An auditor's role is multifaceted. Your tasks will include analyzing financial documents to spot errors, interrogating a company’s accounting system to give suggestions on how to improve it, assessing a company’s financial risk, etc. The role requires a strong analytical mind, a diligent and thorough approach, and a certain level of healthy skepticism. It is your job to see the discrepancies that everybody missed.
Beyond the skills and approaches needed to thrive, an auditor's educational background is of great importance. To become a practicing auditor, you will at the very least need an undergraduate in accounting or a very similar field. Most recruiters would prefer more qualifications, in the form of a master’s degree or industry certification like a CIA (Certified Internal Auditor) designation.
Here are some auditor titles and resume samples for each.
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An auditor interrogates a company’s financial documents and processes to make recommendations on what can be improved upon. You can work as an internal auditor and work for one company as an employee, or you can work as an external auditor who may work for multiple companies in a consultant capacity.
When creating a general auditor’s resume, you want to show the breadth of your experience. You will want to show a range of the skills you offer as well as the success you’ve had with each one. You will also want to show your range in terms of the variety of industries you have worked in. This resume is an example of a strong auditor’s resume.
The biggest use of an auditor is to find any discrepancies or occasions of fraud. It helps companies identify employees and processes that are losing them money. It is therefore beneficial to be able to mention how much money you have saved or recovered for a company or how many convictions your work has helped accomplish.
Are you applying to audit a gaming company that has a really weak accounting system? Or are you auditing an NGO where there are suspicions of fraud? Make sure your experience emphasizes your ability to analyze systems or investigate fraud. and give good demonstrable cases of success.
A senior auditor works as a leader of a team of auditors. Though they will perform all the main functions of an editor, they will also be tasked with delegating tasks to their team and ensuring their quality of work is up to par. This position, therefore, requires the analytical skills to perform the auditing task as well as managerial skills to lead a team of auditors.
Most recruiters will be looking for an applicant with a bachelor’s degree in finance, accounting, or a similar field. They will also be looking for a CPA certification and years of experience as an auditor. Any managerial experience will be a huge plus. Take a look at this successful senior auditor's resume.
Financial regulation differs across regions. To accomplish your tasks successfully, you need to be an expert in the financial regulation in your region of practice. So be sure to include which region’s financial regulation you are particularly familiar with.
Half of your job as a senior auditor is to manage and lead a team of auditors. So as you list the accomplishments of your team, make sure to mention the size of the team you have been leading/managing. Leading a successful large team would be very attractive to recruiters.
A staff auditor, also sometimes referred to as an internal auditor, is responsible for identifying fraud and mismanagement within a company, analyzing its financial processes to find points of inefficiency, and writing a report with recommendations on how to rectify any issues identified. Accomplishing this will require you to go through financial documents, interview staff, and may even include you going through communications like emails and letters. Staff auditors are almost always employees of the company they are auditing.
As with any auditor position, analytical skills are key. For this position, communication skills are also essential, as you will be trying to get as much delicate and sensitive information from the staff as possible.
Because different industries have different regulations, companies will generally want to hire auditors who specialize in audit work for their industry. So if you work primarily with NGOs or with education institutions, mention that in your introduction section.
As a staff auditor, you will need to be especially skilled at interviewing colleagues. This requires a very strong and specific communication skill set. It requires tact, confidentiality, and maturity for colleagues to feel comfortable speaking with you. Listing how many colleagues you have interviewed will tell employees how seasoned you are in performing this very delicate task.
External auditors are not employees of the companies that they audit and are instead independent contractors. They will analyze and interrogate a company's financial information to look for evidence of fraud or irregularities and produce a report with their findings. External auditors will be expected to be a member of a recognized professional accountancy and will usually present their findings to a company’s shareholders.
You will be expected to have a bachelor's degree in accounting or a similar field will be expected to be a certified accountant, and will be expected to have years of experience as an auditor.
Because you are an external auditor, you will be working with companies on a short-term basis. To have a steady flow of companies, you should highlight your specializations. So if you are particularly skilled at interviewing clients, or going through financial documents, make sure you mention that. It’s an easy way to attract the right client to you.
A night auditor balances the books at the end of each day and also serves as a resource of support for clients overnight. Night auditors work for businesses that operate 24/7 and are mainly found in hotels and other kinds of lodgings. Your auditing tasks will include analyzing the transactions of the day to find any mistakes or errors, processing paychecks, and creating invoices. Your hospitality tasks include assisting clients with services such as check-ins, scheduling early morning wake-up calls, assisting with bookings, etc.
While you will need to have the analytical skills of an auditor you will also need to have very strong communication and hospitality skills for your interaction with clients. Because of the dualistic nature of the position, history in both hospitality and auditing is crucial. Take a look at this strong night auditor resume.
Working at a hotel means you will be in contact with people from a variety of different countries. Because of this, being able to speak multiple languages is extremely beneficial. So make sure you list all your spoken languages on your resume.
A night auditor has quite a number of different tasks. You could be balancing the books for the day in one moment, and scheduling a wake-up call for a customer the next. You need to show recruiters that you can successfully complete all the tasks. You can prove this by making sure the experience section of your resume reflects the variety of tasks you will need to complete as a night auditor. You could also ensure that your skills section includes a variety of skills that cater to the different tasks.
As the name suggests, government auditors work with and for the government to ensure public funds are appropriately used. Internal government auditors analyze government agencies’ financial records to make sure they are in line with financial regulations and tax obligations. External government auditors analyze the financial records of third-party entities that have entered agreements with government agencies to ensure the funds shared are used appropriately and in line with the agreement.
A government auditor will need to be an expert on the financial regulations and operations of the government. You will also be expected to have, at least, a bachelor’s degree in accounting or a similar field, and preferably accounting certification and years of experience specializing in auditing for government entities.
It is especially important for government agencies, their employees, and their third-party partners, to be tax compliant. So ensure that you have listed any skills you may have in analyzing tax records.
When you speak of skills for an auditor, you will want to list the technical and soft skills used in the auditing process.
Here is a list of skills you would expect to see in an auditor’s resume. Add those that you are experienced with to your resume to impress recruiters.
This word cloud highlights the important keywords that appear on Auditor job descriptions and resumes. The bigger the word, the more frequently it appears on job postings, and the more 'important' it is.
Strong action verbs help recruiters understand your role in specific tasks. An auditor’s resume should use action verbs that are relevant to the auditing process. Action verbs like "Audited", "Interviewed" or “Compiled" are examples of strong action verbs for this profession.
For a full list of effective resume action verbs, visit Resume Action Verbs.
