Third party assurance - Manager/Senior Manager - Financial Services

Quality is at the heart of what we do. Combining passionate people with leading technology, we work together to build trust in society. We put the team first and solve important problems by challenging the organisations we audit and being open to challenge ourselves. We take pride in our work and the profession, recognising audit as a deep specialism.

Hear from our UK Head of Audit about the evolution of the Audit and what opportunities PwC could have for you.

It's a really exciting time to be joining us. We’re growing our teams across all areas of our Audit practice and investing a huge amount in our people, their skills and the technology available, as we continue to radically modernise our business and the way we serve our clients.

Learn more about The Future of Audit. 

Introduction

Trust is a valuable commodity. It is not given or kept easily. And when it comes to trust, what matters to stakeholders is changing. They want to know that companies are who they say they are, and do what they say they do. That is why today, organisations are being judged on more than financial performance, with reporting on other areas playing a more important role in building stakeholder trust. 

Independent, high quality assurance is increasingly expected.  Corporate reporting remains the first port of call for investors trying to understand business performance and prospects – and the risks associated with them. In business to business relationships this is seen in the increased demand for reporting over the management of risk such as operational resilience, cyber security and supply chain providence.

About the team

Within PwC’s Stakeholder Assurance practice, you'll have the opportunity to work with a market leading team and across a diverse portfolio of clients, from owner managed businesses, private equity backed companies, to large multinational and listed groups.
We work with well-known clients across a broad range of clients including FTSE listed, global private companies, private partnerships, funds and Private Equity and Venture Capitalist backed companies. You’ll work across a wide variety of industry sectors including:

• Asset and Wealth Management:  Real Estate, Hedge Funds, Pensions, Private Equity, traditional Asset and Wealth management, as well as technology and asset servicing businesses; and/or 

• Banking and Capital Markets:  Established global banking clients to emerging FinTechs and start-ups looking to disrupt the traditional financial markets; and/or

• Insurance: Life, Non-Life, London Markets and Broking. 

You’ll also have the opportunity to work on global projects, collaborating with PwC colleagues and clients all over the world.

Your role 

The role in Stakeholder Assurance will mainly focus on developing and delivering our Third Party Assurance (TPA) products, though individuals should expect to deliver non-financial assurance more broadly, including ESG and Regulatory assurance. Service Providers are judged on more than just the services they provide. Customers are exposed to a broader set of risks such as IT resilience, cyber attacks, data loss, ethical sourcing, potential use of slave labour, and compliance with laws and regulations. Customers are therefore demanding greater transparency on how service providers are managing these risks.  

Our TPA team has deep experience in providing assurance covering the full range of service provider needs, including:  

• Financial services businesses - from assuring platforms for asset and wealth management, clearing, settlement and exchange, to performing SOC1, SOC2, ISAE3402 or AAF reviews;

• IT systems and platforms - market infrastructure, eCommerce, fulfilment and logistics; Critical business systems - payment infrastructure and payroll systems; 

• Cyber security systems - resilience, privacy and security controls; 

• Emerging risks - blockchain assurance and cryptocurrency; and 

• Supply chain - covering service levels, sustainability and

• Regulatory/legal commitments.

You’ll have the opportunity to:

• Be at the forefront of innovation in reporting and assurance, providing a broad and differentiating experience to the typical financial auditor; 

• Have variety in what you do, working across all three Stakeholder Assurance propositions and an even broader set of products, in an area that constantly evolves in response to our clients evolving needs and business risks;

• Develop and progress, in a rapidly growing area of our business; 

• Develop client proposals and propositions more broadly; and 

• Spend every day working on our purpose, to build trust in society and solve important problems.

Responsibilities

Your responsibilities will include: 

• Understanding of complex client processes and designing and developing suites of assurance work over them;

• Leading the planning and delivery of assurance or similar assignments for a range of governance, risk, regulatory, operational and financial purposes;

• Building and maintaining effective working relationships with clients;

• Managing teams to deliver a project both on time and on budget;

• Coaching and developing junior team members;  

• Conducting work in accordance with a range of assurance standards;

• Developing and supporting new opportunities and propositions; and

• Building a network of external contacts through attending external and PwC hosted events.

About you

We’re looking for individuals who are passionate about the role assurance plays, who can leverage their experience to challenge existing reporting and build PwCs profile and position in the market. You will have experience in understanding an organisation’s risks, risk management priorities, controls, regulatory environment, and the diverse needs of its critical stakeholders. This experience could be gained through financial statement audit, internal audit or risk management. 

Essential skills and experience

• To succeed in the team, you will have a demonstrable skills and experience as follows: 

• Chartered Accountant / ACA / ACCA / ICAS qualified accountant (or international equivalent) or have equivalent work experience in Audit (including international candidates who technically qualify in their home country by experience) - other experience may be considered; 

• Leading the planning and delivery of complex non-financial assurance engagements, including the identification of risk and controls and the performance and review of relevant audit testing in line with PwC and regulatory standards;

• Third party controls reporting, covering a broad range of sectors, including IT and business process outsourcing services; 

• Leveraging assurance standards (e.g. ISAE 3000, ISAE 3402, AAF 01/20 and SOC2) in client facing situations within a professional services environment;

• Coaching and developing junior team members;  

• The ability to apply independent judgement during engagements and to support conclusions reached by management; 

• Identifying and effectively reporting issues and recommendations for improvement to clients;

• Market development, including experience of identifying opportunities, building and managing client relationships, leading / being involved with tenders and/or significant client pitches;

• Strong business awareness, sound reporting and documentation skills and the ability to work under your own initiative; 

• A willingness to learn new skills and help develop and innovate new client propositions; and

• Budgeting and managing project finances.

Desirable skills and experience

• Experience of working within the financial services sector is preferred, although candidates with other experience will be considered;

• Understanding of cloud and emerging technologies (RPA, IoT, AI) with a focus on risk and controls; and

• Working with clients undergoing ISO 27001 certification either as a practitioner or a lead auditor.

Not the role for you?
Did you know PwC offers flexible career arrangements and contract work? Learn more.

The skills we look for
The PwC Professional is our global framework for defining and encouraging leadership at all levels. Learn more.

The Deal
‘The Deal’, our firmwide Employee Value Proposition’ empowers our people to be the best they can be. Learn more.

Our commitment to you
We’re committed to building a culture that empowers all of our people to thrive and feel a sense of belonging at PwC. Learn more.

Application support
If you’re a person with a disability, if you’re neurodivergent, or if you have a condition that you believe may affect your performance during our selection process, we’ll be happy to make reasonable adjustments to our processes for you. Learn more.