Internal Auditor (Accountant/Auditor, Lead/Senior, Grade N25)

Internal Auditor (Accountant/Auditor, Lead/Senior, Grade N25)
Office of the County Executive/Montgomery County
 Rockville, Maryland
Job Description

WHO WE ARE

The primary focus of The Office of the County Executive is to provide policy direction, reinforce accountability, and ensure that county departments provide effective and efficient services to our residents, businesses, and visitors. The office oversees the enforcement of the laws and policies and the operations and services of over 30 executive branch departments and a 10,000-person workforce supporting a jurisdiction that is over 500 square miles with 1.06 million residents.

WHO WE ARE LOOKING FOR

The Office of the County Executive is recruiting for an individual who can establish strong working relationships with department and program officials within county government, in order to identify existing internal control gaps and weaknesses, and opportunities for improvement; and to follow-up and implement necessary enhancements or corrective actions in response to audit findings and recommendations. The ideal candidate will be asked to present complex and technical information in appropriate forms for a wide range of executive and legislative branch audiences, and should possess knowledge of compliance and enterprise risk management and mitigation, have experience in auditing or audit management and be skillful at decision-making, best practices in governance and management practices, and relationship building. Excellent communication skills are required to effectively represent, explain, justify, and defend controversial findings and recommendations, and assist with the development of suitable solutions.

WHAT YOU'LL BE DOING

This position is responsible for conducting audits and internal control reviews to assess the effectiveness and efficiency of programs and operations of County Government, preventing mismanagement in government activities, and proposing ways to increase the legal, fiscal and ethical accountability of County Government.

  • The position gathers data, facilitates or performs internal control reviews, inspections, investigations and performance audits, and provides advice and recommendations on improvement of programmatic controls and operations. The position works with senior department and County management to improve accountability and efficiency of operations, in areas of program wide or Countywide importance.
  • Work involves identifying issues and responsibilities (including program responsibilities, roles and relationships); reviewing activities; detecting programmatic, operational, financial or ethical or management problems or legal/regulatory violations as well as opportunities for improvement; identifying and recommending solutions; writing reports; making oral presentations; monitoring follow-up actions; and writing correspondence.
  • The position is required to conduct independent research and analysis; collect and analyze data from regulatory, financial, programmatic, managerial, ethical and public policy perspectives; and preparing, presenting, and defending analyses and conclusions in a high stakes environment. The position reviews corrective action plans developed by departments to address audit findings and recommendations to assess whether planned actions address the underlying root causes of findings identified by audits. The position also works with senior County and program officials to ensure that corrective actions to address audit findings and recommendations have been timely implemented. The position also conducts follow up audits to monitor management’s interventions.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:

  • Education: Graduation from an accredited college or university with a bachelor’s degree in accounting; or a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration or Public Administration or a related field with a major of accounting coursework.
  • Experience: Four (4+) years professional experience in a financial accounting, auditing or business administration field, including at least two (2+) years of professional experience in auditing, accounting, public administration, management analysis, or investigation
  • Substitution: Certification as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) may be substituted for a degree in Accounting or a major in Accounting.

PREFERRED CRITERIA, INTERVIEW PREFERENCES:

  • Interview Preference will be extended to applicants that demonstrate:
  • Knowledge of the principles, standards, methods and practices of auditing, accounting, public administration, management analysis, or experience with fraud investigations.
  • Knowledge of the principles and practices of local government financing, operations and administration, to include specific laws, rules, regulations, policies, and procedures which govern and control County Government functions within assigned work program area(s).
  • Skill in problem solving to identify and define issues (including hidden problems and subtle aspects of problems), collect, analyze, and evaluate legal, fiscal, policy, programmatic and operational data to identify problems, reach conclusions, identify options and make recommendations. This includes skill in quantitative analysis, and the use of a computer and modern office software, including email, planning/scheduling, word processing, spreadsheet and database applications.
  • Skills in oral and written communication to exchange factual, conceptual and policy information, which is highly sensitive at times, with diverse personal contacts. This includes skill in preparing and making formal presentations to key officials and in defending findings, including authoritative advice and recommendations, and preparing reports and correspondence and reviewing the written work of others.
  • Ability to develop and maintain effective working relationships with personal contacts.
  • Ability and willingness to work in a context of multiple projects, changing priorities and tight deadlines, and to attend meetings or perform other assignments at locations outside the office, when necessary. This includes conducting some work in the field, including interviewing persons, and collecting data and information.
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