Becoming an Auditor
An auditor is a qualified accountant, often a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), who examines and analyzes an organization's financial records to judge their status and standing. An auditor might inspect corporate financial transactions or income for companies or individuals. Auditors are also often responsible for examining the tax implications of potential business decisions for corporations.
Education, Training & Degrees for Auditor
Employment as an auditor most often requires a minimum education achievement of a bachelor's degree, although a master's degree, particularly a master of business administration (MBA) with a concentration in accounting, is often preferred. Employment often depends on the candidate's experience as well as the level of the degree. Many organizations require that candidates for an auditor position have acquired several years of work-related experience, on-the-job training, vocational training, or some combination of this practical experience.
Job Responsibilities and Desired Skills for Auditor
The fundamental responsibilities of an auditor include collecting and analyzing data to detect deficient controls, duplicated efforts, fraud or non-compliance with laws, regulations, and management policies. Additional tasks might include reporting on asset utilization and audit results; recommending changes to a company's operations or financial activities; inspecting account books and reviewing data concerning a company's assets, liabilities, stock, income, and expenditures; preparing annual reports, financial statements and other records; and possibly inspecting financial assets to validate records.
A handful of auditors move to positions in bank operations, budgeting offices, financial analysis, management consulting, full-service brokerage firms, and even the FBI, to track, analyze, and report on illegal interstate money transfers and hidden asset recovery.
To succeed as an auditor, one must first be comfortable working with numbers. An auditor needs to be attentive to detail, patient, persistent, and flexible enough to adjust strategies and procedures in order to accommodate new data, as well as new laws and regulations. Good communication skills are also valuable, as the auditor will often be required to explain complicated financial interactions and procedures to all levels of management as well as to other individuals who lack a deep education in the intricacies of the subject.
Salary Range and Employment Outlook for Auditor
Employment opportunities for auditors and accountants are always good, and their services are always in demand. Figures released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, for example, indicate that the median annual salary for auditors was about $51,310 in 2004, or an hourly wage of about $24.67.
Additionally, the Bureau projects that employment opportunities for auditors will be excellent well into the next decade, with indications that the field will grow at an average rate of between 21 and 35 percent, far faster than the average for all jobs.
