Vice President, Group Internal Audit

Job Summary

The VP, Group Internal Audit role reports to the Head of Group Internal Audit. You will lead a team of audit professionals to manage the audit requirements of your assigned business units under the FPL Group.

You will establish and implement audit plan(s) to examine and evaluate the adequacy and effectiveness of the system of internal controls, comprising governance, risk management and control processes across the assigned business units and direct audit activities for the business units’ operating entities in various geographical locations. You will also play an integral role in supporting the Head of Group IA to ensure that the internal audit function remains strategically aligned with the Group’s purpose.

Job Description

Strategic Planning

• Support planning, development and execution of Group Internal Audit strategic plans and activities, including management of Group Internal Audit’s budgets and expenses
• Lead the planning and execution of annual risk assessment and audit planning activities for the assigned business units. Ensure that audit procedures are aligned with the strategic direction of the business units and entities.
• Drive the development of appropriate dashboards to track the completion of the annual audit plans, and in particular, the strategic objectives of Group Internal Audit.
• Drive high audit performance through development, implementation and tracking of appropriate KPIs and measurements for Group Internal Audit staff members.
• Support the making of multifaceted decisions significant to Group Internal Audit based on data, and detailed risk and control analysis. Empower team members to make decisions and move forward to implement action plans supporting the achievement of Group Internal Audit’s strategic objectives.

Reporting

• Prepare and ensure quality and timely submission of presentation materials, reports and plans to senior management and audit committees.
• Provide oversight to ensure alignment of reporting requirements and connectivity of matters common across various audit portfolio teams within Group Internal Audit.
• Manage the delivery of communication strategies to promote Group Internal Audit’s mandate to all stakeholders, in particular senior management, and audit committees.
• Manage proficient communication; focused on interacting and listening to and synthesizing others’ ideas, ensuring complex and sensitive issues are clearly and succinctly communicated to senior management and audit committees.

Methodology & Operations Management

• Perform independent risk assessment to formulate the annual audit plans and, fine-tune the plans in collaboration with management teams at group and business unit levels before approval and implementation.
• Manage the implementation of robust audit methodology guide and standards to drive consistent and high-quality execution of the audit plans and ensure fulfilment of the audit mandate across Group Internal Audit.
• Schedule and manage audit projects in accordance with the directives set up in the annual audit plans. Approve review procedures and test steps for each audit project, aim at determining the adequacy and effectiveness of the entity’s internal controls, risk management processes and governance practices. Additionally, initiate targeted review projects from time to time to cover key emerging risk areas in a timely manner.
• Embed and integrate agile auditing concept with data-driven model and tools to provide stronger assurance to senior management and audit committees.
• Lead and support the audit team in performing root cause analysis and making appropriate recommendations. Proactively follow up on risk events, incidents, and external audit and regulatory issues observed during the audit or that came to light from meetups with management teams.
•  Establish and maintain collaborative working relationships with Group Corporate and business unit management teams to facilitate educating the businesses in the control framework and influence business processes.
• Manage the development and implementation of internal quality assurance improvement programmes.

Key Qualification

• Degree in accounting, finance, or other business-related fields from a reputable educational institute, with professional certification such as CPA, CIA, CFE, CISA, etc.
• Minimum 12 years of audit experience preferably in an MNC or professional consultancy environment, with at least 6 years in a managerial capacity. Experience in a multinational real estate environment with multiple asset classes will be an added advantage.
• Good command of written and spoken English with good communication and interpersonal skills. Able to work with all levels of management to inspire, influence and negotiate at the senior level.
• Team-oriented with a strong sense of ownership and accountability.
• Genuine passion for solving complex business issues and / or driving process improvements. Strong in identifying rules, principles, facts, data or other information, analyses information and makes correct inferences or draws accurate conclusions.