Forensic Senior Manager - Forensic in the Audit

Job description

KPMG Overview:

KPMG in the UK is part of a global network of firms that offers Audit, Legal, Tax and Advisory services. Through the talent of over 16,000 colleagues we bring our creativity, insight and experience to solve our clients’ and communities’ biggest problems. We’ve been doing this for more than 150 years.

We aim to be universally recognised as a place for great people to do their best work. A firm known for our collaborative and inclusive culture, using technology to empower and equip our people to deliver outstanding work with real flexibility – through inspiring workspaces, innovative ways to collaborate and hybrid ways of working.

With offices across the UK, we work with everyone from small start-ups and individuals to major multinationals, in virtually every industry imaginable. Our work is often complex, yet our mission is simple: To support the UK in a connected world. It guides everything we do, underpinned by our values: Courage, Integrity, Excellence, Together and For Better.

As a Senior Manager within Investigations & Compliance (“I&C”), you will take a lead role on a portfolio of engagements of varying size and complexity.

You will have a primary focus on developing our ‘Forensic in the Audit’ (“FITA”) proposition and leading FITA engagements, although you may also be involved in other types of engagement, ranging from financial, fraud or misconduct investigations, through to proactive risk management and regulatory driven compliance work.

Description of the role:

• Leading a portfolio of Forensic I&C engagements, with a primary focus on leading FITA engagements and assisting audit teams with risk assessment, regulatory compliance, shadow investigations and, if required, audit work relating to fraud risk
• Building relationships with Audit teams through delivering FITA engagements
• Developing the FITA proposition to support Audit teams with their fraud risk assessment and wider audit work through research and innovation
• Presenting the output of new solutions to the wider team and encouraging Audit teams to adopt these solutions
• Acting independently in delivering engagements, under overall Engagement Leader supervision
• Preparation and/or review of reports and presentations for partner/director review
• Managing the risks and financials associated with FITA and client engagements
• Engaging credibly with senior stakeholders within KPMG (e.g. Audit RI’s) and at clients (e.g. board level individuals at corporate clients and/or law firm partners) on behalf of KPMG
• Developing and overseeing more junior members of the FITA and broader I&C team
• Recognising the importance of continuous self and team development and actively striving to achieve this

Role dimensions:

Leadership & Management:

As an I&C Senior Manager you will be expected to lead engagement teams of varying size, which may include both onshore and offshore colleagues, contractors and/or colleagues from other member firms. You will be expected to oversee and train colleagues and take responsibility for the quality of work produced on engagements.

This role will require the candidate to support the FITA Directors on wider strategic objectives and take a leading role in regular FITA team briefings and training to the whole FITA department.

Stakeholder Interaction & challenges:

As an I&C Senior Manager you will be expected to liaise directly with senior members of KPMG Audit (RI’s and Directors), clients, client’s external counsel, and other third parties as required. You may be managing multiple senior level stakeholders across multiple projects at any one time across all sectors excluding FS.

Impact, Risk, Accountability & Governance:

FITA is a growth proposition which has significant capacity to expand and develop increasing the contribution into Forensic.

It is important that the work provided to Audit is of a very high quality given the external scrutiny on those external engagements. You will be expected to contribute to quality risk management processes as they are implemented.

You will be expected to be involved in the governance structure of FITA and work towards continual improvement.

The Person:

Essential experience

• Chartered Professional Accountant or equivalent.
• Experience in statutory audit, financial accounting, financial misstatements and/or forensic support to audits beneficial
• A broad range of experience in managing Forensic engagements, covering at least one area of: FITA, investigations, fraud risk management, or regulatory compliance
• Demonstrable experience of managing projects, including financial and risk management
• Experience in scoping and defining Forensic and/or FITA engagements
• Commercial awareness and proven track record of managing the risks and financials associated with client engagements
• Proven ability to lead and manage teams
• Experience of drafting reports, submissions and other deliverables to a high standard, suitable for presentation to Audit teams or clients
• Ability to articulate complex and technical findings in both written and oral presentations for a variety of audiences
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills, self-motivation and an enquiring mind
• Ability to work efficiently and accurately under pressure
• Confidence and ability to quickly establish credibility with Audit teams, clients and senior colleagues
• Confidence in challenging existing ways of working and ways of thinking
• Strong stakeholder management skills
• Strong people skills, including an ability to inspire and develop junior colleagues
• A developed network of relevant internal and external contacts
• Experience in business development activities and an enthusiasm to get involved in marketing activity and in developing the Sectors I&C practice

The Job Description:

Our Investigations & Compliance team helps clients to establish the facts in relation to an incident, loss or misconduct and then to remediate and recover value. We are experienced in managing diverse issues including fraud and misconduct, regulatory compliance, risk frameworks and modelling and much more.

FITA (Forensic in the Audit) is a growing proposition dealing with a complex but fascinating area of audit. This is an exciting opportunity to help drive the growth and development of the proposition and increase your expertise of fraud risks, controls and shadow investigations.

As an I&C Senior Manager focusing primarily on FITA, you will:

• Support our Audit firm in their assessment of fraud and fraud risk and improve Audit quality in this area;
• Increase our knowledge base in identifying, assessing and analysing fraud risks and fraud controls; and
• Develop and sell an external proposition to support non-audit clients with their fraud risk management controls and frameworks.

Audit support will include:

Reviewing the Audit team’s assessment of fraud risks, understanding audit procedures mitigating those identified risks and reviewing Audit’s assessment of laws and regulations, in particular anti-bribery and corruption and money laundering. The role may also involve assisting the Audit teams with specific procedures relating to fraud risks.

Supporting the Audit team in responding to actual and/or suspected frauds and breaches of laws and regulations including undertaking shadow investigations on behalf of/in conjunction with the Audit team. This will include scoping the shadow investigation, liaising with the client’s management and external parties such as lawyers and third-party investigators, reviewing the investigation undertaken by the clients and/or third party investigators, working with the audit team to identify the required additional audit procedures and reporting back to the Audit team on findings.

In addition to FITA, you may also be involved in wider Forensic engagements in areas such as:

• Fraud and financial mis-statement shadow investigations;
• Fraud risk management reviews;
• Regulatory compliance reviews; and
• Fraud risk assessments.

As a Senior Manager, we expect you to take a lead role on challenging and complex engagements.  You will lead multi-disciplinary teams, manage stakeholders and deliver quality solutions to our clients. You will be expected to originate opportunities through both internal and external relationships and take the lead on business development activities, including marketing, knowledge sharing and practice development.

Above all, we are looking for someone who is passionate about growing the Forensic FITA practice and helping our Audit teams with their fraud risk challenges. In return, we are committed to helping you to enjoy the role and develop your skills and career within the KPMG.

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