Graduate Trainee Auditor

Join Audit Scotland as a Graduate Trainee Auditor in 2025

Candidates requiring sponsorship

Please note Audit Scotland is unable to provide sponsorship to candidates for this role under the Skilled Worker visa category as the Home Office’s eligibility criteria will not be met.

Candidates must demonstrate that they have the right to live and work in the UK for the duration of the Trainee Auditor employment and training which typically lasts 54 months.

This could be from a visa granting permission to work in the UK independently (for example: a dependent or ancestry visa or settled status).

Why join our team?

Our Graduate Trainee Scheme includes financial support to become a qualified Chartered Accountant with ICAS. You will get a prestigious, internationally recognised qualification, whilst being involved in varied and interesting work, auditing public bodies in Scotland. You will also be supported to complete a personal development programme aimed at enhancing your career prospects in Audit Scotland.

And it doesn’t stop there, we offer a range of other fantastic benefits including:

• Competitive starting salary, plus bonuses for passing exams first time and salary increments as you progress through the qualification
• 38 days holiday (inclusive of 8 floating public holidays), 4 fixed public holidays, flexi-time and exam leave
• Career development and training opportunities
• Attractive local government pension scheme (17.6% employer contributions)
• Access to counselling and an annual wellbeing and lifestyle medical check-up
• Discounts from major retailers with our innovative savings
• Interest-free loans for annual season tickets

There has never been a more interesting or important time to join us. We offer a rewarding place to work, a supportive and open culture and a wide range of professional development opportunities. We’ve also been named one of the top 25 workplaces in Scotland and the UK’s tenth best accountancy workplace in the 2023 Best Companies awards.

More about you

You don’t need to be an accountancy graduate or have achieved a specific grade in your honours degree to join us.

Our trainees come from a variety of backgrounds and have studied a range of degree subjects. Our trainees join us straight from university or later in their careers.

What matters is that you’ve got great analytical and people skills, are committed to studying for a professional qualification, and excel in a challenging and rewarding role.

If you think this sounds like the career for you, then we would love to hear from you. You will need the following skills and qualifications:

• Achieved or be on track to achieve an honours degree or above in any subject
• A minimum of National 5 Grade C or GCSE Grade 4/C (or equivalent) in both Maths and English
• Strong verbal and written communication skills
• Able to work as part of a team and independently using initiative
• An interest in Audit Scotland and/or the public sector as well as the auditing and accountancy profession
• Sound analytical skills for gathering, interpreting and evaluating data
• Disciplined and organised with good project management skills

Who are we?

Our vision is that public money is well spent to meet the needs of Scotland's people. To achieve this, we support the Auditor General for Scotland and the Accounts Commission to provide clear, independent, and objective assurance on how effectively public money is being managed and spent. Our work covers about £57bn of public spending, almost 300 public sector accounts, and the services and projects that affect all people and communities in Scotland.

As well as what we do, how we do it is integral to delivering our vision and critical to our wellbeing and our organisational success. We put our organisational values of equality, independence, innovation, integrity, and respect at the heart of everything we do.

How we work

We employ around 340 staff in a wide variety of roles, working from our offices in Edinburgh and Glasgow, and through a network of regional offices across Scotland.

We currently have trainee opportunities available across Scotland in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness and Aberdeen.

We operate a hybrid working environment whereby our trainees can expect to work a mixture of at home, in the office and travel to client sites.

Interested? Next steps

We’re keeping this nice and simple – visit our careers website or graduate page, click the apply button and complete the application form with examples of previous experience.

Stage 1 - After the application closing date, you will be asked to complete a short online verbal and numerical test.

Stage 2 - If you are successful after this stage, you will be invited to complete an online simulation assessment in the form of an analysis exercise.

Stage 3 - Candidates successful at this stage will be invited to a final stage interview. The interview will be competency based and we will be looking for you to demonstrate evidence of the competencies required for the role.

The closing date for applications is Sunday 12th January 2025.

Exact details will be confirmed nearer the time; however, interviews are expected to take place early w/c 10th and 17th March 2025.

The start date for this vacancy will be June or October 2025.

Check out the Graduate page on our careers site to find out more about our trainee programme, life at Audit Scotland and some useful hints and tips on the application process. Please note that only applications submitted via our careers website will be considered.

Diversity and Inclusion

We value the unique perspective a diverse workforce brings to what we do. Therefore, we’re keen to increase representation in our workforce and support progression of minority ethnic groups. We are also a proud disability confident employer.

Reasonable adjustments

Audit Scotland’s recruitment process may include various stages and activities including application forms, online assessments, and interviews, to assess whether you meet the requirements of the role. As a Disability Confident employer, we are committed to providing inclusive and accessible recruitment where everyone is supported to perform at their best. Visit the advert via our careers website to find out more on support with reasonable adjustments.