Senior Specialist: Audit at The South African Revenue Service (SARS)

 Job Purpose

• To provide expert advise and guidance and/or execute highly complex and highly specialised audits for High Wealth Individuals (HWI related aggressive wealth shifting tax avoidance structures/transactions).

Education and Experience

Minimum Qualification & Experience Required

• Relevant Honours / Postgraduate Diploma in Tax, Accounting, Auditing (NQF 8) and 10 years' experience in a Tax and audit environment.

Minimum Functional Requirements

Applicable professional registration at either of the following professional bodies:

• South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA)
• South African Institute of Taxation (SAIT)
• Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA)
• Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA)
• South African Institute of Professional Accountants (SAIPA)
• Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE)
• Legal Practice Council (LPC)
• Accreditation as a subject matter expert by World Customs
• Organization (WCO)

Job Outputs:

Process

• Plan, conduct and manage highly complex risk-based audits to ensure compliance with relevant acts.
• Identify tax gaps and evasion schemes involving complex matters and suggest potential solutions to minimize tax risks.
• Manage quality in planning, execution and finalisation of audits.
• Conduct research into local & international practices & trends in order to identify best practice & the most practical business solutions & options.
• Analyse and make recommendations about improvements to tax law, specialist systems, procedures, policies and practices.
• Contribute to the optimum utilisation of org. resources, advising on effective planning and development of area of specialisation resource plans.
• Develop multiple practices in alignment with operational policy and procedural frameworks, supporting tactical development and excellence.
• Draw on own technical or professional expertise, knowledge & experience to identify & recommend tactical solutions to defined problems in practices.
• Influence and communicate across business areas impacted by practice area to minimise resistance and ensure on-boarding of new thinking.
• Integrate business information, compare, analyse & produce reports to identify trends, discrepancies & inconsistencies for decision making purposes.
• Optimise goal achievement through tactical strategy development and optimisation of practises, processes & systems across an internal value chain.
• Plan for value-added, continuous multiple practice and system improvement optimisation to deliver on objectives and to enhance tactical excellence.
• Proactively identify interconnected problems, determine its impact and use to develop best fit alternatives; developing best practice solutions.
• Recommend changes to optimise processes, systems, practice areas and associated procedures and execute the implementation of change and innovation.
• Translate top down policy, apply modification in relation to own practice area and communicate impact to relevant stakeholders.

 Governance

• Develop and /or align governance and compliance policies for own practice area to identify and manage risk exposure liabilibilities.

People

• Integrate new knowledge and transfer skills attained through formal and informal learning opportunities in the execution of your job.
• Provide specialist know-how, support, advice and practice thought leadership in area of expertise.

Finance

• Implement and monitor financial control, management of costs and corporate governance in area of specialisation.

Client

• Develop and ensure implementation of own practices to build delivery excellence, encouraging others to provide exceptional stakeholder service.
• Participate in the specialist practice community and contribute positively to organisation knowledge management.
• Provide authoritative, specialist expertise and advice to internal and external stakeholders

Behavioural competencies

• Analytical Thinking
• Accountability
• Attention to Detail
• Commitment to Continuous Learning
• Conceptual Ability
• Customer Service
• Drive for Results
• Expertise in Context
• Fairness & Transparency
• Honesty and Integrity
• Organisational Awareness
• Problem Solving & Analysis
• Trust
• Respect

Technical competencies

• Audit Methodology
• Business Knowledge
• Business Writing Skills
• Coaching & Mentoring
• Computer Literacy
• Data Collection & Analysis
• Efficiency Improvement
• Execute, Implement & Follow Through
• Financial Acumen
• Functional Policies and Procedures
• Operational Audit
• Planning & Organising
• Problem Analysis & Judgment
• Quality Orientation
• Reporting Tax Knowledge
• Tax Law

Deadline:21st August,2026