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Digital Financial Audit - Data & Analytics Specialist - London

Recruiter
National Audit Office (NAO)
Location
London / Flexible homeworking
Salary
£54,735 - £65,146
Closing date
17 Jul 2022

Job Details

The National Audit Office (NAO) supports Parliament to hold the government to account for the way public services are delivered. Our primary role is to scrutinise public spending for Parliament. We do this by certifying over 350 government accounts and produce around 65 Value for Money (VFM) reports each year.  

 A key part of the National Audit Office’s (NAO) strategy is to make greater use of technology in the delivery of its audits. This includes the objective of embedding data analytics in our “business as usual” audit processes.

To this end we have recently developed a Cloud based data platform (called AIMS, Audit Information Management System) which is used as a central location to upload client data, analyse that data using in house developed applications, and store that data securely. The only data we are currently uploading, analysing and storing is general ledger data obtained from the NAO’s financial audit clients, however we are actively working to expand this to sub-ledger and other data sets.

We are also building out a Specialist Financial Audit Data & Analytics Operations capability within our Digital Financial Audit [DFA] team to support and develop this strategic objective.

Responsibilities    

This Financial Audit (FA) Data & Analytics Specialist role is a wide-ranging role, requiring the holder of the role to effectively provide specialist delivery, development and support for Data & Analytics execution in support of Financial Audits. 

The purpose of this role will be to support our FA D&A Manager, working with other FA D&A Specialists and the broader DFA (Digital Financial Audit) team to:

  • Working with Financial Audit teams to support their use of service line wide Data & Analytics offerings through:
    • Assisting them with obtaining, understanding, reconciling, transforming and ingesting the required data. This includes the use of improved training, guidance and support elements
    • Using the analytics tools developed either through direct coaching or broader training, guidance and support elements
  • Working with Financial Audit teams to identify audit challenges where Data & Analytics solutions will provide quality, efficiency or value add. Supporting the team with the development, execution and application of analytics to address these audit challenges
  • Working with Data & Analytics stakeholder across the office to input into the maintenance and improvements of existing D&A tools, and development of new D&A tools for the FA service line. As well as the broader D&A offering through the key enablers such as infrastructure requirements, training, coaching, guidance

Skills required    

Education/work experience 

  • Experienced in the use of data analytics for audit work and so be capable of providing solutions that address audit teams’ needs
  • The role requires a good understanding of auditing (including financial auditing and its associated professional standards requirements) and the methods and techniques typically applied in the audit process
  • An understanding of data structures as understanding this will be integral to helping develop such solutions. Our data analytics work typically involves the major ERP systems (e.g. SAP and Oracle) so knowledge of these systems would be an advantage. However our around 400 audited bodies have a wide range of other finance systems so ability to deal with a range of systems will be required
  • The NAO audit team uses IDEA and SQL to analyse data so knowledge of this tool would help. For application development we use R and Python. For data visualisation we use Tableau and Power BI, so knowledge of some of these tools / languages would be helpful
  • An understanding of some of the key business processes operated by our clients (e.g. purchase to pay, order to cash and payroll) would also be helpful
  • Given the NAO’s strategic plan to move systems into the Cloud, experience gained in a Cloud environment would be valuable

Abilities 

  • Enthusiasm and a commitment to providing excellent data & analytics offering
  • Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
  • Excellent presentational skills
  • Able to communicate data & analytics technical matters succinctly and clearly with non-specialist staff
  • Is happy to work across teams with people of various backgrounds and seniority grades 
  • Good problem solver / logical thinker able to work through problems to identify root causes and solutions
  • Brings new innovative and proactive ideas for improving data & analytics offerings

Attributes 

  • Intellectual curiosity, especially about data & analytics, technology and business process related matters 
  • Ability to work co-operatively and collaboratively as part of a team to deliver a team effort 
  • Drive and determination to overcome obstacles, resistance or challenges in order to achieve goals 
  • Commitment to personal development and keeping technical skills up to date 
  • Good communication skills and ability to flex these to address the various audiences from junior audit staff through to senior level client staff

Company

The National Audit Office (NAO) scrutinises public spending for Parliament. Our public audit perspective helps Parliament hold government to account and improve public services.

We audit the financial statements of all central government departments, agencies and other public bodies, and report the results to Parliament. Our other work comprises value for money studies, local audit, investigations, support to Parliament and international activities.

 

Company info
Location
London
United Kingdom

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