Audit Senior

Job Description 

The Audit Senior performs most examinations with a minimum of supervision. He or she directs a number of assistants, instructs them in work to be performed, reviews the work done, and directs necessary revisions. Such an individual is able to make decisions on all but the most unusual accounting and auditing matters. When such problems arise, the senior outlines them for his or her supervisor, manager, or partner and then acts on that individual's advice.

Audit Seniors are able to set up time budgets on jobs they have previously handled and can direct assistants to employ methods which will accomplish audit objectives. They judge the suitability of expenditures to be incurred on an engagement, both by themselves and by those working under them.

The Audit senior may perform some or all of the following functions:

1. Review internal control.
2. Review accounts receivable for collectibility and evaluate the adequacy of provision for loss.
3. Reconcile intercompany payables and receivables.
4. Investigate the possibility of unrecorded revenues.
5. Classify accounts for financial statement presentation.
6. Supervise the observation of a large inventory count.
7. Determine if inventory items are obsolete or slow-moving.
8. Review basis of inventory valuation.
9. Evaluate the propriety of depreciation methods and lives used.
10. Inspect securities owned, verify cost and present values, and review the form in which title is held.
11. Determine possible contingent liabilities by correspondence with attorneys, examination of minutes, inquiries to clients, and so forth.
12. Verify purchases and sales cutoffs.
13. Determine the extent of test-checking required in an audit and select the period to be tested.
14. Write comments for management letters.
15. Review entries subsequent to balance sheet date to determine need for disclosures.
16. Obtain and write up other disclosure data such as leases, differences between tax and accrual reporting, and so forth.
17. Review and update the client's permanent file.
18. Draft reports including footnotes.
19. Prepare audit programs.
20. Supervise and train Staff Accountants.
21. Prepare routine correspondence to the client for approval and signature of a partner or manager.
22. Prepare budgets.
23. The senior should be able to perform and direct the broadest range of accounting tasks so that the direct participation of supervisors, managers, or partners is kept to a minimum.