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National Audit Office

157-197 Buckingham Palace Road

London

SW1W 9SP

Telephone: + 44 (0) 20 7798 7000

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Recruiter Stats and Facts

Industry Sector	Public Sector Audit
Total number of Employees	880
Graduate intake per year	A single intake of 70 in September each year
Applicants per place	20
Application date	See Opportunities
Starting salary	London: £27,160 Newcastle: £21,608

National Audit Office

The National Audit Office is independent of government and the Civil Service.
We certify the accounts of all government departments and produce Value for Money reports for Parliament on the economy, efficiency and effectiveness with which departments and other bodies have used their resources in delivering particular projects. We also have a number of international clients including the International Labour Organization and the World Food Programme. Our work leads to savings and other efficiency gains worth many millions of pounds. You can be part of that!

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National Audit Office

About us

Our Vision is to help the nation spend wisely. We hold the government to account for the way it uses public money and our advice and recommendations for how to make things better are taken seriously.

We are right at the centre of the drive to promote economy and efficiency in government as we focus on the big systemic, cross-government, and crosscutting issues in order to bring about significant change. It’s therefore an exciting time to join the NAO, as our role is particularly relevant in the current fiscal climate. We are independent of government and the Civil Service.

Our Financial Audit work involves auditing over 475 accounts across government departments and a wide range of other public sector bodies, representing hundreds of billions of pounds. Our work helped save the country more than a billion pounds in 2010 (£13 for every £1 spent running the Office).

We publish around 60 Value for Money reports a year for Parliament on the economy, efficiency and effectiveness with which departments and other bodies have used their resources in delivering particular projects. These often hit the headlines and make a positive impact on the nation.

We do a range of other things including providing specialist input to Parliamentary Select Committees, and our international work covers the audit of international bodies to which the UK contributes.

You’ll find us geared up for delivery and impact. We have a great reputation for professionalism, rigour and judgment.

Click here to read more on the Graduate Accountancy Scheme

Accessibility

Please visit the contact us pages on our website for full accessibility guidance on our London and Newcastle offices.

National Audit Office

Departments

Our 5 year School Leavers’ Scheme leads to qualification as a Chartered Accountant (ICAEW). It’s a fantastic opportunity to gain an internationally recognised professional accountancy qualification without incurring the debt of going to university while at the same time earning a competitive salary and getting involved in interesting and challenging work.

We have 10 vacancies in our central London office.

Basic Requirements

Academic
• A minimum of 5 G.C.S.Es at grade A-C (including Maths and English)
• You will have achieved or expect to achieve, a minimum of 300 UCAS points from your top 3 A Levels or equivalent (General Studies does not count)
• You must be a UK, Commonwealth, EEA or Swiss national to comply with Civil Service nationality rules

Please do not submit an application if you do not meet these requirements.

Skills and talents
We’re looking for bright people who have chosen not go to university and have decided that a career in accountancy is for them. You will be able to make the long term commitment to study for a professional qualification and excel in a challenging but ultimately rewarding environment.

Of course, academic achievement isn’t enough on its own. You will need to have strong analytical and communication skills combined with the ability to work with others. You will be excited about what the National Audit Office is all about and you’ll have the ‘get up and go’ to excel in a highly professional environment. You will be assessed against our school leaver competencies at each stage of the application process. These have been identified as the key skills and behaviours (please link to: required to be a successful trainee with the NAO.

We’re confident you’ll find that we’re big on the things that matter to you. If you are talented and want to join a highly professional organisation to qualify – we want to hear from you!

Salary and Benefits

We offer a starting salary of £21,608 + benefits. This will rise throughout your training as your pass exams at different stages. After 5 years, provided you have passed your exams, your performance is good and opportunities are available, you will qualify as an Audit Principal earning around £50,000. Check out the website for details of the range of other benefits we offer.

Application Process

Applications for the 2012 NAO school leaver programme are now open. Please visit www.big-on.org.uk for further details and to apply. The deadline for applications is Monday 14th May 2012.

If you have any queries about the scheme, please e-mail HR_Service_Desk@nao.gsi.gov.ukor click here to ask us a question Alternatively, you can call the recruitment team on: 0207 798 7227.

Training

Alongside your professional training and on-the job experience we provide a whole range of courses covering the latest accounting and auditing techniques, as well as the political and government framework in which we operate. You will also be able to attend seminars and presentations by colleagues keen to pass on their knowledge and expertise.

Of course, the big thing about our training scheme is that it leads to membership of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW), and we’ll do everything possible to help you get there.

http://www.nao.org.uk/graduate/training__development.aspx

Development

After qualifying, you may be offered a permanent position as one of our Audit Principals. This brings a starting salary over £48,000 in London and over £39,000 in Newcastle. We are very much focused on growing our own talent. For those with the potential, there are opportunities to progress further in the organisation to Audit Manager and Director level roles. Some of our audit clients are based in London and Newcastle, but others are based around the country. You will, therefore, be required to travel with your audit team and this will involve overnight stays away from home. There are also some opportunities for overseas work.

A day in the life of a graduate employee

Liz Johnson

NAO office: London
Grade: Assistant Auditor
Current work: Financial Audit

What area of the office do you tend to specialise in?

My time as a trainee is split between working on the Ministry of Defence area, mostly with Military Pay, and the Ministry of Justice area, with the National Offender Management Service. I have also had the opportunity to participate on a number of Value for Money studies within the Education area.

What are you currently working on at the moment?

At the moment I am planning the 2010-11 audit for the Met Office. This is the first job I’m leading on my own, so it’s a lot of responsibility, but a challenge I feel ready for.

Which audit stands out from your first three years in the office?

The work that stands out for me was a part of the MoD Resource account I was working on last January, for which the audit team had to go to Cyprus! It felt very exotic getting up in the middle of the night to fly to sunnier climes. Somehow, the fact that it actually rained torrentially from the moment we stepped off the plane was a truth I chose not to share with my jealous friends back home.

What has been your most memorable/rewarding experience during your time at the NAO?

Passing my final exams last week was a great feeling! The knowledge that you’ll never have to sit another exam again in your life makes all that study worthwhile.

Summarise your experiences of college…

Having not done any accounting before starting at the NAO, I found college to be a very steep learning curve, especially at the beginning. I also hadn’t been prepared for the nosedive my social life would take while at college- non-accounting friends found it difficult to grasp just how much study I had to do. That said, your whole intake is going through exactly the same thing so there’s plenty of people who understand what you’re going through, and the quality of teaching helps you get to grips quickly with the important parts of the syllabus. I also found the block release approach taken by the NAO to be really useful, as it meant that when I was at college, that’s all I had to think about, rather than trying to juggle work as well as college work.

…and the exams as a whole?

Anticipation and concern beforehand, the actual exams passing in a flash, then exhaustion and a sore writing hand immediately afterwards, followed by relief and elation at passing them all.

What did you find the best method of revising for your final exams?

I always went home after college finished and had a bit of a sit down and a cup of tea before doing 2 or 3 hours in the evening. Friday nights/Saturday mornings I always tried to have off in order to keep myself sane. It’s a cliché, but sorting a revision timetable fairly early on always worked for me so I had some sort of framework to study to. I also like lists…(Yes, I hold my hands up, I love to plan.)

In hindsight, would you do it again?

Again? I’ve only just finished! I don’t think I fully realised what I’d signed up for when I took the job, but, having done it, I would recommend the ACA as a route into accountancy as it is a well respected professional qualification that provides you with a great grounding in accountancy and lots of transferable skills.