Top 15 Audit Manager Skills to be Effective in Your Career

This post presents exhaustive information on the major audit manager skills and qualities that you need to have to be effective in your job and succeed in your career.

Please, read on:

From time to time, there is always the need to carry out an appraisal of the performance of an organization both internally and externally.

It is one of the things that need to be done to ensure that the company is in line to achieve their goal of existence.

One of the ways this is done is through auditing exercise. Auditing is the process of carrying out a form of appraisal of the activities and output of a company to know the state of the company.

Who is an Audit Manager?

An audit manager is one who is tasked with the duty of supervising and/or monitoring the activities and coordinating all auditors in the organization.

He/she is put in charge of the supervision of other auditors in the organization.

This basically requires managerial skills and other qualities.

Top 15 Audit Manager Skills to be Effective in Your Career

Here are major skills and qualities you need to have to be successful in your audit manager career:

1. Analytical skills
2. Accounting skills
3. Risk management
4. IT acumen
5. Expertise in the field
6. Business acumen
7. Proficiency in mathematics
8. Relationship building
9. Inquiry/research skills
10. Communication skills
11. Time management
12. Problem solving skills
13. Organizational skills
14. Basic auditing skills
15. Concentration.

1. Analytical skills

Managing an auditing team goes a long way to mean that you are expected to be an expert in this field.

You are someone who is capable of analyzing situations, records and events, especially in the monetary aspect of the organization you work with.

Records brought to you are for you to analyze and draw reasonable conclusions on.

First thing first, you need to be skilled in analysis to be able to analyze the records and other relevant documents you have at your disposal.

So, this is an important skill to have as an audit manager.

You have to be critical and clinical in your analysis. This will help you avoid errors due to oversight or exaggeration.

You don’t have to exaggerate that any document is genuine or not until you have done proper analysis of the document.

2. Accounting skills

There is no way you can be proficient in auditing if you are not proficient in accounting.

This is the elementary aspect of your job and the basics of your auditing skills.

If you desire to be a good auditor, then you have to go back to the basics of accounting.

First, you need accounting skills to be able to understand the workings on the documents that will be made available to you.

This is very important because you can’t understand those documents if you are not well grounded in the area of accounting.

Also, basic accounting will be needed by you to be able to detect some irregularities in documents presented to you.

The essence of auditing is to deal with perceived irregularities in the financial state of the organization.

So, this means you have to be adept in this aspect.

3. Risk management

Apart from understanding and detecting irregularities, the next thing you are expected to do is to advice your employer on what to do to avoid or minimize the risk associated with some practices in the organization.

This means that you are also an adviser to your employer.

Risk management advice emanates from your vast knowledge of company practices and some internal practices that can cause financial implosion in the company.

This requires that you have sufficient knowledge of prevailing company laws and regulations.

So, this means that you have a huge role to play in the financial stability of the organization you work for.

Risk management is what you will help the company accomplish and that is one of the reasons you were employed.

4. IT acumen

The digital world remains one of the most important factors of every other industry.

The digital industry is being consulted by every other industry to make work easier.

This also applies to every auditing firm of which you are a manager.

For an audit manager, you have to be conversant with some computer softwares relevant to the job you do.

So, this means that you have to deliberately and intentionally search out for helpful apps that can aid you to do your job effectively.

Also, you can learn basic computer practices.

Using the computer to aid you in your job will make your job speedier and more accurate.

If you want to be accurate while dealing with numbers in the course of auditing, you have to employ the use of computer and other IT gadgets.

5. Expertise in the field

Being a novice in the auditing field is not ideal for anyone who desires to excel in the industry.

To be considered for such a job as the audit manager, it is expected that you are an expert in the industry.

You are expected to be top of the auditing field.

So, you have to scale up and come up to the required level of expertise.

This will definitely play a key role in you landing a good job or contract from intending clients.

There is no way you can compete with your counterparts in this field if you are not good.

No matter how much you think you know in this field, there is always room to be better than you are now.

So, don’t stop learning, don’t stop associating with people ahead of you in this field. That is how to grow.

6. Business acumen

Any money making venture that you engage yourself in demands that you have basic business acumen or knowledge.

There is no way you will excel in your job if you are not grounded in business ideologies, after all what you are doing is in the interest of a business organization.

If you have business acumen, you will have some rational mind towards running rule over some contents of some documents.

Your business acumen helps refine your mind in the business of auditing.

It is essential to your job as an auditing manager.

Business acumen helps you understand the content of some documents containing some business languages.

Some of those business languages can only be understood by you if only you have business acumen.

So you have some work to do if you don’t have basic business acumen.

7. Proficiency in mathematics

Mathematics is the basics and foundation of accounting. And accounting is a foundational factor to be considered when talking about auditing.

So, everything boils down to the fact that you need to be mathematically sound to be able to have better accuracy in your auditing job.

Auditing exercises can go wrong when you are not proficient in mathematics.

This will definitely dent your personality of not being able to carry out effective and efficient auditing exercise.

You have to go back to the basics of mathematics to ensure accuracy in auditing exercise.

Also, not being proficient in mathematics may actually not be the case.

It can also be a case of forgetting some mathematical operations which might be needed during the auditing exercise.

This though is a rare situation because from time to time it is expected that you refresh your memory mathematically.

