Audit Employment
Auditing is a highly sought after career path to get into. After a little experience auditors make lots of money. Most commerce and finance school graduates aim at getting a job with the Big 4. These are the biggest auditing and taxation companies in the world, they are KPMG ( Klynveld Peat Marwick Goerdeler), Price Water House Coopers, Ernst & Young, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu.Read more
Audit Employment: Outlook, Earnings & Qualifications
Auditing is essential for all the offices and businesses whether they are private of governmental. During recession also the jobs of accountants are secured and are easily available when the global market is gloomier. 
There are auditors who are working in various organizations and government offices and their jobs differ on their role and specialization. Most of the auditing jobs involve budgeting, financial planning and reporting. The accountants working for government are public accountants and looks after taxation, consultancy, and specialized accounting like forensic accounting. They work at various levels to ensure that the work is done according to governmental regulations and laws.
An accountant’s job is a high paying job. The salaries of accountants depend on the job location, organization, and on the type of job performed by them. The average salary of a government accountant is $45,000 to $50,000 per year. The salaries offered to public accountants are in the range of $55,000 to $100,000 yearly. The best salaries are offered to the internal auditors which are between $45,000 and $200,000 annually.
The salary offered to an accountant depends on the qualification and experience. If you have a certified qualification in accounting this will add to your career growth and increase your earnings also. There are many courses to choose which are open to almost all age groups. Accounting qualification courses provides skills to work in accounting and finance positions. Most of the courses are quite flexible and requires no formal experience or qualifications. These courses are of three levels and on successful completion you will be provided with accounting qualification certificate by accounting bodies like CIPFA, ICAEW, CIMA and ICAS.
If you want to have a specialized qualification the certificate in payroll administration is the best suited for you as it is aimed at specially people working and looking to gain work in payroll jobs. This will also develop skills and knowledge through various practical trainings. Many of such courses are full time or part time and are quite flexible.
Level 2 award in bookkeeping (QCF) is an introductory course that teaches essentials of bookkeeping through CD-Rom training for those people who are interested more in finance jobs. This course is a three level course each of the level consist of several modules which one can study at its own pace. Upon completion and introductory qualification certification is provided.
It is a necessity for companies and countries to have accountants that will manage their resources and cash flow in a better way, so it is likely that the demand for accountants with or without professional certification will keep on increasing.
Auditor Work Environment
An audit is a review of performance. An audit can be an internal review of employee performance or of the financial records of a company or a large entity (including government bodies). The results of the audit are either published or used for streamlining of work in case of an employ audit. An auditing company may be hired to conduct the audit or internal auditors employed by the organization may be used.
An internal audit is one of the best things an employer can do to prevent and deal with potential liabilities. An audit covers many facets and all of them should be covered. For example, workforce analysis and workplace conditions should be conducted. The local and Federal Laws should be taken into consideration when changes are made in policy.
After an audit the best way to employ new conditions is the publication of an Employee Handbook. An Employee handbook is a very effective way of communicating with employees and sets out all the matters affecting their employment. The employment handbook should include a history of the employer, the structure of the company and its philosophy. The employee benefits provided by the employer should be stated. The tone of the handbook should convey a sense of family to the employee. The rules and regulations should be stated. Finally the reference numbers of the persons dealing with employee issues and answering employee questions should be given. Every employee should receive an Employee Handbook on joining an employer.
The tone of the handbook should be conversational and friendly. It should be kept short. Most employees are not going to read it if it is going to be long winded. Avoid adding procedures for the management in the handbook. A separate handbook of the protocols for handling situations should be distributed among the management. Finally the handbook needs to be reviewed annually and updated with all new rules and policies.
Here are a few Workplace policies to include in the Handbook:
1. Attendance and Punctuality Issues: the amount of notice required prior to absence or lateness.
2. Discipline and Discharge: this is to make the employees aware of the rules and what is expected of them. Examples of prohibited behavior should be given.
