Senior Audit Manager: Value for Money Performance Audit - Fraud and Propriety Team

Salary: Newcastle range; £63,691 - £75,641, London Range; £71,000 - £84,000
Civil Service Employer Pension Contribution of 27.1%

Thank you for your interest in joining the National Audit Office (NAO) as a value for money (performance audit) senior audit manager.

Our position is unique, and our work is influential. We are independent of government and the civil service and scrutinise public spending for Parliament and on behalf of citizens and taxpayers. This means we work for, and for the good of, everyone in the country.

We help society work better – supporting improvements in the way services are delivered right across the public sector. The recommendations from our work can result in financial savings and positive changes in government to improve services and achieve value for money for the taxpayer.

Each year we publish around 60 major value for money (VFM) reports looking at various government programmes and projects. Our VFM reports use a variety of methods to scrutinise public spending and ultimately help improve public services. Our recent work has led to:

• 91% of our recommendations from April 2019 to March 2022 being accepted or partially accepted by government departments and agencies; and,
• Financial impacts of £572 million in 2022-23 – £7 for every pound we spent.

More about the NAO, including our recent value for money reports, is available on our website.

The role

We are looking to recruit a senior audit manager to join our Fraud and Propriety team. This team supports both our financial audit and VFM service lines so that through our audit we:

• help government to understand the risks and perception of fraud and impropriety;
• highlight weaknesses and help improve controls over fraud and propriety;
• embed the fraud management cycle in reporting to drive large scale impact; and
• provide the right incentives for government to manage propriety and fraud.

The impact you will make

Our work responds to government’s plans and particularly those with long-term implications for public spending. It helps hold government to account for the way it uses public money and helps to promote improvements in public service delivery.

Here are some examples from our recent work:

• We are focusing on assessing efficiency and productivity within government, and the resilience of public services, operations and infrastructure. We have examined key issues across government including:
  • government’s counter-fraud capabilities and lessons learned on tackling fraud and protecting propriety in government spending during an emergency;
  • how well-prepared government is for extreme weather events; and
  • government’s approach to monitoring and responding to companies in distress.
• We examine the performance and costs of core public services across all areas of government, including:
  • plans to improve urgent and emergency care services such as general practice, ambulance services; and
  • work to improve outcomes for women in the criminal justice system.
• The government has set out its long-term environmental and climate change ambitions, including a legal requirement to achieve Net Zero carbon emissions by 2050. Our work has considered the value for money risks?in this area, and we have:
  • examined the robustness of government’s plans to fulfil Net Zero emissions targets with a report on the management and performance of the Green Homes Grant scheme; and
  • reported on how effectively central government and local authorities in England are collaborating on Net Zero and on the government commitment to increase tree-planting rates across the UK.
• We provided timely reporting on the COVID-19 pandemic to help Parliament understand government’s response and hold it to account. We continue to provide expert insight to help ensure that appropriate lessons are learned for the future. Highlights include:
  • examining government’s plans for recovery with reports on the employment support grant scheme and backlogs in the NHS and criminal justice system;
  • focusing on government’s procurement activity and the vaccine programme roll-out; and
  • drawing out wider learning for government from the pandemic with reports on?initial learning and risk management.

Responsibilities

We have a vacancy for a Senior Audit Manager: Value for money (performance audit) in our Fraud and Propriety team. You will manage our work on how Government fights fraud and meets standards of propriety (how public bodies meet high standards of public conduct, including robust governance and the relevant parliamentary expectations, especially transparency).

You will work to the Fraud and Propriety Director and lead our Fraud and Propriety team to:

• deliver high-quality work that supports improvements in the delivery of public services. This involves planning, researching and drafting our value for money reports, working alongside sector or topic specialists, analysts and qualified accountants as well as applying strong quantitative and / or qualitative analytical skills.
• produce outputs designed to promote best practice across government.
• produce training, guidance and help for colleagues across the NAO who encounter fraud and propriety issues in their work.
• role model behaviours and ways of working to support us as an exemplar organisation.
• engage with external clients and stakeholders to deliver greater engagement with our work.
• get involved in other work too, including correspondence (from the public and MPs) and other work that supports Parliamentary select committees.

Skills required

The people we are looking for

We want someone with strong analytical and communication skills as well as experience of project and people management, which can be drawn from a range of backgrounds. You will lead our teams to deliver high-quality impactful work and role model behaviours and ways of working to support us become an exemplar organisation. You will also engage with external clients and stakeholders to build relationships of influence and extend the reach of our work.

Whilst the current vacancy is within our Fraud and Propriety team, we are looking for someone who will be able to work across the organisation as required. An interest in and some knowledge of how government tackles fraud and propriety is preferred but expertise and extensive knowledge of fraud and propriety is not required.

Abilities

It will be essential that you can demonstrate the ability to: