BDO South Africa is a leading professional services firm that is part of the extensive BDO global network, which has representation in more than 160 countries. The company offers audit, advisory, tax, and business services outsourcing to a wide range of clients, from individuals and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to large listed entities.

Primary Purpose of the Job

This role will be a key member of the Compliance Team that supports BDO South Africa in building a resilient and successful business, by:

• Designing and facilitating effective and efficient compliance processes with clearly defined roles and responsibilities, that enable business to deliver exceptional client service
• Being a trusted advisor to business, advising on regulations, policies and procedures and enhancing skills through focused training and awareness programmes
• Implementing monitoring processes, providing value-add reporting and ensuring remedial action is taken for identified non-compliance
• Entrenching a strong culture in the firm that is about more than pure compliance, but also about promoting a message that everyone has a role to play in protecting the firm against risk.
• The team is responsible for the “Relevant Ethical Requirements (including Independence)” and “Acceptance and Continuance of Client Relationships and Specific Engagements” components of ISQM1.
• The Compliance Practitioner role will report into the Senior Manager: Independence, Conflicts and Ethics within the broader Compliance team, and will be responsible for designing, implementing and monitoring effective and efficient processes to ensure compliance with policies relating to the above components.

Requirements
Main Duties and Responsibilities

Non-Assurance Services (NAS) Process:

• Monitoring and review of NAS to Public Interest Entities. Includes drafting of concurrence letters and meticulous maintenance of NAS tracker and register.
• Participate in current automation initiative.

Monitoring and Maintaining Firm Entity Management System:

• Maintain firm’s prohibited entity list.
• Efficient facilitation of quarterly public interest entity validations.

Breach Remediation Assistance:

• Drafting breach consultations and assisting with implementation of remediation where it pertains to the Independence, Conflicts and Ethics function.
• Communication of remediation actions to other stakeholders and tracking successful implementation.

Training and Communication:

• Development of content to create awareness of Independence, Conflicts and Ethics through various information methods, including email communication and webcast training.

Annual Independence Declaration Process:

• Assistance with annual independence declaration process, including roll-out, exception resolution and reporting to leadership.

New Joiner Declaration Process and Training:

• Presenting training to new joiners on Independence, Conflicts and Ethics.
• Assistance with new joiner declaration process, including roll-out, exception resolution and reporting to leadership.

Financial Interest Declaration Process:

• Assistance with quarterly financial interest declaration process, including roll-out, exception resolution and reporting to leadership.

Consultations:

• Assist with consultations related to firm and personal independence matters.

Internal and External Review Readiness:

• Ensure continuous readiness for internal monitoring and external regulatory reviews.

Qualifications, Recognition of Prior Learning, Work Experience, and Knowledge

• Qualifications/Recognition of Prior Learning equivalent
• A qualification in Compliance, Risk, Finance or Audit

Work Experience

• 2-3 years of experience in similar risk management, independence and/or compliance roles.
• Experience within a professional services/audit firm would be advantageous.
• Design and implementation of policies and processes for regulatory compliance and risk mitigation.
• Training design and presentation
• Project management experience
• Business analysis experience relating to technology solutions

Knowledge

• Intermediate Excel, Word and PowerPoint.
• Excellent written and spoken English language skills

Competencies: Technical & Behavioural

Technical Competencies

• Efficient processing of compliance related tasks.
• Progress reporting and Project Management.
• Design and review controls to mitigate identified risks.
• Attention to detail

Behavioural Competencies

• Good interpersonal and organisational skills
• Strong spoken and written communication skills
• Ability to work independently and collaborate with team members
• A proactive approach to continuous improvement