Head of Internal Audit
- Recruiter
- University of Edinburgh
- Location
- Edinburgh, United Kingdom
- Salary
- Competitive
- Posted
- 16 Sep 2020
- Closes
- 15 Oct 2020
- Ref
- 053200
- Job role
- Accountant
- Sector
- Education and training
- Experience level
- Director
The University of Edinburgh is looking to appoint a Head of Internal Audit. The successful applicant will lead the Internal Audit team to provide an independent, objective assessment of the University's control environment and the overall risk management and governance processes. They will also provide the Audit and Risk Committee with an annual statement of assurance on the control environment and risk management processes and identify opportunities, and make recommendations, to improve procedures and processes, and drive good practices.
This is a full time (35 per week), open-ended position.
Salary Range: This post is Grade UE10 and attracts a competitive salary
Closing date: 5.00pm on 15th October 2020
Interview date: Interviews will be held the week commencing 26th October 2020.
Informal enquiries may be made to Leigh Chalmers (leigh.chalmers@ed.ac.uk).
Job Purpose
To provide an independent, objective assessment of the University's control environment and the overall risk management and governance processes. To provide the Audit and Risk Committee with an annual statement of assurance on the control environment and risk management processes. To identify opportunities, and make recommendations, to improve procedures and processes, and drive good practices.
Main Responsibilities and Approx. % of Time
Be responsible for providing an Annual Statement of Assurance to allow the Audit and Risk Committee and Court to form an opinion on the University's overall control environment. 5 Report directly to the Audit and Risk Committee, the University Executive, the Risk Management Committee, the Principal and other management committees, with analysis and assessment of: a) any control deficiencies identified; b) the uptake of audit recommendations; c) how well the business risks are being managed; and d) the reliability and integrity of the financial and operational information - so that they can assess the effectiveness of the risk management, internal control and governance arrangements. Use professional judgement and experience to decide upon strategic and annual audit plans for approval by the Audit and Risk Committee. 20 Manage resources effectively with regard to professional standards and within available time and budgetary resources to execute delivery of audit plans so that the Audit and Risk Committee can be provided with their required depth of reassurance. 25 Apply professional knowledge and judgement to assess and appraise:
• The effectiveness of governance, risk management and internal control;
• The extent of compliance with statutory requirements, policies, procedures and good practice;
• The extent to which the University's assets and interests are safeguarded and accounted for; and
• The efficiency and effectiveness (value for money) of operations.
In order to provide assurance, advice and make recommendations over the above and provide an annual statement of assurance to the Audit and Risk Committee. 35 Liaise with senior management to secure commitment to implement particularly significant, or contentious, recommendations arising from audits. 5 Work in partnership with key stakeholders including the Director of Finance, Director of Place, Heads of Support Groups and Heads of College to support the University's control environment and the overall risk management and governance 5 Maintain communications with senior staff in the University and in outside bodies (as appropriate). 5
Planning & Organising
The successful applicant will be expected to:
• determine the overall annual audit planning process;
• apply a recognised risk based scoring system to the audit planning process; and
• decide allocation of resources to meet strategic, annual and tactical audit plans.
Problem Solving
The successful applicant will be required to:
• use and apply professional judgement to evaluate current practices and procedures against recognised best practice;
• identify solutions to improve internal control weaknesses, or achieve better value for money; and
• make recommendations and seek commitment from senior management to implement proposed improvement solutions.
Decision Making
The successful applicant will be required to:
• decide how to allocate time and resources optimally to deliver an annual statement of assurance on the University's overall control environment;
• decide how to manage competing priorities in order to meet strict deadlines;
• decide the extent and nature of scope and objectives to be achieved in each audit assignment;
• conclude on the effectiveness of the University's overall control environment, risk management processes and governance arrangements and
• decide how best to achieve implementation of significant, or contentious, audit recommendations, with senior management.
Key Contacts/Relationships
• Staff at all levels throughout the University (typically senior managers, Heads of Colleges / Support Groups, Heads of School, Heads of Professional Services, School Administrators and equivalent). The main relationships are with senior managers in the academic and professional services community. The purpose of the communication will be to convey findings from work done and secure commitment to implement any recommendations made.
• Externally, relationships are with non-executive members of Audit and Risk Committee, which meets four times a year, to help them form an opinion on the overall control environment and help keep them informed of best practice; and the Scottish Funding Council, Research Councils, other higher education bodies, audit groups and professional associations / bodies, acting in an ambassadorial capacity on behalf of the University.
Knowledge, Skills & Experience
The knowledge, skills and experience needed to carry out the job to a fully satisfactory level would include:
• Professionally qualified (ICAS, CIPFA, IIA);
• Independent, investigative and analytical mind;
• Strong written and oral communication skills;
• Well developed interpersonal skills;
• Able to work without direction;
• Able to manage competing priorities in order to achieve commitments and deadlines;
• Ability to identify solutions to complex problems;
• Knowledge of business processes;
• Self-motivated, hard-working and committed to excellent client service
• IT competencies.
Experience of the Higher Education sector and the funding and regulatory environment is desirable but not essential.
Dimensions
The Internal Audit team consists of 4 FTE (not including this post) plus additional external specialist resource as budgeted for and required. It typically conducts around 20 - 30 reviews a year.
Internal Audit covers all the University's operations, resources, staff, services, subsidiary or associated companies, students' union, joint ventures with third parties and responsibilities to other bodies. As agreed by the University the role may involve the provision of limited audit activity to external organisations.
The University of Edinburgh is a global university, rooted in Scotland. It is globally recognised for its research, development and innovation and has provided world-class teaching to its students for more than 425 years. It is the largest university in Scotland and in 2018/19 its annual revenue was £1.1 billion, of which £286 million was research income. The University has over 43,000 students and almost 16,000 staff.
Job Context & Other Relevant Information
This job description is not exhaustive and the successful applicant may be required to undertake other relevant duties commensurate with the grading of the post. Activities may be subject to amendment over time as the role develops and/or priorities and requirements evolve.
Work can occasionally involve travel out with the Edinburgh area and occasionally outside normal hours.
Application Procedure
All applicants should apply online by clicking the apply link at the bottom of this page. The application process is quick and easy to follow, and you will receive email confirmation of safe receipt of your application. The online system allows you to submit a CV and other attachments.
We anticipate interviews will be held in the week commencing 26th October 2020. You will be notified by email whether you have been shortlisted for interview or not.
The closing date is 5pm on 15th October 2020.
Right to Work
In accordance with the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 and Immigration Act 2016 the University of Edinburgh, as an employer, has a legal responsibility to prevent illegal working and therefore must check that all employees are entitled to work in the United Kingdom (UK).
To do so, the University requires to see original documents evidencing right to work in the UK before commencement of employment and this is normally carried out at interview. Details will be provided in any letter of invitation to interview.
For further information on right to work please visit our right to work webpage
If you are from outside the EEA and not currently eligible to work in the UK, there are visa routes that may be available to you, for example:
Global Talent: If you are an academic, researcher or technical specialist in the field of sciences; humanities; engineering; medicine; digital technology; or the arts, it may be possible for you to apply for a Global Talent visa. This route requires you to apply to be endorsed as an internationally recognised leader or emerging leader in your particular field by an endorsing body (Arts Council England, British Academy, Royal Academy of Engineering, Royal Society, Tech Nation, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)). However, if you are applying for a senior academic role, e.g. Professor/Reader there is an accelerated route to endorsement. Further information can be found on the UKVI website Tier 2: The University is a UKVI licensed sponsor and is able to issue a Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) to successful candidates who are offered highly skilled roles and meet the eligibility criteria. The CoS enables candidates to apply for a Tier 2 (general visa).
Please note if you were last granted leave to stay in the UK in any Tier 2 category in the 12 months immediately preceding an application and the leave has
• ended or expired.
• the CoS which led to that grant of leave was issued for more than 3 months, and
• you are either:
o applying for entry clearance from outside the UK, or
o you are in the UK and had a previous period of Tier 2 leave, but then changed ('switched') into a different immigration category and now wishes to apply again under Tier 2.
You must wait 12 months before applying again.
Further information about whether you require a visa and other visa routes can be found at: www.gov.uk/check-uk-visa
Conditions of Employment
Pension Scheme
This role is grade 10 and therefore the post holder is automatically included in membership of the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS), subject to the USS membership criteria, unless they indicate that they choose not to join the Scheme.
For further information please visit our Pensions website .
Salary
The role is grade 10 and attracts a competitive salary. Salary is paid monthly by direct transfer to your Bank or Building Society account, normally on the 28th of the month. Salaries for part-time staff are calculated on the full-time scales, pro-rata to the Standard Working Week.
The University reserves the right to vary the candidate information or make no appointment at all. Neither in part, nor in whole does this information form part of any contract between the University and any individual.
var links = document.querySelectorAll(".targetLink"), i, j, aTags, string; for(i=0; i Internal Audit The Internal Audit team assesses the adequacy and effectiveness of the internal control systems across the University. They provide assurances to the University's Audit committee in support of their role in assessing the effectiveness of the internal control environment in the University
http://www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/internal-audit/home
University Secretary's Group The University Secretary's Group (USG) comprises eight central units with over 500 staff who work together to provide a world-class service to students, potential students, applicants, academic colleagues, visitors, alumni and staff across the University. The eight units are Communications and Marketing, Development & Alumni, Edinburgh Global, Human Resources, Internal Audit, Legal Services, Strategic Planning and Student Experience Services.
www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/university-secretary-group The University of Edinburgh For more than four centuries, our people and their achievements have rewritten history time and again. They've explored space, revolutionised surgery, published era-defining books, paved the way for life-saving medical breakthroughs and introduced to the world many inventions, discoveries and ideas from penicillin to Dolly the sheep. We have believed that anything is possible, we still do.
The latest Research Excellence Framework highlighted our place at the forefront of international research. This adds to our international reputation for the quality of our teaching and our student experience excellence. The University is proud of its success with online teaching initiatives, with 2550 students currently studying its online distance learning postgraduate programmes, and a total to date of more than 2 million enrolments for Edinburgh MOOCs.
As a member of staff, you will be part of one of the world's leading universities, with 20 Schools spread over 3 Colleges that offer more than 1600 undergraduate and 600 postgraduate programmes to over 41,000 students each year. Professional services are critical to this success as well as our world-class teaching, research and student facilities. In fact, we are one of the top employers in Edinburgh, with over 14,500 people spread across a wide range of academic and supporting roles.
As a world-changing, world-leading university, we offer an exciting, positive, creative, challenging and rewarding place to work. We give you support, nurture your talent, develop and reward success and integrate academic, professional and personal career goals, as well as give your career the benefit of a great and distinguished reputation. In addition, our employees benefit from a competitive reward package and a wide range of staff benefits, which include generous holiday entitlement, a defined benefits pension scheme, staff discounts and much more. Access our staff benefits page for further information and use our reward calculator to find out the total value of pay and benefits provided.
The University of Edinburgh holds a Silver Athena SWAN award in recognition of our commitment to advance gender equality in higher education. We are members of the Race Equality Charter and we are also Stonewall Scotland Diversity Champions, actively promoting LGBT equality. The University has a range of initiatives to support a family friendly working environment, including flexible working and childcare vouchers. See our University Initiatives website for further information.
University Family Friendly Initiatives
Equality Networks:
Staff Pride Network for LGBT+ colleagues and allies
Disabled Staff Network
The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in Scotland, with registration number SC005336.
This is a full time (35 per week), open-ended position.
Salary Range: This post is Grade UE10 and attracts a competitive salary
Closing date: 5.00pm on 15th October 2020
Interview date: Interviews will be held the week commencing 26th October 2020.
Informal enquiries may be made to Leigh Chalmers (leigh.chalmers@ed.ac.uk).
Job Purpose
To provide an independent, objective assessment of the University's control environment and the overall risk management and governance processes. To provide the Audit and Risk Committee with an annual statement of assurance on the control environment and risk management processes. To identify opportunities, and make recommendations, to improve procedures and processes, and drive good practices.
Main Responsibilities and Approx. % of Time
• The effectiveness of governance, risk management and internal control;
• The extent of compliance with statutory requirements, policies, procedures and good practice;
• The extent to which the University's assets and interests are safeguarded and accounted for; and
• The efficiency and effectiveness (value for money) of operations.
