External Auditor
What the work is
Designs and operates information and reporting systems, procedures and controls to meet external financial reporting requirements.
Would you enjoy the work?
These are the main tasks in the official description. Mark how each one sounds to you.
- Collects, analyses and interprets information on the financial standing, cost structures and trading effectiveness of organisations
- Verifies that an organisation's internal accounting procedures and financial operations run efficiently and meet legal requirements
- Conducts audits and investigations, and prepares financial statements and reports for management, shareholders and governing statutory bodies
Try it
A simulation and a case study from this kind of work, set in the internal audit team of a fictional regional water authority, reviewing how the organisation spends and buys. They are fictional.
The kind of days you could have
Good days
- Your report finds a weakness early, the manager fixes it and nobody is hurt by it
- A nervous team member realises the audit helped them and thanks you
- You find a pattern in the data that nobody else had noticed
Hard days
- Bringing bad news to a manager who has worked hard and does not want to hear it
- A friend in the organisation asks what you have found before the report is final
- Piles of records to work through and a deadline set by the audit committee
Written by Career Calling as a general guide. Real roles vary by employer and place.
Work a mission
Step into a simulated workplace in this field, with a brief from your manager.
Description and tasks: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Occupation Standard Classification for Australia, 2024, Version 1.0 (opens another site), occupation 211231, used under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. The skill guide above is our plain English summary.