Monster: What made you want to be an Auditor?
Helen: When I was looking at jobs whilst at University I knew I wanted to work in the public sector as I wanted to contribute to the ‘greater good’. The idea of working in finance appealed as I liked working in an environment where there is a right answer, although I have of course learnt that it isn’t quite as simple as that!

I looked at a number of graduate trainee schemes and ended up with the Audit Commission. The work here suited me so once I had qualified it seemed natural to continue to gain more experience and to put my training to good use.

What skills and education are essential to your job? 
Obviously you have to be numerate (although it’s not advanced mathematics) but just as importantly you have to have good interpersonal skills as so much of being an auditor requires obtaining information from your clients by asking the right question and also knowing when to just listen.

A key skill is being able to understand where to focus your time based on assessing the risk of any given issue – you don’t want to spend a week on a £50 stationery order if there’s a £50million building project that needs auditing. You’ll need to be a chartered accountant, although most firms will support you in getting to this stage and most big firms will prefer graduates, although people with the appropriate experience will also fit in.

What advice can you offer someone wanting to become an Auditor? 
The graduate trainee route is excellent if that’s the life stage you’re at as the organisation you work for will support you through your accountancy training and make sure that you experience a wide range of aspects of the role as you progress. However if you’re not looking for a graduate post most organisations will want staff who are professionally qualified.

Working out how your current role can demonstrate experience in analysing and using data and financial systems and an understanding of what’s the risk in any given scenario is the key to success. 

What are the best and worst things about your role?
I really get the chance to influence how our audits are delivered which means I can have an impact upon how our clients feel about the work we deliver. It also means I can see the project all the way through the process – it’s really satisfying to set up the audit plan and then get to see the process through to the finished report at the end.

Some of the legwork that needs doing can be quite repetitive, however there are so many clients and different types of work you always know that once one piece of work is done you can move onto something more interesting.

Are there any perks to the job? 
Working in the public sector means there aren’t really any freebies as such – however I get great satisfaction from knowing that my job helps make sure that public money is being spent and accounted for properly.

What is the end goal in your career? 
I’d like to move into a more managerial and strategic role within the public sector. My experience as an auditor has equipped me with a great range of skills in terms of adaptability (you have to be able to pick up what’s going on in any given environment pretty quickly), an understanding of the wider financial context a number of bodies operate in and how to deal with a huge range of types of people (from Directors of Finance through to Accounts assistants).

I’d love to be able to continue to use those skills within the public sector on different stages – quite where and how though I’m not sure, after all the public sector changes so much the opportunities available are always changing.

Finish this sentence. "This week I have been mostly..."
“…planning and managing the review of the statement of accounts at a mental health foundation trust.”


Fancy following in Helen's footsteps? Check out our latest Principal Auditor jobs or see the latest jobs with The Audit Commission.