The Advisory Process Risk Senior Associate is responsible for delivering a range of risk advisory projects for multiple public and private clients in a wide variety of industries. Responsibilities include working in team environment to plan, execute and report on risk management, internal control, and internal audit engagements that develop, assess, or help improve the design and operating effectiveness of risk management and internal control activities. The Senior Associate works closely with Partners, Principals, Managing Directors, Senior Managers, Managers and Associates, playing a key role in project delivery, client relationship management and business development.

  

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Review operational, financial, and administrative processes to assess risk, internal control, and the overall effectiveness and efficiency of the process. Obtain an understanding of clients’ business, objectives, strategy, operations, processes, IT systems, service providers and controls. Actively participate in client engagements from start to completion, which includes planning, executing, and reporting. Common engagements include, but are not limited to: co-sourced and outsourced internal audit, internal control assessments, enterprise risk management program assessments, tests of control design and operating effectiveness for Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) and other compliance requirements, and helping clients design and implement internal controls. Support engagement Manager and/or Senior Manager/Director in project management activities, such as preparing and managing engagement project plans, timelines, budgets, and status reporting. Supervise, train, and mentor Associates and Interns on engagements, and assess performance and provide timely feedback. Develop and execute internal audit workplans and control test procedures based on engagement scope, and client environment risk factors. Apply knowledge of risk and control trends to evaluate findings for significance and risk, and develop recommendations for improvement based on leading practice. Work with the project team and client to deliver services in accordance with project leadership and client expectations (gather information, resolve problems, recommend internal control enhancement opportunities, etc.). Develop and maintain good working relationships with colleagues and clients. Work collaboratively across Advisory Business Lines (ABLs) and with other Grant Thornton Service Lines (e.g., Audit Services and Tax Services). Adhere to Firm policies, procedures, and methodologies. Participate in recruiting efforts. Participate in relevant professional organizations (Institute of Internal Auditors, etc.) Participate in business development activities and proposal development as appropriate. Meet or exceed defined performance metrics. Other duties as assigned. Domestic and international travel as required. Ability to travel on short notice and work additional hours as necessary.

 

QUALIFICATIONS 

Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, Information Technology, Management Information Systems, Business Intelligence, or related field.  A Master’s degree is a plus. Two (2) to five (5)  years of related work experience with a professional services firm, or as part of a risk management or Internal Audit function. CIA, CPA, Six Sigma, or related license/certification (or having passed examination(s) and awaiting certification) preferred. Experience assessing the design and operating effectiveness of enterprise or operational risk management programs, and/or entity-level and business process controls for Internal Audit, SOX compliance, System & Organization Control (SOC) reporting, or other risk management, compliance and assurance activities. Strong understanding of COSO Internal Control – Integrated Framework (2013), the Institute of Internal Auditors International Professional Practices Framework (IIA IPPF), and/or current focus areas of external financial statement auditors (completeness and accuracy of key reports, level of precision, etc.) Client service acumen, with a demonstrated ability to develop and maintain strong relationships. Ability to work on multiple concurrent projects and handle competing priorities in a rapidly growing, fast-paced, interactive, results-based team environment. Strong leadership and communication (oral, written, and presentation) skills. Strong analytical, organizational and project management skills. Ability to supervise others and lead projects. Strong computer skills, including proficiency in Microsoft Visio and Office Suite applications. Experience with any of the following a plus: Assessing process controls of on-premise and cloud-based SAP systems (ECC, S/4 HANA, etc.). Assessing process controls of other on-premise and cloud-based Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems (Oracle. Workday, Infor, NetSuite, etc.) Leveraging analytics and visualization solutions (PowerBI, Alteryx, ACL, IDEA, QlikView / QlikSense, Tableau, Spotfire, etc.). Performing operational internal auditing in areas not related to internal control over financial reporting (ICFR) or SOX compliance Designing controls as part of transformational changes (new systems implementation, establishing a shared service center, business combination, etc.)

 

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