Associate Risk Analyst - Independence Assurance Support

Career Family	Risk Management Service
Role Type	Associate Analyst/Analyst
Competency	Independence Assurance Support Group – GIS-QTT & AQIP
Role Rank	66

Associate Analyst/Analyst, Risk Management

This role requires the candidate to execute globally defined processes built in accordance with the EY Global (EYG) Independence policies aimed towards safeguarding EY as an Independent auditor. These services are provided to EY country practices across globe enabling them to take decisions on new client acceptances and/or continuances.

The Opportunity

Risk Management Services (RMS) is an internal function within EY GDS (Global Delivery services), responsible for protecting the organization from the risks that may arise from its professional practice. We work closely with all parts of the organization to identify and manage risks, providing coordinated advice and assistance on suite of services like Independence, Conflicts, Compliance, regulatory, policy and security issues as well as dealing with claims and queries regarding ethics. Formed in 2007, the RMS team is growing rapidly as a Center of Excellence for all standardized quality/compliance related activities.

This role will be part of the largest sub-service functions, i.e., Independence within Risk Management Services (RMS) responsible for assisting client-serving teams in maintaining EY’s Independence for its existing and prospective audit/non-audit clients.

Auditor Independence is a regulatory requirement that aims to create an ‘arm’s length’ distance between the Accounting Firm, its client serving employees and EY’s audit clients. This is done to ensure that that EY Member Practices and their professionals should be (in fact) and should appear to be (in appearance) free from interests that might be regarded as being incompatible with objectivity, integrity, and impartiality of the audit.

RMS Independence team is currently 1000+ people strong, operating from 4 countries and 7 centres: India (Gurugram, Kochi, Bengaluru), Poland (Wroclaw, Katowice), Philippines (Manila), Argentia (Buenos Aires). The team is closely integrated with Global Independence and has been involved in development of key Independence processes.

The role offers opportunities to work in a dynamic, growth-focused environment, with an objective of protecting EY’s reputation as an independent auditor, by providing support on niche profiles to EY member firm practices. It also involves close collaboration with global teams and stakeholders to strengthen the compliance framework and foster a mindset of continuous improvement and client enablement.

Key Responsibilities 

• An associate analyst in the team will be primarily responsible to develop working knowledge of firm level Independence concepts. The individual will be performing work procedures as laid down in the EYG Independence policies along with attaining hands-on experience in research/analysis and making updates post review by project managers to various EY tools and databases, thereby helping client serving/audit teams in mitigating independence-related risk.

• In this role, candidate will be required to perform a review of submissions of documents/ requests from client serving teams to evaluate completeness, accuracy, of requests raised and perform reconciliation, research and analysis of information with various EY Independence and finance tools to update these systems with accurate information. The individual will be required to communicate with project managers and team members from audit/pursuit teams to perform follow ups for responses and completion of procedures.

Technical expertise

• Build good understanding and ability to interpret client’s company structure, applicability of different entity attributes and relationships in accordance with audit client and affiliate definition as per EYG Independence policy.
• Build working knowledge of different internal Independence and financial tools and systems.
• Ability to comprehend interdependencies between systems to identify and fix discrepancies and bringing information in sync.
• Conduct secondary research using internal and external databases.

• Perform reconciliation, research and draft recommendations for review by project managers as part of the procedures.

• Actively participate in knowledge calibration sessions by asking relevant questions and highlight any process understanding gaps timely.
• Communicate clearly with engagement teams and stakeholders during follow-ups, ensuring timely completion of procedures.
• Develop basic understanding of AI and emerging technologies relevant to Independence processes, with a willingness to adopt digital tools for efficiency
• Understand and work towards meeting and exceeding the defined individual KPIs for the role.

Skills and attributes for success

• Maintain a client-centric mindset by prioritizing responsiveness and accuracy.
• Ability to work with an inclusive mindset.
• Possess strong communication and inter-personal skills.
• Prioritize tasks and manage time effectively to meet client expectations without compromising on quality or deadlines and keeping others informed of status and activities.
• Uphold the highest standards of ethics, integrity, and values.
• Understanding of existing technologies and willingness to adapt to new digital tools to enhance efficiency.