CASS - Senior Associate - 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. 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.A career in our Financial Services Audit practice, within External Audit services, will provide you with the opportunity to provide a range of Assurance services and business advice to a variety of clients from small, fast growing clients to large entities. Our clients are often well known brands and many have broad international reach. We focus on using the latest technology to reduce the level of manual testing ensuring you'll focus on the most valuable areas of client service and on enhancing corporate governance and the reliability of our clients' information.Our team helps financial organisations navigate regulatory complexity while strengthening trust and transparency in their business. Our clients cover industries within banking and capital markets, private equity, insurance, and consumer finance. While many of the rules of business have changed, the fundamentals haven't. You'll work alongside senior members of the client's management team in planning the audit process from beginning to end, ensuring completeness, accuracy, and fair presentation of our client's information.
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.

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 CASS audits, though individuals should expect to deliver non-financial assurance more broadly, including Non-financial and Third Party assurance.

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;
• Be involved in the development of client proposals and propositions more broadly; and
• Spend every day working on our purpose, to build trust in society and solve important problems.

Responsibilities

Building on and utilising your previous audit skills and experience, your responsibilities will include:

• Planning and delivering CASS Audits or assurance assignments for a range of governance, risk, regulatory, operational and financial purposes;
• Conducting fieldwork in accordance with PwC's CASS audit methodology and quality assurance standards including testing the design and operating effectiveness of controls to mitigate CASS risks, performing substantive testing to test a firm's compliance with the CASS rules;
• Reviewing and assessing a firm's CASS breaches register for collation and reporting to the FCA;
• Communicating findings to clients and preparing written reports;
• Building and maintaining effective working relationships with clients;
• Managing and being part of a team to deliver a project both on time and on budget;
• Leading and coaching junior staff;
• Conducting work in accordance with standards; and
• Supporting new opportunities and propositions.

About you

We're looking for someone who is passionate about the role assurance plays, and who can leverage their experience to challenge existing reporting and build PwCs profile and position in the marketplace. You will have already gained some 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, or internal audit.

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);
• Planning and delivering audit or assurance engagements in line with regulatory standards;
• Designing, testing or monitoring of internal controls;
• Client handling and relationship management and an ability to challenge and escalate issues effectively;
• The ability to work effectively in a team, building good working relationships with both colleagues and client personnel at all levels;
• Passion for delivering and promoting quality in all aspects of your work and applying professional scepticism;
• Managing and developing junior team members through delegation, supervision and coaching; and
• Genuine curiosity toward our clients' business, their purpose and strategy to be able to effectively understand their stakeholders assurance needs; and

Desirable skills and experience

• Experience of CASS audits or Risk & Control audits would be beneficial but not required;
• Experience of working within the financial services sector is preferred, although candidates with other experience will be considered;
• Working flexibly across a variety of multi location teams; and
• Experience in developing and supporting new opportunities and propositions