IT Audit Consultant – Technology Risk Assurance (Financial Audit Support)

Johannesburg Office

RSM South Africa is seeking an experienced IT Audit Consultant to join its Technology Risk Assurance team within Risk Advisory Services. This role is central to supporting external financial statement audits by providing robust IT control assurance and data-driven audit evidence.

The successful candidate will be responsible for planning and executing IT General Controls (ITGCs), IT Application Controls (ITACs), and data analytics procedures that directly support the testing of financial statement balances, transactions, and key assertions. The role requires a strong understanding of how systems, controls, and data interact to produce financial information relied upon by auditors.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

IT Audit in Support of Financial Statement Audits

  • Plan and execute ITGC and ITAC audit procedures aligned to financial statement audit objectives and relevant auditing standards.
  • Evaluate the design and operating effectiveness of IT controls over:
  • Logical access (user provisioning, privileged access, segregation of duties)
  • Program and configuration changes
  • IT operations (job scheduling, interfaces, backups, incident management)
  • Automated and system-configured financial controls
  • Assess IT control deficiencies and articulate their impact on financial statement assertions (completeness, accuracy, validity, cutoff, and valuation).
  • Support audit teams in determining the extent of reliance on system-generated data and automated controls. Document audit procedures, findings, and conclusions in high-quality working papers consistent with RSM methodology and regulatory expectations.

Data Analytics for Financial Statement Testing

  • Design and perform data analytics procedures that provide substantive audit evidence over financial statement balances and classes of transactions.

    Apply analytics to areas such as:

  • Journal entries and general ledger activity
  • Revenue, expenditure, and payroll transactions
  • Master data integrity and changes
  • User access and segregation of duties impacting financial data
  • System generated reports relied upon for audit purposes
  • Use SQL to extract and analyse complete populations directly from source systems and databases.
  • Perform advanced analysis using Microsoft Excel (e.g. large data sets, complex formulas, pivoting, reconciliation, exception analysis).
  • Develop Power BI dashboards and visualisations to identify trends, anomalies, and outliers relevant to audit risk.
  • Translate data analytics results into clear audit conclusions, linking exceptions back to financial statement risks.
  • Collaborate with financial audit teams to integrate analytics into the audit strategy, reducing manual testing while increasing assurance.

Client Interaction & Professional Contribution

  • Engage with client IT, finance, and data owners to understand system architecture, data flows, and control environments.
  • Communicate technical findings clearly to non technical stakeholders.
  • Support the development of improved analytics use cases and reusable audit routines within the firm.
  • Coach junior team members and contribute to a strong quality and learning culture.

REQUIRED EXPERIENCE AND BACKGROUND

Professional experience

  • Minimum of 3 years’ experience in an audit firm, performing IT audit and data analytics work in support of external/statutory financial statement audits.
  • Demonstrated experience linking IT controls and data analytics results to financial statement risk and audit conclusions.
  • Practical exposure to ERP and core financial systems (e.g. SAP, Oracle, Microsoft Dynamics, Sage, or similar).

Personal Attributes 

  • Strong analytical and critical thinking capability
  • Ability to connect technical detail to audit and business impact
  • High standard of documentation and professional judgment
  • Ability to manage multiple engagements and deadlines
  • Strong ethical mindset and commitment to audit quality

Qualifications

  • Degree in Information Systems, Computer Science, Accounting, or a related discipline.
  • Professional certifications or progress toward certification (e.g. CISA) are beneficial.

Skills and competencies

Strong understanding of:

  • ITGC and ITAC concepts within a financial audit context
  • Financial business processes and system driven controls

High level of proficiency in:

  • SQL (data extraction, validation and analysis)
  • Microsoft Excel (advanced data analysis)
  • Power BI (audit focused dashboards and visual analysis)
  • Experience with additional analytics or audit tools (e.g. Arbutus, IDEA, Alteryx, Python) is advantageous.

Contact us

To apply for this role, please send your CV with a cover letter to Palesa Letsoisa at palesa.letsoisa@rsmza.co.za. 

If you don't hear from us within four weeks, please consider your application unsuccessful.