Non Executive Audit Assistant

While the Accounts Clerk builds the financial statements, the Audit Assistant is the one sent in to tear them apart and verify their truth. They are the foot soldiers of the auditing world. Working for external audit firms, they are deployed to various client companies to perform the tedious but vital groundwork of a financial audit. Their primary job is vouching; they take a number on a financial report and hunt down the physical invoice, the delivery order, and the bank statement to prove that the transaction actually occurred and was not fabricated.

This role is famous for being an intense, high-pressure bootcamp. Audit Assistants spend a significant amount of time traveling to different client offices, meaning their work environment changes constantly. During the audit peak season (usually the first few months of the year), they work grueling hours, digging through dusty boxes of receipts in client storage rooms and cross-referencing massive Excel spreadsheets late into the night. They must possess a skeptical mind, constantly asking questions and refusing to accept numbers at face value.

Despite the intense stress and long hours, it is one of the most highly sought-after starting positions in finance. Because an Audit Assistant looks under the hood of dozens of different companies across various industries, they learn exactly how businesses succeed and fail at a microscopic level. It provides unmatched networking opportunities and is the traditional, proven pathway to becoming a highly paid Audit Senior or a corporate Financial Controller.