Country Head, Audit Nigeria & West Africa at Standard Chartered Bank Nigeria Full Time

Job Title: Country Head, Audit Nigeria & West Africa 

Job ID: 2200026209
Location: Lagos, Nigeria
Job: Audit
Schedule: Full-time
Employee Status: Permanent

Role Responsibilities 

• GIA represents the third line of defence and provides independent assurance of the effectiveness of management’s control of business activities (the first line) and of the control processes maintained by the Risk Framework Owners and Policy Owners (the second line).
• GIA works with the Group’s other control functions, such as Finance, Risk and Compliance, but does not place unqualified reliance on their work.
• GIA is an independent function whose primary role is to help the Board and Executive Management to protect the assets, reputation and sustainability of the Group.
• As defined in the Audit Charter, all staff in GIA must exhibit the highest level of professional objectivity in gathering, evaluating and communicating information about the activity or process being examined.
• They must make a balanced assessment of all the relevant circumstances and not be unduly influenced by their own interests or by others in forming judgments.
• GIA will adhere to the Definition of Internal Auditing, the Core Principles for the Professional Practice of Internal Auditing, Code of Ethics and the Standards for the Professional Practice of Internal Auditing that are published by the IIA.
• It is expected that all members of GIA strive to operate as role models for the Group’s valued behaviours. GIA methodology has defined “Habits of a Human Auditor” which are aligned to the Group’s valued behaviours and communicated across the function.
• In addition to the responsibilities defined in the Audit Charter to protect the assets, reputation and sustainability of the group.  The HOA will lead on the delivery of the GIA Strategy for their relevant portfolio – focusing on:
  • Customer experience
  • Effective Group change
  • Identifying Group efficiencies and avoiding disruption from audit

Purpose

• To act as Team Manager, as necessary, and take responsibility for overseeing the delivery of high quality audits, the performance of which cause minimal disruption to the business.  Responsible, where serving as Team Manager, for the finalisation of audit issues and the audit report.
• To role model the valued behaviours and develop and environment in which positive behaviours are celebrate and poor culture challenged.
• To ensure that assigned audit work is executed in an efficient and effective manner, within the given budget and timelines, and in line with GIA methodology standards.
• To clearly explain the risks and impact of issues identified during testing to GIA and business management and obtain quality management plans to mitigate the risks raised.
• To lead continuous monitoring of assigned country/portfolio areas.
• To take responsibility for the implementation and support of department wide exercises such as annual planning, risk assessment and training.
• To actively manage relationships with senior auditee management and stakeholders.
• To support GIA audit teams by providing product/country knowledge and expertise for their audits relating to the individual’s area of expertise.
• To provide ongoing continuous monitoring support to HOAs and SAM’s in respect of the business and raise issues and observations outside of formal audit work to expedite rectification of control weaknesses; and
• To attend and present at formal committees and Group meetings on behalf of GIA, as required, e.g. Governance Committees, Country Non Financial Risk Committees, Business and Functional/Support Risk Committees.
• Serve as GIA country subject matter expert – proactively engage with peers and stakeholders to build and share knowledge.
• Issue validation: Ensure that all audit issue action plans agreed during audit fieldwork are tracked through to completion in accordance with methodology requirements.

Strategy:

• Ensure that the West Africa team considers the Group’s strategy and is able to form an independent view of whether the key risks in the organisation have been identified, including emerging and systemic risk and assess how effectively their risks are managed.
• Ensure that the Group’s strategy can effectively manage the risks identified, both from a functional lens as well as a country lens.
• Ensure that the team remains current in terms of industry best practices, emerging risks, internal changes in management and regulatory expectations.
• Develop and deliver the GIA Performance Scorecard with the GIA MT.
• On an ongoing basis, assess that the assigned audit plan remains relevant throughout the year as the risk profile of the business changes.  Propose changes to audit plans, so that the audit plan remains relevant.
• Ensure that the team operates in line with the Audit Charter during engagements, remains independent from management and free from interference.

Business:

• Ensure the team effectively manages the cost of assigned audits within the allocated budget for audit engagements; and effectively manage the overall GIA budget for West Africa.
• The role spans audit activity across all functions and business areas in West Africa.

Processes:

• Contribute to the development of the overall GIA Audit Plan through Risk Assessment and Top-Down approach based on the inherent risks and knowledge of the risk profiles.
• Oversee the development, implementation and execution of the agreed audit plan across West Africa businesses and facilitate collaboration with the functional audit teams to achieve a holistic approach to the assessment of risks and development of audit plan / strategy. Embed a strong understanding and discipline of implementation of GIA methodology in the team.
• Drive cost efficiencies where possible without compromising on the effectiveness of audits.

People and Talent:

• Ensure the team is adequately resourced and staffed by an appropriate number of competent staff, who are sufficiently independent to perform their duties objectively.
• Ensure the team has access to the necessary training / learning programmes to execute their role and meet local regulatory requirements / expectations and, where required, maintain any professional qualifications and memberships.
• Allocate appropriate responsibility, accountability and authority to direct reports.
• Provide leadership, management and coaching to direct reports to ensure they are highly engaged and performing to their potential.
• Ensure that the team structure, capacity and succession plan are regularly reviewed and remain appropriate.
• Set and monitor job descriptions and objectives for the team, provide feedback and rewards in line with staff performance against their responsibilities and objectives.
• Lead by example and build the appropriate culture and values according to Bank’s Priorities / Strategy.
• To promote diversity at all levels.