In order to provide assurance, advice and make recommendations over the above and provide an annual statement of assurance to the Audit and Risk Committee. 35
Planning & Organising
The successful applicant will be expected to:
• determine the overall annual audit planning process;
• apply a recognised risk based scoring system to the audit planning process; and
• decide allocation of resources to meet strategic, annual and tactical audit plans.
Problem Solving
The successful applicant will be required to:
• use and apply professional judgement to evaluate current practices and procedures against recognised best practice;
• identify solutions to improve internal control weaknesses, or achieve better value for money; and
• make recommendations and seek commitment from senior management to implement proposed improvement solutions.
Decision Making
The successful applicant will be required to:
• decide how to allocate time and resources optimally to deliver an annual statement of assurance on the University's overall control environment;
• decide how to manage competing priorities in order to meet strict deadlines;
• decide the extent and nature of scope and objectives to be achieved in each audit assignment;
• conclude on the effectiveness of the University's overall control environment, risk management processes and governance arrangements and
• decide how best to achieve implementation of significant, or contentious, audit recommendations, with senior management.
Key Contacts/Relationships
• Staff at all levels throughout the University (typically senior managers, Heads of Colleges / Support Groups, Heads of School, Heads of Professional Services, School Administrators and equivalent). The main relationships are with senior managers in the academic and professional services community. The purpose of the communication will be to convey findings from work done and secure commitment to implement any recommendations made.
• Externally, relationships are with non-executive members of Audit and Risk Committee, which meets four times a year, to help them form an opinion on the overall control environment and help keep them informed of best practice; and the Scottish Funding Council, Research Councils, other higher education bodies, audit groups and professional associations / bodies, acting in an ambassadorial capacity on behalf of the University.
Knowledge, Skills & Experience
The knowledge, skills and experience needed to carry out the job to a fully satisfactory level would include:
• Professionally qualified (ICAS, CIPFA, IIA);
• Independent, investigative and analytical mind;
• Strong written and oral communication skills;
• Well developed interpersonal skills;
• Able to work without direction;
• Able to manage competing priorities in order to achieve commitments and deadlines;
• Ability to identify solutions to complex problems;
• Knowledge of business processes;
• Self-motivated, hard-working and committed to excellent client service
• IT competencies.
Experience of the Higher Education sector and the funding and regulatory environment is desirable but not essential.
Dimensions
The Internal Audit team consists of 4 FTE (not including this post) plus additional external specialist resource as budgeted for and required. It typically conducts around 20 - 30 reviews a year.
Internal Audit covers all the University's operations, resources, staff, services, subsidiary or associated companies, students' union, joint ventures with third parties and responsibilities to other bodies. As agreed by the University the role may involve the provision of limited audit activity to external organisations.
The University of Edinburgh is a global university, rooted in Scotland. It is globally recognised for its research, development and innovation and has provided world-class teaching to its students for more than 425 years. It is the largest university in Scotland and in 2018/19 its annual revenue was £1.1 billion, of which £286 million was research income. The University has over 43,000 students and almost 16,000 staff.
Job Context & Other Relevant Information
This job description is not exhaustive and the successful applicant may be required to undertake other relevant duties commensurate with the grading of the post. Activities may be subject to amendment over time as the role develops and/or priorities and requirements evolve.
Work can occasionally involve travel out with the Edinburgh area and occasionally outside normal hours.
Application Procedure
All applicants should apply online by clicking the apply link at the bottom of this page. The application process is quick and easy to follow, and you will receive email confirmation of safe receipt of your application. The online system allows you to submit a CV and other attachments.
We anticipate interviews will be held in the week commencing 26th October 2020. You will be notified by email whether you have been shortlisted for interview or not.
The closing date is 5pm on 15th October 2020.
Right to Work
In accordance with the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 and Immigration Act 2016 the University of Edinburgh, as an employer, has a legal responsibility to prevent illegal working and therefore must check that all employees are entitled to work in the United Kingdom (UK).
