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What does a finance auditor do?

Updated January 8, 2025
8 min read
Quoted expert
Alicja Foksińska

A finance auditor is primarily in charge of planning and conducting audits on a company's overall financial activities, ensuring accuracy and transparency. Their responsibilities typically revolve around coordinating with different departments to gather data, performing research and analysis to identify and assess risks, identifying errors or inconsistencies on financial reports, and devising strategies to optimize auditing procedures. Furthermore, as a finance auditor, it is essential to supervise and encourage the accounting and auditing staff to reach goals, all while implementing the company's policies and regulations.

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Finance auditor responsibilities

Here are examples of responsibilities from real finance auditor resumes:

  • Schedule, plan, conduct fieldwork and report writing of audits using a COSO base audit methodology managing staff on audits.
  • Assist in the SFA audit process perform by independent CPA firms to ensure deadlines are meet for reporting.
  • Perform routine reviews of management assertions relating to Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) for compliance and potential material impact to financial statements.
  • Join the leading CPA firm (at that time) in the country.
  • Supervise and perform SOX audits of international subsidiaries.
  • Create and review monthly financial reports by utilizing Hyperion.
  • Collect patient co-pays and record payment transactions and communicate outstanding balance to patients.
  • Develop and implement a Sarbanes-Oxley help desk to ensure timely and consistent guidance to affiliates.
  • Cultivate expertise of internal control design, implementation and remediation through performance of Sarbanes-Oxley audits.
  • Confirm international bank securities and financial instruments holdings, verifying portfolio and entitlement of interest / dividend payments.
  • Review internal controls (payroll, treasury, income, expenditure, fix assets, inventories and standard costs).
  • Generate SQL reports; prepare month-end processing.
  • Evaluate and advise on ROI for various affiliate contracts and new hires to determine suitability.
  • Create a proactive analysis approach with new tools for analyzing construction spend, including a new ROI model.
  • Subject matter expert for PeopleSoft implementation.

Finance auditor skills and personality traits

We calculated that 13% of Finance Auditors are proficient in CPA, Internal Audit, and Audit Findings. They’re also known for soft skills such as Analytical skills, Communication skills, and Detail oriented.

We break down the percentage of Finance Auditors that have these skills listed on their resume here:

  • CPA, 13%

    Staff financial auditor Duties are the same as staff financial auditor in Calibre CPA Tax preparations (individual / corp.)

  • Internal Audit, 9%

    Developed and implemented an internal audit program for Fred Meyer Stores covering multiple financial and operational policies and controls.

  • Audit Findings, 5%

    Conduct market analysis, submit audit findings and make recommendations to management o Review physical inventories and returns to determine market share

  • Risk Assessments, 5%

    Planned, prepared and distributed Scope memos based on initial risk assessments and financial statement analysis including ratio and trend analysis.

  • Audit Reports, 5%

    Prepared daily and weekly audit reports on reported violations and discrepancies to senior management for analysis.

  • Audit Procedures, 4%

    Performed general office duties including composed and typed memos/letters; typed audit procedures, and other business correspondences.

"cpa," "internal audit," and "audit findings" are among the most common skills that finance auditors use at work. You can find even more finance auditor responsibilities below, including:

Communication skills. Many finance auditor duties rely on communication skills. "accountants and auditors must be able to listen to and discuss facts and concerns from clients, managers, and other stakeholders," so a finance auditor will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways finance auditor responsibilities rely on communication skills: "prepare clear and concise audit work papers, reports, and other communication to document audit procedures performed and exceptions noted. "

Detail oriented. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of finance auditors is detail oriented. This skill is critical to many everyday finance auditor duties, as "accountants and auditors must pay attention to detail when compiling and examining documents." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "examined and analyzed financial records to determine company's financial status; prepared detailed financial reports. "

Math skills. For certain finance auditor responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "math skills." The day-to-day duties of a finance auditor rely on this skill, as "accountants and auditors must be able to analyze, compare, and interpret facts and figures." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what finance auditors do: "assist in preparing audit reports summarizing audit results and findings of audited information and statistics. "

Organizational skills. Another crucial skill for a finance auditor to carry out their responsibilities is "organizational skills." A big part of what finance auditors relies on this skill, since "strong organizational skills are important for accountants and auditors, who often work with a range of financial documents for a variety of clients." How this skill relates to finance auditor duties can be seen in an example from a finance auditor resume snippet: "presented as guest speaker to unt's graduate internal audit class on audit engagement/organizational planning. "

See the full list of finance auditor skills

The three companies that hire the most finance auditors are:

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Compare different finance auditors

Finance auditor vs. Auditor supervisor

An auditor supervisor is a financial professional who manages a staff of audit professionals and controls consulting engagements that evaluate the management and operating practices of a corporate. This supervisor is required to supervise audit planning and fieldwork as well as communicates findings and recommendations to senior management. To ensure that audit staff follows the department's methodology, the supervisor must supervise the audit staff and review their automated audit work papers. The supervisor must also ensure that reviews are following the standards of the corporate audit department and the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA).

We looked at the average finance auditor salary and compared it with the wages of an auditor supervisor. Generally speaking, auditor supervisors are paid $13,515 higher than finance auditors per year.While their salaries may differ, the common ground between finance auditors and auditor supervisors are a few of the skills required in each roleacirc;euro;trade;s responsibilities. In both careers, employee duties involve skills like cpa, internal audit, and audit findings.