Risk Management:

• Oversee the team, which represents the third line of defence and provides independent assurance of the effectives of management’s control of business activities (the first line) and of the processes maintained by the Risk Control Functions (the second line).
• Ensure early identification and escalation of risks, issues, trends and developments to relevant stakeholders.  Be prepared to raise issues/concerns outside the normal audit process.
• Adopt an anticipatory approach to risk assessment through stakeholder communication and monitoring of external environment to improve audit planning.
• Monitor the implementation / delivery of the agreed audit plan for the country as assigned, understanding the key audit issues arising and escalating any significant audit findings that remain unresolved.
• Provide effective challenge to ensure that risks are appropriately identified and that remediation plans are put in place
• Review MI and reports regularly to keep up-to-date with key trends within the business and audit deliverables.

Governance:

• Ensure that the team remains independent from management and free from interference.
• Ensure that the Audit Plan includes work which will provide independent assurance of the governance processes within West Africa.
• Provide oversight of the West Africa audit portfolios, ensuring compliance with the highest standards of regulatory conduct and compliance practices as defined by internal and external requirements.
• Manage the relevant Country stakeholders, and establish good working relationships to help the businesses improve the control environment and keep updated with changes in the business impacting their risk profile;
• Lead by example on how to communicate audit-related matters and resolve any conflict between auditors and auditees during the course of an audit.  Use networks and relationships to build engagement and achieve results;
• Escalate delays in execution of audit work in a timely manner, both to auditee management and GIA management; role model this behaviour.
• Be able to clearly explain issues identified along with the risks and root causes to GIA and business management, using language designed to be understood by non-experts; and
• Support country stakeholders to improve the control environment and keep updated with changes in the business impacting their risk profile.
• Embed the valued behaviours and code of conduct to ensure that adherence with the highest standards of ethics, and compliance with relevant policies, processes and regulations among employees form part of the culture.

Regulatory & Business Conduct:

• Display exemplary conduct and live by the Group’s Values and Code of Conduct.
• Take personal responsibility for embedding the highest standards of ethics, including regulatory and business conduct, across Standard Chartered Bank.  This includes understanding and ensuring compliance with, in letter and spirit, all applicable laws, regulations, guidelines and the Group Code of Conduct.
• Lead the GIA West Africa portfolio to achieve the outcomes set out in the Bank’s Conduct Principles: Fair Outcomes for Clients; Effective Financial Markets; Financial Crime Prevention; The Right Environment.
• Effectively and collaboratively identify, escalate, mitigate and resolve risk, conduct and compliance matters.

Key Stakeholders:

• Establish and maintain effective working relationships with the West Africa management and business units which fall under portfolio responsibility.
• Effectively manage external stakeholders such as regulators and reviewers.
• Country Management Team including CEO, CFO, Head of Legal, Head of HR, Head of FCC, Heads of Businesses, COO, CRO, Head of Corporate Affairs etc
• Local Regulators and their appointed representatives
• External Auditors/ Professional Services Companies
• Risk Committees and Forums
• Group Head, Internal Audit
• GIA COO team
• Other GIA stakeholders
• Audit Committee and Local Audit Committee (where applicable).

Other Responsibilities:

• Serve as the GIA West Africa subject matter expert – proactively engage with peers and stakeholders to maintain, build and share knowledge.
• Support the RHOA in all matters, including contributing to the GIA risk assessment and development of an appropriate audit plan.
• Embed Here for Good and Group’s brand and values.
• Perform other responsibilities assigned under Group, Country, Business or Functional policies and procedures

Job Requirements

• First Degree and a Master’s Degree (or its equivalent).
• Minimum of 15 years post qualification experience.  Of candidate’s total experience, at least 12 years in must have been spent in the banking industry with a minimum of 10 years’ experience in a financial management/ accounting function of which 5 years must be in a senior position within the audit function.
• ACCA or ACA professional accounting certification.
• Minimum of 2 years as Deputy General Manager (if hired from Nigeria Banking industry otherwise will not apply)
• An experienced career auditor (internal and external) or a business person who has a breadth of experience in either audit and/or governance.
• Demonstrable experience of Audit requirements in the West Africa markets
• Has worked directly with regulators, preferably in the West Africa markets
• Strong leadership qualities, interpersonal and people management skills
• Strong communicator, both written and verbal, with ability to influence and to gain the respect of senior management, stakeholders, peers and their teams.
• Strong sense of integrity and financial independence with an ability to challenge.
• Confident and courageous to raise / escalate issues in a pro-active, professional and timely manner.
• Highly credible with their counterparts in the business.
• Understanding of regulatory landscape and working culture across a number of geographies
• Self directed and able to work with minimal supervision.
• Demonstrate understanding of and commitment to the Group’s core values.
• Professional audit certification preferred
• Ability to perform the role of “Change Leader”
• Ability to travel internationally from time to time to support GIA activities & delivery across the group.

Application Closing Date
Ongoing