Ideas | People | Trust
We're BDO. An accountancy and business advisory firm, providing the advice and solutions entrepreneurial organisations need to navigate today's changing world.
We work with the companies that are Britain's economic engine – ambitious, entrepreneurially-spirited and high-growth businesses that fuel the economy – and directly advise the owners and management teams leading them.
We'll broaden your horizons
The Quality and Risk Management Team (QRM) provides leadership, guidance, and tools to help partners and staff manage quality and risk matters. The team is comprised of an Advisory and Compliance Team, a Chief Information Security Office Team, an Economic Crime Team, a Legal Team including a Commercial & Contracts Team, plus the Quality Monitoring Team. The team works closely with the firm's Technical Standards Group, Ethics Team, and the firm's leadership.
We'll help you succeed
Leading organisations trust us because of the quality of our advice. That quality grows from a thorough understanding of their business, and that understanding comes from working closely with them and building long-lasting relationships.
You'll be someone who is both comfortable working proactively and managing your own tasks, as well as confident collaborating with others and communicating regularly with senior managers, directors, and BDO's partners to help businesses effectively. You'll be encouraged to identify and draw attention to opportunities for enhancing our delivery and providing additional services to organisations we work with.
International Standard of Quality Management (UK) 1 (ISQM1) requires BDO LLP to design and implement a system of quality management (SOQM) to ensure that the Firm and our personnel fulfil responsibilities in accordance with professional standards and other requirements and that reports issued are appropriate in the circumstances. ISQM1 also requires ongoing monitoring and an annual evaluation of the system of quality management under a reasonable assurance framework.
ISQM1 was implemented as at 15 December 2022 and evaluated for the first time during 2023, and BDO continues to work on the enhancement of its system of quality management to support its desire to improve and sustain audit quality and drive a consistent quality standard across all areas of assurance work.
Vacancies exist within the ISQM1 team for Senior Managers to work on various aspects of our ongoing system of quality management programme. The team is led by two Partners with two Directors currently being recruited. The Senior Manager roles report into the Directors. The team sits within the Quality and Risk Management function of BDO.
The following aspects will fall under the responsibility of the Senior Managers and we are happy to receive applications from individuals who are interested in one or more areas. The team will be structured according to the successful candidates' interests, experience and skillsets.
- Risk assessment process;
- Annual evaluation process;
- Design, implementation and ongoing management of a tooling solution for the SOQM;
- Testing and monitoring of controls;
- Keeping up to date with the regulatory landscape, and drafting and coordination of responses to the FRC and any other external parties on information requests relating to our SOQM;
- Preparation of reporting packs to internal governance and leadership bodies, with the opportunity to present at these forums;
- Ongoing design and remediation work with the business owners of processes and controls which form part of the SOQM;
- Supporting the business with transformation of processes that form part of the SOQM looking at efficiency and technology solutions to drive compliance with the firm's policies and procedures.
The skills being sought are:
- Professional qualification e.g.ACA/ICAS or equivalent;
- Experience of working in a large professional services firm;
- Understanding of the regulatory environment that audit firms operate in;
- Experience of working in audit quality management or ethics and independence;
- Understanding of controls and their application including design, sufficiency, operating effectiveness, deficiencies, and recommendations;
- Previous ISQM1 or SOX experience desirable;
- Strong networking skills and ability to develop strong rapports with key stakeholders;
- Excellent analytical, interpersonal and communication skills both written and verbal;
- Individuals that can drive creative thinking and connect ideas and insights from other projects in the quality initiatives as well as role model resilience and maintain a calm demeanour when under pressure;
- Ability to work in a fast-paced, ever-changing, rapid-growth environment with multiple projects and tasks;
- Ability to proactively apply your skills to a broad range of components of a SOQM to see the macro position.
Core competencies required:
- Business thinking: The ability to understand the firm's business strategy and goals and develop solutions aligned to these. The ability to evaluate the current market and anticipate the impact of potential changes for the firm and its clients to reinforce market positioning.
- Communicating: The ability to articulate complex issues clearly and credibly to a range of audience's reactions and to adapt demeanour/approach to suit audiences in order to achieve desired results.
- Collaborating: The ability to build relationships across the firm and gain the confidence of Partners and other senior staff.
- Decision-making: The ability to identify and drive the use of best practice to deliver improvement and development in the firm's practices.
- Developing self: Working to establish an understanding of the firm and the requirements of ISQM1, and how a controls framework can be established around quality management processes.
You'll be able to be yourself; we'll recognise and value you for who you are and celebrate and reward your contributions to our business. We're committed to agile working, and we offer everyone the opportunity to work in ways that suit them, their teams, and the task at hand.
At BDO, we'll help you achieve your personal goals and career ambitions, and we have programmes, resources, and frameworks that provide clarit