These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a finance auditor are more likely to require skills like "financial services," "risk management," "acls," and "sql." On the other hand, a job as an auditor supervisor requires skills like "excellent interpersonal," "internal controls," "night audit," and "front desk." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.

Auditor supervisors really shine in the finance industry with an average salary of $86,925. Comparatively, finance auditors tend to make the most money in the manufacturing industry with an average salary of $99,270.On average, auditor supervisors reach lower levels of education than finance auditors. Auditor supervisors are 8.8% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.2% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Finance auditor vs. Audit manager

An audit manager is responsible for the complete audit process of finances in an organization. They work for banks and report directly to the audit committee. Based on findings gathered, a financial institution can gain vision into their variance and overall performance. They are also responsible for scheduling audits, initiating departmental audits, consolidation, and analysis of audit reports, and reviewing accounting procedures. Moreover, part of their tasks is to create audit finding presentations to be presented to the audit committee. It requires a high amount of accountability to be an effective audit manager.

On average, audit managers earn a $51,058 higher salary than finance auditors a year.A few skills overlap for finance auditors and audit managers. Resumes from both professions show that the duties of each career rely on skills like "cpa," "internal audit," and "audit findings. "

In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, finance auditor responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "acls," "financial data," "sql," and "financial analysis." Meanwhile, an audit manager has duties that require skills in areas such as "client relationships," "strong project management," "audit services," and "client management." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.

On average, audit managers earn a higher salary than finance auditors. Some industries support higher salaries in each profession. Interestingly enough, audit managers earn the most pay in the manufacturing industry with an average salary of $122,875. Whereas finance auditors have higher pay in the manufacturing industry, with an average salary of $99,270.In general, audit managers achieve similar levels of education than finance auditors. They're 3.2% less likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.2% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for finance auditors in the next 3-5 years?

Alicja FoksińskaAlicja Foksińska LinkedIn profile

Lead IT Auditor at Protective Life, and ISACA Birmingham Chapter President

In the world of auditing, I believe that auditing the "intangible" is on the horizon, which means that auditors will need to understand what data their company collects and how they can use this data for an audit. Data analytics will be key, as more audit shops will be connecting multiple data sources to uncover ever deeper insights of the business. Rather than focusing on using a specific new technology or software, increasing maturity of data analytics and advancing its application on the data that the company collects, or should collect, will be more important for IT auditors going forward.

For example, company culture is not easily quantifiable as its scope is wide and divided among many different segments comprising of employee benefits and wellbeing, diversity and inclusion, and continuous learning opportunities for the employees. With more companies allowing their employees to permanently work from home, auditors will be asked to answer questions ranging from employee productivity, burnout, to employee identity with the company.

It will be the job of auditors to look at the data landscape of the company and see what data points could help tell the story of the "intangibles," thus unveiling new knowledge for the company.

Finance auditor vs. Senior finance consultant

A senior finance consultant is responsible for helping clients manage their account portfolios, recommending investment options, and monitoring their finances. Senior finance consultants should have extensive knowledge of the financial industry, especially on working with clients and inform them of current financial services and strategize financial plans according to the clients' needs and best interests. They also respond to clients' inquiries and concerns regarding their account performance and financial discrepancies, resolving issues to achieve the clients' long-term financial goals and objectives.

On average, senior finance consultants earn higher salaries than finance auditors, with a $27,328 difference per year.By looking over several finance auditors and senior finance consultants resumes, we found that both roles require similar skills in their day-to-day duties, such as "internal audit," "financial services," and "risk management." But beyond that, the careers look very different.

The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, finance auditors are more likely to have skills like "cpa," "audit findings," "risk assessments," and "audit reports." But a senior finance consultant is more likely to have skills like "project management," "shared services," "financial performance," and "client relationships."

Senior finance consultants earn the highest salary when working in the technology industry, where they receive an average salary of $100,438. Comparatively, finance auditors have the highest earning potential in the manufacturing industry, with an average salary of $99,270.Most senior finance consultants achieve a similar degree level compared to finance auditors. For example, they're 2.5% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.2% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Finance auditor vs. Corporate finance analyst

Corporate finance analysts make significant business decisions based on the data they gather. Typically, corporate finance analysts work within an organization and support management decisions through actionable financial information. They monitor the taxes, expenses, financial statements, and other financial details of where the company sources its income. This position requires a formal qualification in accounting. It also necessitates the analyst to develop interpersonal skills, knowledge in information technology software, financial reporting skills, and experience in management.

Corporate finance analysts typically earn higher pay than finance auditors. On average, corporate finance analysts earn a $5,662 higher salary per year.According to resumes from finance auditors and corporate finance analysts, some of the skills necessary to complete the responsibilities of each role are similar. These skills include "sox," "sarbanes-oxley," and "strong analytical. "While some skills are required in each professionacirc;euro;trade;s responsibilities, there are some differences to note. "cpa," "internal audit," "audit findings," and "risk assessments" are skills that commonly show up on finance auditor resumes. On the other hand, corporate finance analysts use skills like financial models, hyperion, due diligence, and data analysis on their resumes.The finance industry tends to pay the highest salaries for corporate finance analysts, with average annual pay of $96,991. Comparatively, the highest finance auditor annual salary comes from the manufacturing industry.The average resume of corporate finance analysts showed that they earn similar levels of education compared to finance auditors. So much so that theyacirc;euro;trade;re 2.0% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree by 0.1%.

Types of finance auditor

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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