Forvis Mazars : who are we?

Forvis Mazars LLP is the UK firm of Forvis Mazars Group. In the UK we have over 3,300 employees across 14 locations, delivering an outstanding client experience. Forvis Mazars is an engine for rapid and consistent career progression, offering career paths that help you pursue your interests, match your changing needs, and explore your true potential. We work with diverse, prestigious clients across a range of sectors and geographies, giving you the opportunity to constantly update and grow your skills for lifelong professional development. 

Advisory & Consulting at Forvis Mazars 

At Forvis Mazars, our Advisory and Consulting service line is an award winning, global group of successful, entrepreneurial teams. The scope of roles across our service line is broad and varied which is great for our team and clients. The diversity of our service offering enables us to make the time we spend with our clients count by helping them take meaningful, key decisions with confidence and meet their goals.
 
In Advisory & Consulting, collaboration is at the core of all we do. We have over 700 experts across our teams who operate as subject matter experts across our 7 business units: Crisis and Disputes, Deals and Financing, Financial Services Consulting, Management Consulting, Infrastructure Energy, Sustainability Services and Digital and Risk Insurance, with the aim of adding value to clients by finding solutions to a range of financial issues as one collaborative team.
 
Join a team that prioritises quality and trust. Our team is commercial, pragmatic, and reactive to the changes in the market whilst also taking the time to ensure our approach is personal and productive.

About the Risk Consulting Public & Social Sector Team

The Public and Social Sector Risk Consulting team offers internal audit, advisory and other assurance services across multiple organisations within the public & social sector. We provide our clients with clarity over the performance of their risk management processes and raise recommendations for improvement where required.

Working in the public and social sector will enable you to meet and support like-minded individuals at your clients who really want to make a difference in society. You can directly contribute to supporting local communities and be involved with some of the biggest issues in society.

Public and social sector organisations are extremely important, unique and interesting. At Forvis Mazars, we work with a wide variety of organisations across the range of sub-sectors set out later in this section.

As we act independently to our clients, we play an important role in supporting public scrutiny, helping to hold organisations to account, support continual improvement and striving to make society a better place. You will have the opportunity to work across a wide range of clients within the public and social sector Risk Consulting team. Our team provide distinctive audit and advisory services across the following six sectors:

Local government - We are among the top 4 firms providing internal, IT and contract audits as well as anti-fraud and corruption services to local government. The Apex Framework, delivered by Croydon Council and Forvis Mazars, provides local authorities with internal audit resources with over 40 local authorities and companies adopting the framework.
 
Education – Education organisations we work with include universities, sixth form colleges, academies and schools. As part of the work we do, we complete specialist funding audits, data return and legislative reviews for our education clients, as well as wider audits around the student experience, apprenticeships, safeguarding and governance, to name a few.
 
Central government – We work with a range of Arm's Length Bodies (ALBs) of government, who deliver and manage public services, provide advice to government and develop regulation. ALBs therefore include organisations with very specific objectives, such as museums and galleries, research institutions and regulators. Internal audits that have been completed by ForvisMazars trainees include managing collections of artworks, assessing the retail operations of gift shops, looking at grassroots sports funding across the UK, ensuring generators are held to account for managing sustainable fuel, assessing the diversity and inclusion aims of regulators and reviewing the arrangements for inspecting railways to help prevent/investigate accidents;
 
Housing - Housing in general, and social housing in particular, is of significant focus within the UK. ForvisMazars is the #1 provider of Internal Audit services to the social housing sector, operating across both England and Wales. We audit key risk areas such as fire safety, income collection and anti-social behaviour, providing consulting and assurance services to almost 100 clients;
 
Police - We provide a range of internal audits to the Office of Police & Crime Commissioners and the associated Police Force. These organisations face various challenges and are very much in the political and media spotlight for the way in which they operate. Our work adds value to the organisations by providing assurance over key areas such as corporate services areas including Finance and HR to more operational areas such as Victim Services, Firearms Licensing and Seized Property.
 
Charities - We provide internal audit and advisory services to a range of household name charities working across fields such as international conservation, care in the community and medical research funding. It's a fascinating sector and offers you the opportunity to work with people with strong altruistic values and to feel as though you are really making a difference. There is also some unique audit work in this area that you don't see elsewhere such as reviewing fundraising strategies and practices, raffles and lotteries, and volunteer management.

