Internal Audit Manager

The Internal Audit Manager owns the plan rather than the audit. The year starts with a risk assessment — interviews across the executive team, incident and loss data, regulatory change, and the group's strategic priorities — which converts into a plan the Audit Committee approves. Everything after that is delivery: resourcing, quality, escalation and the credibility of what is reported.

The role is also where internal audit becomes political in the honest sense. Deciding which businesses are audited, how findings are rated, and what is presented to the Audit Committee has consequences for executives. Managers who last are those whose judgement is trusted by both the Committee and the business, which requires being consistently proportionate rather than consistently tough.

In Singapore the seat usually carries regional scope: a Southeast Asia or Asia-Pacific plan delivered by a small in-house team, often supplemented by co-source partners for IT, data or specialist reviews. Managers in banks and insurers additionally operate against MAS expectations for the internal audit function, which raises documentation and independence standards.

Where this sits: the fourth rung of the Internal Audit & Risk pathway, above Senior Internal Auditor and alongside Risk Manager, leading to Head of Internal Audit. The practice-side equivalent is Audit Manager, and the common controllership exit is Finance Manager.

• Own the annual risk assessment and convert it into an audit plan approved by the Audit Committee.
• Resource and schedule the plan across the in-house team and any co-source specialists.
• Review audit scopes, findings and reports for proportionality, evidence and consistency of rating.
• Present audit results, thematic issues and plan progress to the Audit Committee and senior management.
• Own the quality assurance and improvement programme, including conformance with IIA standards.
• Manage escalation where management disputes a finding or misses remediation dates.
• Develop the team: coaching, review standards, certification support and succession for the in-charge seats.
• Advise on control design for new systems, entities and acquisitions without assuming ownership of them.

• A degree in accountancy, business, finance or information systems.
• Seven to ten years of audit experience, including several years in-charge and evidence of plan-level ownership.
• CIA and CA (Singapore) or ACCA; CISA or CRMA where IT and risk form part of the remit.
• Experience presenting to an Audit Committee or equivalent governance forum.
• Track record of managing a small team and of co-sourcing specialist reviews.
• Regional exposure across Southeast Asia entities, and familiarity with differing regulatory environments.

• Walk your risk assessment. How you gathered inputs, how you ranked them, and what you removed from the plan.
• Show an Audit Committee moment. A thematic issue you escalated and how the Committee responded to it.
• Explain your quality standard. Review depth, rating consistency and how you keep findings proportionate.
• Be specific on independence. Give a case where you declined ownership of a control while still advising on design.
• Ask about co-source budget. It tells you whether specialist reviews are genuinely deliverable in the plan.