Compliance Practitioner (Gauteng) at BDO South Africa

Description
This role will be a key member of the Compliance Team that supports BDO South Africa in building a resilient and successful business, by:

• Designing and facilitating effective and efficient compliance processes with clearly defined roles and responsibilities, that enable business to deliver exceptional client service
• Being a trusted advisor to business, advising on regulations, policies and procedures and enhancing skills through focused training and awareness programmes
• Implementing monitoring processes, providing value-add reporting and ensuring remedial action is taken for identified non-compliance
• Entrenching a strong culture in the firm that is about more than pure compliance, but also about promoting a message that everyone has a role to play in protecting the firm against risk.

The team is responsible for the “Relevant Ethical Requirements (including Independence)” and “Acceptance and Continuance of Client Relationships and Specific Engagements” components of ISQM1.

The Compliance Practitioner role will report into the Senior Manager within the broader Compliance team, and will be responsible for designing, implementing and monitoring effective and efficient processes to ensure compliance with policies relating to the above components

Main Duties and Responsibilities

• Efficient processing of engagement related conflicts of interest and independence checks
• Complete and accurate processing of engagement related conflict of interest and independence requests received from Global BDO member firms.
• Management of a YES Intern who will be tasked with processing of the requests on the relevant systems.  
• New Public Interest Entity Audit Client Acceptance Process
• Ensure all steps in the workbook are completed to ensure that a complete client structure is loaded onto BDO systems, all non-assurance services and other relationships have been assessed and that PEP & Sanction and negative media searches have been concluded. Ensure all evidence is documented and retained.

US Listed Client Monitoring

• Monitoring of services provided within the Global BDO Network to our US Listed Clients.
• Perform procedures to ensure that BDO has not and does not perform any tax services to the US Listed Client’s individuals in financial reporting oversight roles.
• Business Relationship
• Timeous assessment of business relationships logged by the firm in terms of the standard process defined in the Compliance Ways of Working.

Reportable Irregularity (RI) Monitoring

• Involvement in end-to-end RI process, which includes assisting the Head of Compliance in ensuring that all Reportable Irregularities logged by the business are timeously assessed and closed out with support documentation, assessments and communications saved according to policy.
• Assistance with Annual Ethics and Independence Declaration (AEID) process
• Assistance with follow ups on the AIED.

General

• Assist with the design and implementation of projects and initiatives, policies and processes, systems/ tools relating to Relevant Ethical Requirements (Including Independence ) and Acceptance and Continuance of Client Relationships.
• Identification and communication of potential improvements as it relates to independence and conflict check management processes and participation in activities to ensure effective and efficient automation solutions in relation to areas of responsibility).
• Provide training, advice and support to partners, directors and professionals on Relevant Ethical Requirements (Including Independence) and Client and Engagement Acceptance and Continuance procedures and systems.
• Stakeholder management and engagement, where required in relation to duties to be performed.

Requirements
Qualifications/Recognition of Prior Learning equivalent

• A degree in Law, Compliance, Risk, Finance or Audit. 

Work Experience

• 2-3 years of experience in similar risk management, independence and/or compliance roles.
• Experience within a professional services/audit firm would be advantageous.
• Design and implementation of policies and processes for regulatory compliance and risk mitigation.
• Training design and presentation
• Project management experience
• Business analysis experience relating to technology solutions.

Knowledge

• Intermediate Excel, Word and PowerPoint.
• Written and spoken English language skills

Technical Competencies

• Efficient processing of compliance related tasks.
• Progress reporting and Project Management.
• Design and review controls to mitigate identified risks.
• Attention to detail

Behavioural Competencies

• Good interpersonal and organisational skills
• Strong spoken and written communication skills
• Ability to work independently and collaborate with team members
• A proactive approach to continuous improvement