About the role

As a school leaver apprentice here's what will await you during your four-year training contract: 

In this role, you will conduct internal audit reviews of our clients' operations in specific areas. You will be responsible for undertaking internal audits into individual areas of the client's business, providing recommendations that are proportionate and in line with public sector best practice.

You will undertake all aspects of the internal audit from opening meeting to report writing/audit closure. The audits that you will undertake will be varied and diverse and will have a direct meaningful impact on our clients and the communities they serve. You will help them to shape their internal processes, reduce their exposure to risk and highlight the opportunities facing them.
 
We are now operating a hybrid working model, so as a trainee you will split your time between working from home, visiting the office, client sites when required or studying for your professional exams.

During your first two years you will:

• Perform internal audits by testing and reviewing documentation to establish a client's exposure to risk and the effectiveness of the processes in place to mitigate risks;
• Obtain relevant information from clients whilst building an effective rapport with client staff;
• Undertake internal audit testing using a range of tools and methods in order to review and provide recommendations on the client's business operations;
• Develop a thorough understanding of the nature of the client's business, best practice, and applicable regulations;
• Take ownership for an internal audit project within the first two months, including providing feedback to clients verbally and through written internal audit reports; and
• Develop personal and professional skills through regular training, with the support of your team and your line manager.

During your third year you will:

• Start to be involved in supporting client managers in the planning stages of work, such as attending scoping meetings and drafting internal audit Terms of Reference documents;
• Start to specialise in particular sub-sectors or types of audits where you have developed an interest;
• Increase your confidence in providing your own solutions and ideas to complex client scenarios;
• Perform more challenging technical audits under the guidance of the relevant Forvis Mazars manager;
• Gain proficiency in report writing, and begin to review the work of more junior team members; and
• Be able to aid junior team members by providing support and feedback.

In your final year you will:

• Be able to complete complex audit reviews with minimal supervision from Mazars managers;
• Act as a point of contact for both internal Forvis Mazars management, junior members of the team, and clients, ensuring that the internal audit work of others is completed within required timeframes;
• Begin managing the operational delivery of client internal audit plans, including taking ownership for scoping meetings with clients to develop internal audit Terms of Reference documents;
• Develop client portfolio and contract management skills, that will put you on a pathway to the Assistant Manager grade;
• Gain exposure to Board-level client meetings, shadow managers who will be responsible for presenting our reports; and
• Provide on the job advice, training, and supervision of junior staff, with the opportunity to take on Manager responsibilities.

You're joining us as a permanent employee, so the 4 years is only the beginning of your exceptional career journey at Forvis Mazars. 

Who we're looking for

• On track or have obtained A-level or equivalent qualifications. Strong academic performance is important; however, we understand that things don't always go to plan. Our recruitment process looks at your whole self – academic achievements as well as other experiences in which you have grown and developed. 
• Deep curiosity to learn new things and is naturally inquisitive; 
• The ability to think critically solve problems and share knowledge with others; 
• A commitment to self-development and learning; 
• Strong sense of ownership of duties and high levels of responsibility to deliver on promises; 
• Always looks to try their best in all they do and always looking for ways to improve; 
• Enjoys meeting and engaging with new people with an underlying respect for individuals, diversity, and integrity; 
• Works well under pressure and have a positive ‘can-do' attitude if faced with challenging situations; 
• Excellent time management skills; 
• A willingness to travel and adhere to our flexible working environment. 

Learning and development

• Fully funded professional qualification for this role: AAT (Association of Accounting Technicians/ ACA (Association of Chartered Accountants/ CPI ( Certificate of Proficiency in Insolvency)
• Additional qualification(s): Level 4 onto Level 7 apprenticeship 

Our supportive culture includes coaching, mentorship, and one-on-one guidance. In addition to funding qualifications, we provide time off to study, and a blended training approach including in person and virtual learning. You will be allocated a buddy before joining who will support you to settle into the team and navigate your first year at Forvis Mazars.

You will also receive comprehensive quality training and development to excel in your professional career; this includes development in professional excellence, client excellence, digital excellence, and technical excellence. Our goal is to support you in reaching your full potential and become a standout talent.

Inclusion and diversity 

Being inclusive is core to our culture at Forvis Mazars; we want to ensure everyone, whether in the recruitment process or beyond, is fully supported to be their unique self and provided with a level playing field. 

Roles will be closed as soon as we find the right people, so to avoid disappointment we encourage you to submit your application as soon as possible.  

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