3. Medical Testing: the medical policy of the company and the guidelines for disability should be listed in this section. The drug policy and testing procedures should also be described.
4. The Anti-Harassment Policy: of the company and the persons to contact in such an event should be listed. The definition of the term ‘harassment’ and examples should also be included.
5. Email and Internet Polices: Just like with telephones and fax machines, the employees should be informed of the company’s policy towards email and the internet.
6. The Security Policy: and the measures employed to deter corporate espionage and other activities.
How to Find Employment as an Auditor
Auditing is a highly sort after career path to get into. After a little experience auditors make lots of money. Most commerce and finance school graduates aim at getting a job with the Big 4. These are the biggest auditing and taxation companies in the world, they are KPMG ( Klynveld Peat Marwick Goerdeler), Price Water House Coopers, Ernst & Young, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu.
Before actually becoming an auditor, you have to understand that it is important for you too choose the right degree. Accountants and auditors positions require at least a bachelor’s degree in accounting or a finance related field. Many people are now studying for courses like CPA which gives you a certification that makes you a certified public accountant. Most companies prefer that people do a masters degree in business administration with the main focus on accounting. You could also do a Masters of Science in auditing and taxation. The important thing to remember is that you don’t have to follow fixed educational route to become an auditor. People are now hiring audit assistants who actually do most of the work a chattered accountant would do. Here are few tips on how to become an auditor and choose the right course for you.
1. Work Experience – There are a number of courses which now offer compulsory work experience as part of their program. This could land you and internship or part time job in really big auditing firms. This would give you exposure and also give you a feel of how the work is. These courses also offer great placements and if a company liked your work ethics earlier they would certainly hire you again.
2. Numeric skill – Make sure you do a course which would boost your numeric skill as there are a lot of number in the auditing and accounting field. It often happens that most commerce graduates are not very good at math. This is because the course does not focus much on math. The only time we practice it is in accounting. Auditing is more related to studying of accounts and finding flaws but it is still important to have a number savvy mind.
3. Location – It’s important that you do your course keeping the location in mind. I would suggest you do a course in London, New York, Chicago, Mumbai, or Dubai. These are markets that are booming presently. You don’t want to finish your course and end up having no job.
So if you’re thinking of taking up auditing and accounting as a career do keep the information I have shared in this article in mind.
Types of Audit Jobs
Auditing is defined as the evaluation or the checking of person, company or government body. Most of us have come to associate auditing with accounting or job performance. An audit aims to ascertain the performance of an individual, an organization, a government department or a system.
Auditing has become an important part of accounting. Traditionally, auditing included only the financial statements and records. Now it includes information about the entire system which includes security risks, employee performance and environmental performance. This has led to the formation of different fields in auditing. Here are four types of auditing jobs.
Financial Auditing
Financial auditing is the review of the financial statements of any legal entity. This can include a person’s expenditure receipts, a company’s financial records or even a government body’s performance. The findings are then published or distributed. Auditors are either employed by large organizations or are hired from auditing firms. Auditors that are employed by the organizations they audit are known as internal auditors. There are not too many internal auditors to be found because of the specialist skills required and the size of the organization. Hence most of the auditors employed are either external auditors or consultants. The difference between an external auditor and a consultant is that an external auditor is a firm that is contracted to conduct the audit while the consultant is a person hired to do the same.
Security or Information System Auditing
As the name suggests, security auditing deals with the security perimeters and procedures of an organization. The audit could be of the physical security systems, information technology systems or both. The audit focuses on the security boundaries and assets that are defined for it. The physical security could include the hardware and physical assets of the organization while the IT side of it deals with the security of the organization electronic data.
Environmental Auditing
Environmental auditing deals with the disposal of waste in and around homes, schools and offices. The auditors check for environmental compliances, facilitating management control of environmental issues, promoting good environmental management, raising awareness and finding improvement opportunities. An environmental audit consists of three stages – Pre Audit Activities, On Site Audit Activities and Post Audit Activities.