Internal Audit Specialist III

Internal Audit Role at Vistra Corporate Services Company

Plans, directs, and completes complex assurance and advisory/consulting audits of business processes or units, with particular focus on financial, operational, and compliance risks. Adheres to department audit methodology and utilizes technology-based audit techniques to perform required duties where appropriate. Leverages data analytics tools and techniques on traditional and continuous audits. Serves as the Auditor-in-Charge role on the project and may lead an integrated audit team crossing multiple business units. Partners with management to develop meaningful risk-mitigating action plans for issues identified. Performs follow-up audit procedures on management actions resulting from assigned audits. Assists with the risk assessment and audit plan development process.

Key Accountabilities

Responsible for ownership of all audit lifecycle phases for the assigned Internal Audit risk-based audit and advisory engagements, including on-time completion of projects, the project's management and documentation within the audit project management system, and the project's adherence to Internal Audit methodology and quality assurance requirements.

Plans the assurance or advisory audit, including the development of the audit objectives, scope, time-line, and team assignments when applicable.

Conduct interviews to gain an understanding of the processes/activities being audited and communicate the objectives/scope to the audit customer. Audits assigned to this role frequently must be developed from scratch without prior audit programs to use as reference and must be designed by the auditor.

Identify and assess the risks associated with the area under audit.

Identify and evaluate the controls designed to mitigate the identified risks.

Determine testing strategy appropriate for risks and controls identified, considering sampling methodology and opportunities to leverage data analytics.

Test the controls for operational effectiveness/compliance and provide recommendations to address identified control gaps.

Summarize issues identified and prepare the audit report.

Collaborate with audit customers to advise valuable risk-mitigating control enhancement recommendations and process improvement considerations through assurance, advisory, and management request projects.

Continuous updates to key audit stakeholders, including updates up through EVP.

Pro-actively monitors open issue follow-up activities including remediation testing and issue close-out within the audit project management system.

Assists with the annual risk assessment and audit plan development process via analysis of relevant data, participation in Enterprise Risk Management workshops, socialization of emerging risks with key stakeholders, and analysis of prior audit findings. Suggests audit plan adjustments as applicable.

Participation in, and ownership of, recurrent stakeholder discussions, including discussions with executives throughout the business. Often sought out by leaders in the business to perform management requests or join task forces because of their expertise.

Education, Experience, & Skill Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, or other related business discipline.

Minimum 8+ years of audit or other relevant experience.

Certification such as CPA, CIA, CISA, CCSA, CIDA, or CFE preferred.

Previous experience in electric power generation, electric retail or energy trading businesses preferred.

Advanced risk identification and prioritization skills, including the ability to connect the broader implications of risks to their potential impact to organizational objectives.

Ability to be assigned a wide array of audit engagement topics and risk areas, while also demonstrating specialized business knowledge and/or functional expertise, such as:

oRobust knowledge of processes, governance, and risk profiles of relevant business segments (e.g., Generation, Retail, etc)

oAdvanced functional expertise and/or skills and the ability to enhance auditing techniques (e.g., data analytics tools and techniques)

oGenerally consulted by other auditors or stakeholders in the business for their input, guidance, or direction based on this expertise.

Ability to establish and maintain relationships with key business partners, often at the executive level.

Exceptional skills pertaining to communication, including interviewing audit stakeholders, preparing and presenting audit plans, results, and reports, negotiating and collaborating on recommendations and management action plans, etc.

Ability to lead meetings and represent Internal Audit leadership as needed.

Thorough understanding of Internal Audit methodology and the Institute of Internal Auditors' Global Internal Audit Standards. Ability to adhere to all requirements throughout the audit lifecycle, including planning, fieldwork, reporting, and follow-up, and can train other auditors on Internal Audit methodology procedures as needed.

Understanding of general fraud concepts and the ability to analyze business processes for fraud risks.

Knowledge of accounting principles, financial reporting concepts, and information technology risks.

Key Metrics

This role directly contributes to Internal Audit KPIs and objectives reported, including:

On-time Audit Plan completion

On-time high-risk open issue closure

Internal Audit's annual Risk Assessment and Audit Plan development

Adherence to methodology through Quality Assurance Reviews.

Locations

Irving, Texas, Texas