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Auditors ensure compliance with financial laws, reviewing documents such as tax returns and contracts. Qualifications include an undergraduate degree, accounting/bookkeeping experience, and software knowledge. Certified accountants may conduct audits, and some specialize in certain industries or take graduate courses in forensic accounting. Junior positions may require a high school diploma and some accounting or management experience. Multinational audits may require second language skills.
Auditors conduct financial reviews designed to ensure that individuals and entities comply with financial accounting and tax reporting laws. Typically, auditor qualifications include an undergraduate degree, although some auditors have also completed advanced degree programs. Candidates for these positions should have accounting or bookkeeping training or experience, and knowledge of certain software programs can be helpful. In many cases, audits are conducted by certified accountants. In this case, the auditor’s qualifications include an accounting license.
Tax returns, ledgers, sales contracts, receipts and invoices are among the types of documents that are typically reviewed during an audit. The person conducting the audit must ensure that financial transactions have been properly recorded and that no sums of money are accounted for. Due to the nature of the job, auditor qualifications often include an undergraduate degree in mathematics, finance, accounting or economics. Some auditors take graduate courses in forensic accounting, and these courses are specifically designed to prepare accountants to gather financial information during criminal investigations. Police departments sometimes hire forensic accountants during investigations involving money laundering and other financial crimes.
Laws in many countries require publicly traded companies to hire outside accountants to perform annual audits. In most cases, these accountants must have successfully passed a government-administered licensing exam. Some accounting industry associations run a variety of different accounting examination courses designed to prepare accountants to perform different types of audits. Auditor qualifications listed in job postings usually include successful completion of licensing exams, but may also include certificates of completion of auditing courses sponsored by industry associations.
While financial audits are typically conducted by licensed accountants, much of the audit process involves physically collecting files and copying documents. Employees who perform these tasks generally do not need to be licensed. In many cases, auditor qualifications for people employed in these junior positions include a high school diploma and some previous accounting or management experience. Some companies require junior employees to have prior experience using certain types of software; people who lack this experience may be able to get these jobs after completing short-term community college training courses.
Many accounting firms specialize in auditing firms involved in certain industries, such as banking or insurance. Some of these companies prefer to hire auditors who have some industry knowledge; in this case, the desired auditor qualifications, as detailed in job postings, may include previous experience as a lender, insurance agent or investment banker. Additionally, audits of multinational companies often involve overseas locations, in which case auditors may need to have second language skills.
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