To do so, the University requires to see original documents evidencing right to work in the UK before commencement of employment and this is normally carried out at interview. Details will be provided in any letter of invitation to interview.
For further information on right to work please visit our right to work webpage
If you are from outside the EEA and not currently eligible to work in the UK, there are visa routes that may be available to you, for example:
Please note if you were last granted leave to stay in the UK in any Tier 2 category in the 12 months immediately preceding an application and the leave has
• ended or expired.
• the CoS which led to that grant of leave was issued for more than 3 months, and
• you are either:
o applying for entry clearance from outside the UK, or
o you are in the UK and had a previous period of Tier 2 leave, but then changed ('switched') into a different immigration category and now wishes to apply again under Tier 2.
You must wait 12 months before applying again.
Further information about whether you require a visa and other visa routes can be found at: www.gov.uk/check-uk-visa
Conditions of Employment
Pension Scheme
This role is grade 10 and therefore the post holder is automatically included in membership of the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS), subject to the USS membership criteria, unless they indicate that they choose not to join the Scheme.
For further information please visit our Pensions website .
Salary
The role is grade 10 and attracts a competitive salary. Salary is paid monthly by direct transfer to your Bank or Building Society account, normally on the 28th of the month. Salaries for part-time staff are calculated on the full-time scales, pro-rata to the Standard Working Week.
The University reserves the right to vary the candidate information or make no appointment at all. Neither in part, nor in whole does this information form part of any contract between the University and any individual.
var links = document.querySelectorAll(".targetLink"), i, j, aTags, string; for(i=0; i Internal Audit The Internal Audit team assesses the adequacy and effectiveness of the internal control systems across the University. They provide assurances to the University's Audit committee in support of their role in assessing the effectiveness of the internal control environment in the University
http://www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/internal-audit/home
University Secretary's Group The University Secretary's Group (USG) comprises eight central units with over 500 staff who work together to provide a world-class service to students, potential students, applicants, academic colleagues, visitors, alumni and staff across the University. The eight units are Communications and Marketing, Development & Alumni, Edinburgh Global, Human Resources, Internal Audit, Legal Services, Strategic Planning and Student Experience Services.
www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/university-secretary-group The University of Edinburgh For more than four centuries, our people and their achievements have rewritten history time and again. They've explored space, revolutionised surgery, published era-defining books, paved the way for life-saving medical breakthroughs and introduced to the world many inventions, discoveries and ideas from penicillin to Dolly the sheep. We have believed that anything is possible, we still do.
The latest Research Excellence Framework highlighted our place at the forefront of international research. This adds to our international reputation for the quality of our teaching and our student experience excellence. The University is proud of its success with online teaching initiatives, with 2550 students currently studying its online distance learning postgraduate programmes, and a total to date of more than 2 million enrolments for Edinburgh MOOCs.
As a member of staff, you will be part of one of the world's leading universities, with 20 Schools spread over 3 Colleges that offer more than 1600 undergraduate and 600 postgraduate programmes to over 41,000 students each year. Professional services are critical to this success as well as our world-class teaching, research and student facilities. In fact, we are one of the top employers in Edinburgh, with over 14,500 people spread across a wide range of academic and supporting roles.
As a world-changing, world-leading university, we offer an exciting, positive, creative, challenging and rewarding place to work. We give you support, nurture your talent, develop and reward success and integrate academic, professional and personal career goals, as well as give your career the benefit of a great and distinguished reputation. In addition, our employees benefit from a competitive reward package and a wide range of staff benefits, which include generous holiday entitlement, a defined benefits pension scheme, staff discounts and much more. Access our staff benefits page for further information and use our reward calculator to find out the total value of pay and benefits provided.
The University of Edinburgh holds a Silver Athena SWAN award in recognition of our commitment to advance gender equality in higher education. We are members of the Race Equality Charter and we are also Stonewall Scotland Diversity Champions, actively promoting LGBT equality. The University has a range of initiatives to support a family friendly working environment, including flexible working and childcare vouchers. See our University Initiatives website for further information.
University Family Friendly Initiatives
Equality Networks:
Staff Pride Network for LGBT+ colleagues and allies
Disabled Staff Network
The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in Scotland, with registration number SC005336.