Auditor (Performance Audit & Best Value)

Business Group : Performance Audit & Best Value

Location : Our offices are based in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Inverness

Type : Permanent role

Salary : £37,595 - £42,250 per annum, plus competitive benefits.

Hours : 36.25 hours

We’re looking for people with a range of backgrounds and experiences so we can combine the very best expertise across various disciplines to support our audit work.

Of course, experience of performance, best value or financial auditing is valuable, but not everyone needs to have this before they join us – we offer excellent opportunities for learning and development once you’re here. 

You can find more information about Audit Scotland’s work on our website. 

We are Audit Scotland. We're Scotland’s public sector auditor, independent of government. We employ more than 340 talented professionals who know that their work helps ensure the efficient delivery of public services in Scotland. We believe that public money (around £57 billion a year) should be spent wisely.

There's plenty of change ahead, and the need for robust public audit that provides assurance about public spending and helps public services improve is more important than ever. We want to make sure Scotland makes the very best of the opportunities and that change is delivered well – transparent financial reporting and delivering value for money are key to this.

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 pension scheme with 19.4% employer contributions, personal development allowances and flexible working hours. We’ve also been named one of the top 25 workplaces in Scotland and the UK’s tenth best accountancy workplace in the 2023 Best Companies awards.

Overall purpose of the role

Our Performance Audit and Best Value Group (PABV) delivers a range of audit products to assess how well public money is being used and provide valuable insights and learning. We look at a wide range of issues including climate change, inequalities, digital transformation and how public bodies are recovering from the pandemic and reforming public services. Our Best Value work in councils looks at important issues like how well they perform in delivering services to their communities. Our work programme is dynamic and refreshed on a regular basis to ensure it responds to changing circumstances.

Our work involves:

• identifying audit risks affecting the Scottish public sector
• scoping audit work to ensure it focuses on what matters
• developing audit methodologies, gathering and assessing evidence (quantitative and qualitative)
• forming judgements and conclusions
• writing clear and evidence-based reports for the public, Scottish Parliament and the Accounts Commission that include recommendations for improvement to public bodies.

As an Auditor in PABV, you will help deliver high-quality performance and best value audit work and help develop our work programme through research and data collection, and analysing, summarising and presenting information. You will contribute to planning, developing and delivering our audits to a world-class standard, leading on distinct areas of audit delivery and supporting more junior colleagues to develop in their roles. You will build relationships and liaise with audited bodies and stakeholders, providing assurance to our stakeholders about public services which helps support improvement and focus on what is important. You will also have a chance to contribute to our quality improvement agenda and wider corporate developments across Audit Scotland.

How you can help us

As a key team member working across a range of audits and contributing to the ongoing development of our work programme, you will research, analyse and audit financial and non-financial data and other evidence to help establish how well public money is being used.

You will contribute to planning, developing and delivering audit work, supporting the team to produce outputs by leading on specific areas of fieldwork and report drafting, and organising and reviewing the work of more junior colleagues. You will:

• conduct data analysis using appropriate techniques to answer audit questions and present findings with clarity, getting support from our data analytics community when required
• evaluate evidence and analysis from audit work and reach judgements, drawing on support from senior members of staff and other colleagues when required
• support team members to develop audit judgements by documenting your evidence and findings, and keeping a clear audit trail
• contribute to research and development activities, including leading on pre-audit appraisals and scoping work, and identifying suitable data sources and audit/analytical tools and techniques
• contribute to post-publication activity, such as preparation for committees or producing data packs
• establish and maintain effective working relationships with relevant stakeholders
• providing support and advice, through coaching and mentoring to other team members, building their confidence in engaging with stakeholders and helping them identify findings and to form their own judgements from the work
• identifying opportunities for innovation and improvement in our audit work and engaging with colleagues to share learning.

Specific knowledge and experience

Educated to degree level and/or with demonstrable relevant experience, you are self-aware and have strong research and analytical skills. This includes experience in undertaking different types of fieldwork, such as supporting interviews, analysing data (including financial data) and reviewing documents.

You can summarise and evaluate evidence, form judgements and maintain an audit trail to support judgements and decisions. You can understand the context different stakeholders are operating in and identify wider, strategic implications of audit findings.

You have good written and verbal communication skills, with experience in drafting reports and presenting data using exhibits.

You write in clear and concise language that is accessible to a range of audiences and you can present findings with confidence to internal and external stakeholders.

You have strong time management skills and can take personal responsibility for delivering high-quality work, ensuring compliance with our audit and technical guidance. You can balance a varied workload with conflicting priorities, for example, working on projects with multiple deadlines and sometimes multiple managers.

You can build and maintain positive relationships with your colleagues internally and with staff in other organisations, showing empathy and understanding. You know how to work seamlessly within a multi-disciplinary team and collaborate effectively with your colleagues. You have experience supervising the work of more junior colleagues and supporting them to develop.

You have a plan that includes your own continuous development, inspiring others and helping Audit Scotland to be a world-class public-audit organisation. You will undertake professional and personal development to maintain technical expertise, meet Continuing Professional Development (CPD) requirements where appropriate and enhance your career prospects at Audit Scotland.

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 Sunday 21st April 2024 at midnight.

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.

Reasonable Adjustments

Audit Scotland’s recruitment process may include various stages and activities including application forms, online assessments, and interviews, to assess whether you meet the requirements of the role.

As a Disability Confident employer, we are committed to providing inclusive and accessible recruitment where everyone is supported to perform at their best.

When applying for a job with Audit Scotland, you will be asked in the application form if you need an adjustment at any stage of the recruitment process. Please include the reason you require an adjustment and details of what adjustment/s might help.

Some examples of adjustments that have been given to candidates include changing the time, location or format of interviews and providing additional time in any assessments and interviews. This is not an exhaustive list, and we will consider any adjustments that you might need.

As part of our commitment to equality and diversity, our equality network groups would be delighted to offer an insight into Audit Scotland’s culture of inclusivity. If you consider yourself to have a visible or hidden disability and wish to hear more about life at Audit Scotland or wish to speak with someone about the possibility of any adjustments, please contact Careers@audit-scotland.gov.uk or call 0131 625 1500 for further information and a member of the HR team will be in touch.

How we work

We employ around 340 staff in a wide variety of roles. They work flexibly at home and in the office as well as from audit 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.

We welcome applications from across the UK. Some travel to our offices or client sites will be necessary at times, but you don’t need to live in Scotland to work for us.