8. Relationship building

This is a reminder that you are the manager and may not necessary be totally involved in the whole auditing exercise, but you are required to perform some supervisory job just to make sure that you achieve the expected result.

This means that you are to supervise people who are assumed to be members of your team.

They are under your control but not basically robots that do not have ideas of their own.

This calls for good relationship building skills from you.

When you build good and long lasting relationship with your team, it becomes easy to organize and integrate each one into the auditing exercise without much fuss.

This is important and you should be able to see the members of your team as assets and the most important factors in your job.

9. Inquiry/research skills

Your job demands that you make a lot of research or inquiry. This is one thing you should know and be good at.

This implies having the ability to ask creative and result oriented questions to help you and your team achieve your auditing goals.

Sometimes during your inquiry, you need to be skillful and intelligent with the questions you ask.

Also, you have to know when and the right set of people to ask questions from.

This will go a long way to help you achieve your auditing goals.

You should also be creative in applying your research skills. You don’t only use one means or methodology in your research.

The more creative you are in carrying out research, the more effective you will be in your auditing job.

You have a lot to research and inquire about; therefore you have to develop faster and better ways to do it.

10. Communication skills

Your inquiry skills must have its basis from good communication skills.

By this we mean your ability to communicate or pass across information creatively and effectively.

You really need to see communication as an important factor in your job.

Communication should be in two forms: oral and written.

The oral form of communication is needed when you need to relay ideas and other relevant information to your team.

You talk or discuss with them on what to do at every point in time during the auditing exercise.

For the written communication, this can be directed to whoever you are working for.

It is a way you relay the result of the auditing exercise.

This comes in the form of report. It is expected that at the end of every auditing exercise, you present a report of the exercise as well as your recommendations.

11. Time management

Sometimes, one tend to have the feeling of laxity in carrying out some jobs due to exaggeration that the job is an easy one and can be performed in no time.

This is a wrong way to view your job.

When given your job, take note of the time frame and work towards accomplishing your team’s task impressively before the deadline.

This will help you get all hands on deck and employ every necessary step needed to make it a reality.

Time management demands that you are very good at working with time frames or deadlines.

You need to plan every step to be taken and prioritize your job. This will help you avoid activities that are not in any way related to the job at hand.

12. Problem solving skills

Your job does not end with your enquiries or the results of your enquiries.

It goes beyond that because there is an expectation from your employer that you should come up with ideas to deal with negative findings in your audit reports.

Your job entails two things: First is to make enquiries and make your findings and secondly giving recommendations to your employer on the way forward.

Making your findings without corresponding recommendations does not make a complete auditing exercise.

Also, know that your predictions or recommendations should not be a guess work but a product of a profound and successful research.

Be careful not to exaggerate or give out recommendations based on what you think alone.

13. Organizational skills

For a smoother auditing exercise, there is the need for you to be well organized in your approach to the job.

This will help you avoid mistakes and unnecessary wastage of time.

There are two things to organize: Your team and the activities of the team.

First thing to receive your organizational skill is the team.

The team needs to be organized in its activities and individual approach to the task at hand.

This means that prior to the auditing exercise; the team would have been intimated with the expectations and timeframe for the exercise, as well as with the role of individual members.

Next are your personal activities.

Remember that if you get your arrangement and organization/plan wrong, it is sure to tell on the general output of the team.

So, you have to start with yourself and make sure you are well organized to be able to organize the team and the activities they are to do.

14. Basic auditing skills

There are basic knowledge and skills needed to make a good audit manager.

You need to go back to them and make them a permanent part of you.

Auditing is an activity that demands a lot of concentration and focus.

It is one activity that any little mistake can have a ripple effect on the entire exercise as well as the final report of the exercise.

This is why you have to be adept with the basic auditing skills.

Other auditing skills are dependent or have their bearing from the basic knowledge of auditing.

To remain effective and efficient in your job as an auditing manager, you should be sure that you have the basics at your fingertips.

15. Concentration

Concentration in auditing exercise certainly pays off at the end of the exercise.

It is what you need to be able to avoid mistakes and maintain the tempo of the exercise.

Concentration should be valued by you the audit manager to be able to get the desired result.

So, one thing to deal with, which is the opposite of concentration, is distraction.

This can come through some other activities in the workplace or some other things that happen within your personal life.

This should be handled by you and keep your focus intact.

Also, learn to be in a serene and quiet environment when going through your findings.

Naturally, noise is a form of distraction which really wearies the brain.

You just have to carve out a place where you can think and analyze the outcome of your job.

Audit Manager Skills for Resume

If you are writing a new resume or CV for the audit manager position, you can create a compelling skills section by applying some of the skills and qualities discussed above.

By having and applying the above skills and qualities in your resume, your chances of gaining the audit manager job that you are seeking is brightened.

The recruiter/employer is convinced that you have what it takes to be effective as an audit manager in their organization.

Conclusion

Auditing has always been a crucial exercise in any organization or company.

It is something that has come to stay as long as there is need for transparency and accurate knowledge of the state of the organization financially.

This is where the services of auditors of different capacities will be needed, but most importantly is to have a capable person to monitor and organize the activities of auditors to ensure a smooth and impeccable auditing exercise. That is the job of an audit manager.

However, to be effective in the role of an audit manager, the above skills and qualities are what you will need to develop to do an excellent job and be top in your career.