Marks & Spencer - Internal Auditor

Job Description

Summary  

As M&S journeys through an exciting business transformation, the Internal Audit & Risk (IA&R) function plays a key role in supporting this by providing independent and objective feedback to the Audit Committee and Business Leadership on key risks to the business and the effectiveness of mitigating controls. The functional remit is extensive and covers all commercial and functional activities and provides access to all levels of management.  The team also provides consulting support to project teams on the design and implementation of business process controls and conducts investigations in the event of a significant control failure. 

Joining the Internal Audit & Risk team at this time provides an unrivalled opportunity to gain exposure to a major business transformation at a truly iconic institute. This is a great opportunity to work in a team that has a genuinely wide-ranging role with unique exposure to all areas of the business and management.  

The team is focussed on building trusted stakeholder relationships across all levels of the organisation and continuously seeks to enhance its activities and output. This is a great opportunity to work with different teams across M&S, reviewing the effectiveness of business processes, challenging and supporting improvements to the control environment and adding value to the business during the ongoing transformational change. 

To stay close to customers, our support teams are in the office three days a week as we believe that skills are developed through collaboration, and that spending time together makes us more creative and connected. 

What you’ll do  

Your key accountabilities will include  

• The successful candidate will learn how different activities across M&S work, assessing how control activities are designed and whether they operate effectively. 
• The candidate will work with business stakeholders to improve and strengthen the business by identifying corrective actions that are effective, commercial and pragmatic. 
• Participation and leading audit activities, ensuring that business relevance and commercial focus is maintained. This will include delivery of a clear risk assessment, test programme and audit report, addressing key risks and audit objectives in line with the Internal Audit methodology.  
• Assisting the management team to develop the annual audit plan by proposing relevant audits for inclusion, as identified through business knowledge and discussion with key stakeholders. Supporting potential revision of the plan during the year. 
• Support of the continuous improvement objectives of the function, building effective relationships with stakeholders and supporting ad hoc projects as needed, such as those linked to investigations or risk management.  

Who you are  

Your skills and experience will include 

• Accounting or Audit qualification (ACA/ACCA or IIA is preferred). 
• Demonstrable knowledge of risk and control audit methodologies and practical experience of auditing techniques, including risk assessment, controls evaluation, different testing methodologies (substantive and non-substantive) and audit report writing. 
• Internal Audit experience strongly preferred  
• Practical knowledge of application of data analytics techniques is not essential but would be a key differentiator. 
• Retail experience would also be an advantage. 

Everyone’s welcome  

We are ambitious about the future of retail. We’re disrupting, innovating and leading the industry into a more conscientious, inspiring digital era. We’re transforming how we work together and offering our most exciting opportunities yet. Marks & Spencer strives to be an inclusive organisation, trusted and admired by our colleagues, customers and suppliers. Join us and make change happen.  

We are committed to building diverse and representative teams, where everyone can bring their whole selves to work and be at their best. We support each other and work together to win together.  

If you feel you'd benefit from any support or reasonable adjustments during any stage of the recruitment process, please don’t hesitate to let us know when completing your application. This information will be picked up by our team, so we can try and put steps in place to help you be at your best through this process.