work done
•Experience of working with senior level client IT management
•Experience in developing and delivering training on IT audit and related matters
•Understanding of end-to-end business processes (e.g. Order to Cash; Purchase to Pay; Record to Report, Hire to Retire) and how IT systems and controls fit into and add / mitigate risk in these processes
•Experience of testing IT dependent controls, particularly as part of end-to-end business processes (e.g. SOx testing)
•Experience of identifying, documenting, evaluating and testing supporting general IT controls required to support the effective operation of IT-dependent controls.

Desirable
•Strong relationship management and influencing skills to maximise the influence of our work with external clients and stakeholders
•Collaborative, engages well with colleagues at all levels, and invests in their development and the wider success of the organisation
•Experience of designing, developing and implementing initiatives to improve audit quality

Attributes
•Intellectual curiosity, especially about technology and business process related matters
•Work co-operatively, collaboratively and inclusively as part of a team
•Positive can do attitude showing drive and determination to overcome obstacles, resistance or challenges in order to achieve goals
•Good communication skills and ability to flex these/interpret complex IT issues to address the various audiences from junior audit staff through to senior level client and internal staff
•Ability to manage upwards, keeping the Director, IT Audit apprised of all relevant matters at an appropriate frequency and drawing on and managing their time appropriately
•Commitment to personal development and keeping technical skills up to date
•Be an excellent role model, able to motivate and inspire individuals and teams to deliver to the best of their abilities while demonstrating the NAO s core values and behaviours
•Act as a mentor to team members providing desk training and pastoral support in assisting them to achieve their personal and professional development objectives . click apply for full job details