Assistant Manager - Internal Audit

Why we're hiring:

WPP is seeking an Assistant Audit Manager to support our EMEA and South Asia Team team and play a key role in shaping our future. In this role, you'll leverage your audit, risk, and compliance expertise to conduct operational audits across our diverse businesses, gaining valuable exposure to various areas of WPP. This is a unique opportunity to make a real difference by identifying opportunities for improvement and driving positive change.

We're looking for candidates with a strong background in Operations, Financial, Commercial, and Compliance auditing. You'll need to be able to analyse complex business processes, identify risks (including regulatory, organisational, policy, and technological), and develop meaningful findings. Excellent communication skills and a strong commercial understanding are essential.

Location: Mumbai or Delhi

Travel: Up to 30% (availability required)

What you'll be doing:

• Executing internal audits for assigned cycles of the audit program by reviewing financial controls and testing compliance with established internal control policies, procedures, regulations and laws as applicable:
• Compliance with policies, plans, standards, international best practices and applicable local laws and regulations that could have a significant impact on operations;
• Effectiveness in the accomplishment of objectives and goals established for operations and projects;
• Exercise discretion in the review of records to ensure confidentiality;
• Engages in multiple assignments concurrently
• Delivers projects, meeting deadlines around planning, execution and reporting
• Reviews work performed by the audit team on the project to ensure that the key risks identified in the risk statement have been adequately covered;
• Utilizes prior experience to identify previously captured lessons learned or best practices
• Identifies and recommends opportunities for improved efficiency
• Contributes to after-action reviews or post-mortem sessions to capture lessons learned
• Prepares and presents reports to the Regional Head of Audit about the results of audit engagements, significant risk exposures and control issues;
• Ensuring timely completion of Internal Audit work papers and audit program including documenting identified risks, issues and recommendations in the Internal Audit Software, TeamMate;
• Occasional adhoc assignments including investigations

What you'll need:

We want someone who can not only identify risks, but also translate those risks into business issues. You will provide consultative support to business partners to identify opportunities for control improvements. You must help prioritize findings and recommendations in tune with our corporate strategy. You should be able to facilitate multiple stakeholders to agree on appropriate solutions and verify that risks are mitigated appropriately. We value personality, insight, intellectual flexibility, teamwork and sound business judgment.

You must be an excellent writer who can succinctly communicate complicated issues in business terms. You must also be a strong project manager who can manage variable resources and conduct your own audits from beginning to end, often managing multiple projects at once.

You will be a person who anticipates problems and pro-actively seeks out solutions, whether working independently or as part of a team. You will have the ability to develop and sustain relationships with both internal and external customers, have a hands on attitude to work; and the flexibility to work as hard as the job demands.

Professional skills

You must demonstrate:

• Strong risk management experience, including; performing risk assessments and audits, designing controls, and prioritizing risk.
• Strong analytical skills. Proven history of analyzing data, having attention to detail, and assessing situations to identify meaningful observations.
• Personal skills
• Self-starter, possess flexibility to work in a fast-changing environment and ambiguous situations and get things done
• Proven history of having built relationships and worked effectively across cross-functional teams and business functions
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills. You will prepare reports and make presentations to senior level management. You will interact with various levels of employees to collect and communicate information.
• Ability to work independently, but also be a team player and critical thinker.
• Ability to manage multiple projects
• Ability to work under pressure and meet deadlines.
• A naturally inquisitive, assertive (not aggressive) and tenacious character.
• Thorough and precise.
• Good communication skills - diplomatic and able to converse with a wide range of people.
• Able to prioritize and balance your own workload you have strong time management skills and the ability to work under minimal supervision
• One should be a sharp evaluator of risk, and he should enjoy investigating complex issues/situations and proposing solutions

Preferred qualifications / knowledge

• Bachelor’s degree in accounting/finance/business or related field and Advanced degree or relevant certifications - CA / MBA
• Risk focused and capable of using data analytics to gain insights into transactions
• Familiarity with COSO frameworks
• Knowledge of Sarbanes Oxley
• Big Four accounting firm experience is a plus

Relevant work experience

• 3+ years of post-qualification (advance degree) experience in operational auditing, risk management, compliance, or financial analysis, showing progression in areas for responsibility
• Previous experience in an international environment.
• Advanced computer skills on MS Office and exposure to data analytics tools.

Who you are:

You're open: we are inclusive and collaborative; we encourage the free exchange of ideas; we respect and celebrate diverse views. We are open-minded: to new ideas, new partnerships, new ways of working.

You're optimistic: we approach all that we do with confidence: to try the new and to seek the unexpected.

You're extraordinary: We are stronger together: through collaboration we achieve the amazing. We are creative leaders and pioneers of our industry; we provide extraordinary every day.

What we'll give you:

Passionate, inspired people – we champion a culture of people that do extraordinary work

Scale and opportunity – we offer the opportunity to create, influence and deliver projects at a scale that is unparalleled in the industry.

Challenging and stimulating work – unique work and the opportunity to join a group of creative problem solvers. 

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