Ideas | People | Trust

International Standard of Quality Management (UK) 1 (ISQM1) requires BDO LLP to design and implement a system of quality management to ensure that the Firm and our personnel fulfil responsibilities in accordance with professional standards and other requirements and that reports issued are appropriate in the circumstances. ISQM1 also requires ongoing monitoring and an annual evaluation of the system of quality management under a reasonable assurance framework.

ISQM1 was implemented as at 15 December 2022 and evaluated for the first time during 2023, and BDO continues to work on the enhancement of its system of quality management to support its desire to improve and sustain audit quality and drive a consistent quality standard across all areas of assurance work.

BDO is looking for a lead Director to take responsibility for the ongoing leadership and development of the system of quality management under ISQM1.  This is a high profile opportunity within BDO, offering significant interaction with senior partners of the firm. The Director will work closely with the two partners who lead the team, the Monitoring and Remediation Committee and the Committees with ultimate and operational responsibility for the firm’s system of quality management. The role also requires this individual to be innovative in order to drive towards a sustainable and technology enabled approach, and a natural networker in order to successfully engage with and influence a diverse group of senior stakeholders.

There may be scope in the future to expand this role to contribute to the design and implementation of a system of quality management across the whole firm.

Key elements of the role:

• Drive the overall strategy to continually improve the design of the firm’s system of quality management;
• Develop, implement, and direct the monitoring of the firm’s system of quality management including developing appropriate KPIs and reporting to the firm’s leadership;
• Identify areas for improvement and introduce ideas to better use technology;
• Build and develop the resources needed to support on the above;
• Work with relevant senior stakeholders and partners to remediate any gaps identified in the firm’s system of quality management including from regulator inspection findings, internal testing and business changes;
• Prepare the annual monitoring report to provide information for the overall evaluation of the firm’s system of quality management;
• Prepare the required disclosures on ISQM1 for the firm’s annual Transparency Report; and
• Work with the firm’s regulators, the FRC, to respond to information requests on the system of quality management.

Requirements:

• A strategic thinker with excellent communication and influencing sills who is confident to engage with a variety of senior stakeholders;
• Experience of working in a large professional services firm and an understanding of the regulatory environment;
• Significant understanding of controls and their application in the workplace including design, sufficiency, operating effectiveness, deficiencies, and recommendations;
• SOX or previous ISQM1 experience desirable;
• Experience and successful track record in establishing and developing detailed monitoring programmes within professional services or similar industry;
• Strong networking skills and ability to develop strong rapports with key stakeholders;
• Excellent analytical, interpersonal and communication skills both written and verbal;
• An individual that can drive creative thinking and connect ideas and insights from other projects in the quality initiatives as well as role model resilience and maintain a calm demeanour when under pressure;
• Ability to work in a fast-paced, ever-changing, rapid-growth environment with multiple projects and tasks;
• Ability to proactively apply your skills to a broad range of components of a system of quality management to see the macro position;
• Ability to coach, develop and manage people as well as work independently; and
• Significant experience of simultaneously driving multiple work streams to a successful outcome.

Core competencies required:

• Business thinking: The ability to understand the firm’s business strategy and goals and develop solutions aligned to these. The ability to evaluate the current market and anticipate the impact of potential changes for the firm and its clients to reinforce market positioning.
• Communicating: The ability to articulate complex issues clearly and credibly to a range of audience’s reactions and to adapt demeanour/approach to suit audiences in order to achieve desired results.
• Collaborating: The ability to build relationships across the firm and gain the confidence of Partners and other senior staff.
• Decision making: The ability to identify and drive the use of best practice to deliver improvement and development in the firm’s practices. Drive the implementation of agreed solutions and preventative measures in function and firm wide as appropriate.
• Developing self and others: The ability to guide others through difficult or demanding situations by focusing on wellbeing whilst remaining energised and to motivate people to achieve exceptional results.
• Innovation & change: The ability to drive creative thinking and connect ideas and insight from other industries and businesses. Drive the use and implementation of leading business theories, models and good practice to enhance performance and productivity. Drive large scale reshaping and reforming around changing expectations and needs. Role models resilience and maintains a calm demeanour when under pressure.

You’ll be able to be yourself; we’ll recognise and value you for who you are and celebrate and reward your contributions to our business. We’re committed to agile working, and we offer everyone the opportunity to work in ways that suit them, their teams, and the task at hand.

At BDO, we’ll help you achieve your personal goals and career ambitions, and we have programmes, resources, and frameworks that provide clarity and structure around career development.

We’re in it together

Mutual support and respect is one of BDO’s core values and we’re proud of our distinctive, people-centred culture.  From informal success conversations to formal mentoring and coaching, we’ll support you at every stage in your career, whatever your personal and professional needs. Our agile working framework helps us stay connected, bringing teams together where and when it counts so they can share ideas and help one another.  At BDO, you’ll always have access to the people and resources you need to do your best work.

We know that collaboration is the key to creating value and satisfying experiences at work, so we’ve invested in state-of-the-art collaboration spaces in our offices.  BDO’s people represent a wealth of knowledge and expertise, and we’ll encourage you to build your network, work alongside others, and share your skills and experiences.  With a range of multidisciplinary events and dedicated resources, you’ll never stop learning at BDO.

We’re looking forward to the future

At BDO, we help entrepreneurial businesses to succeed, fuelling the UK economy. Our success is powered by our people, which is why we’re always finding new ways to invest in you. Across the UK thousands of unique minds continue to come together to help companies we work with to achieve their ambitions.

We’ve got a clear purpose, and we’re confident in our future, because we’re adapting and evolving to build on our strengths, ensuring we continue to find the right combination of global reach, integrity and expertise. We shape the future together with openness and clarity, because we believe in empowering people to think creatively about how we can do things better.

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