Forensic Auditing placement

[Neburr]

Hi

I am a newbie to this forum .

I am looking to emigrate to Singapore with my family. I am a Senior Forensic Auditor based in South Africa. I have more than 15 years of experience but I am struggling to find an Executive placement Agency in Singapore that specializes in my profession.

I would appreciate any guidance our assistance.

Thanking you in advance.

[JR8]

Do you consider that you might be restricted to a Big-4/5 position?

[Neburr]

Hi JR8

Thank you for taking the time to respond.

I am looking at the big 4, though I have had interest from at least 1 MNC. I am still hopeful that an agency that an agency that specialists in this area will be able to assist me.

[AngMoG]

Check the banks maybe as well, directly. Connect with audit people in the banks on LinkedIn, check for positions.

[Neburr]

Hi AngMoG

Thank you for the advice and response.

[JR8]

I have no direct experience in your field, but from what I've seen of banking/finance headhunting, the recruiters seem to be generalists. So you might have someone with a niche in accounting, but that might be as specialised as they get.

Not that it matters hugely as a the 'Big-4' are hooked into the major recruiters anyway.

[PrimroseHill]

Is it more Fraud related? Investment banks and big corporations have forensnic auditors. How about general internal auditor work? Does that work as well?

[JR8]

Is it more Fraud related? Investment banks and big corporations have forensnic auditors.

What, as permanent internal departments.
lol ...


p.s. I'd tend to go with your direction, look at general auditing, with a speciality in FA. The broader net catches more fish etc...

[Neburr]

Hi PrimroseHill & JR8

Thank you for your thoughts and suggestions.
Forensic Auditors are loosely translated as 1/3 Accountant, 1/3 Investigator and 1/3 Lawyer.

Essentially Forensic audit entails the investigation and prosecution of commercial crime. Usually our work is centered on investigating organised crime from within an organization, though from a proactive point of view, we analyze crime trends and engage in efforts to prevent the occurrence of such trends manifesting.

If this helps...

[JR8]

Hmmm. Still a bit puzzled, especially by the concept of 'crime trends within organisations'.

I was imagining that it was akin to Internal Audit, but now it sounds more like some form of corporate MI5/FBI.

[AngMoG]

Hmm. You may want to also look at Investigations positions within banks then. There is no accountant part in it, but it is the closest I can think that is not directly forensic. That is, if you do not want to be in internal audit in an MNC.

I think if you really want to stay forensic auditor, you may have a hard time finding a job outside of consultancies.

[JR8]

I used to work for a few years within a bank department called 'Control and Administration'. It was essentially like a CAO office, internal policing. Low key, but we could wield a stick of any size required, almost like having limitless remit.

If you pay salesmen to produce $, then as night follows day some are going to figure out how to take the mickey. And yes, it's really amazing some of the stuff people will figure out how to do. In Singapore we had a guy set up a 'shadow branch' in a room at the Marina Mandarin hotel, where he produced fake monthly statements for rich Indon clients.

In London, one morning my manager quietly asked me to come to his office. Meanwhile the SFO (Serious Fraud Office) came in and 'raided' and arrested the guy who was sitting next to me 5 minutes earlier. Return, with him gone, and his cube completely stripped clean!!

I had another case of my then manager involved in gambling, and a money borrow/lend scam. When he finally ran out of track he just disappeared one morning (a bit silly as after 15 years in the company, and we all know where you live, where precisely are you going to go? Then again his final borrow (we're talking £5-6 figures) was from a colleague who'd got it from his brother who was serious East End mafia. (He, the perp, actually fled to Red Bank, New Jersey!), but I think the cops were called on him too.

[Neburr]

Hi JR8

Well that is very similar to what we do. We actually clean up the funny business that if left unnoticed becomes a rot in business.

I would not go so far at to say that it is similar to MI5, though we need to have unfettered access to perform our tasks effectively.