[runhomejack]

Okay I went to a big 4 event and one person said he really wants me in risk assurance. I went in thinking that I wanted to do assurance/audit work but since he’s made it obvious that he really wants me in risk assurance, would this be a good career move for me? Would I get similar experience as an audit associate and develop the technical knowledge they would have?

BEC - Pass
FAR - Pass
REG - Pass
AUD - Pass

[runhomejack]

Oh yea, would it be bad if I applied for both Assurance and Risk Assurance positions?

BEC - Pass
FAR - Pass
REG - Pass
AUD - Pass

[jelly]

If I'm not mistaken, risk assurance = internal controls/internal audit/SOX, which can be somewhat different from external audit (the audit/assurance that entry-level accounting grads typically start in).

Internal audit usually exists in large companies that have multiple locations, and/or multiple subsidiaries (that could be in multiple locations, so it could be a good amount of work travel to some pretty remote, industrial locations). A lot of it is figuring out if the operating/reporting procedures and (normally a mess of) computer systems in place are strung up decently enough to keep people from manipulating the financial numbers for better bonuses. It gets messier when companies merge, split or spin off divisions. The testing is often times a lot deeper (and more intelligent) than what external auditors do (often considered CYA testing), to the point that the test methodology and sampling can be running parallel with each other, and it's not uncommon for external auditors to re-test what the internals have already done.

Figure out if you need work experience for your license, and if your state will accept this, or only financial statement attest (external) audits. And ask about how long people have been working in this particular area – travel burnout and turnover in internal audit is about 2 years.

Couldn't pass again!

[Author]

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