Find out the top 10 core skills you need to master as a senior forensic auditor and what hard skills you need to know to succeed in this job.

A Senior Forensic Auditor is responsible for foreseeing the fraud investigation department helping them deal with issues regarding fraud, regulatory compliance as well as business disputes that could pose a risk to the company. This position assists the organizations to manage fraud risks more effectively while treating it a critical business priority.

More responsibilities include reviewing financial data and other records that include emails in the context of an internal investigation or corrupt related matter, performing thorough background checks on both individuals and companies, meeting with company executives to understand how business processes work and identifying and mitigating fraud-related risks, reviewing policies and procedures while performing fraud risk assessment.

Core Skills Required to be a Senior Forensic Auditor

Core skills describe a set of non-technical abilities, knowledge, and understanding that form the basis for successful participation in the workplace. Core skills enable employees to efficiently and professionally navigate the world of work and interact with others, as well as adapt and think critically to solve problems.

Core skills are often tagged onto job descriptions to find or attract employees with specific essential core values that enable the company to remain competitive, build relationships, and improve productivity.

A senior forensic auditor should master the following 10 core skills to fulfill her job properly.

Motivating others:

Motivating is using persuasion, incentives and mental or physical stimulants to influence the way people think or behave individually or in groups.

A Senior Forensic Auditor ought to learn how to tap into the employee's enthusiasm as well as motivate the staff not just with money but with a motivation that comes through the daily relationship with each employee and creating an environment that fosters employee engagement and motivation.

Cooperation with colleagues:

Cooperation is the process of working with groups or teams for a common mutual benefit as opposed to working in competition or for selfish ambition.

A Senior Forensic Auditor should learn the art of creating a mutually beneficial exchange among the employees that dwells much on cooperation for the same mutual benefit with adequate resources for all to use rather than creating a spirit of competition.

Self Awareness:

Self Awareness is the ability to have a sound understanding of who you are as a person and how to relate to the world in which you live by understanding your strengths and weaknesses and how to manage them in the workplace.

A Senior Forensic Auditor must creatively know how to administer the workforce diversity by understanding the culture identity, biases, and stereotypes and become more aware on how he reflects his thoughts, feelings, and behavior towards the staff.

Project and Goal Focus:

Project and Goal Focus is setting your mind and heart on things that matter and add value to your life against those things that add no value at all or of little value.

A Senior Forensic Auditor ought to learn of early hiccups that may cause distraction and get to motivate the employees early enough to see the projects completed promptly and in good condition.

Deadlines - On time:

Deadlines - On time is the ability to prioritize the important tasks and setting up a plan on how to work on them first to deliver within the set period.

A Senior Forensic Auditor must have the art of managing deadlines by being able to prioritize the work that is set for scheduling to the workers according to how vital the projects are and how soon they need to be executed and submitted.

Financial Management:

Financial Management is the skill of learning how to handle accounting, finance, and organizational management through providing daily data on the operations that take place every day.

A Senior Forensic Auditor ought to be highly effective in planning and organization, controlling and management of the financial resources to achieve the company's organizational objectives that are laid down to see the growth of the enterprise.

Project Management:

Project Management is structuring a to-do list for your project or company containing tasks and responsibilities as well as creating a roadmap for the execution of those duties promptly.

A Senior Forensic Auditor must place emphasis on the application of the project management methodologies and principles by the staff in the daily functions and responsibilities to foster efficiently as well as create a competitive advantage in the heavily competitive business space.

Time Management:

Time Management is the capacity for an individual to assign specific time slots to activities as per their importance and urgency to make the best possible use of time.

A Senior Forensic Auditor must schedule each task within a stipulated period for each employee and ensure all the tasks are completed promptly thus actually teaching the staff the value of time and how to utilize it for the interest of the business and their growth.

Knowledge Management:

Knowledge Management is the ability to manage knowledge and information that is presented to the company from different sources without overlooking any of them.

A Senior Forensic Auditor ought to creatively channel all the new information, tools, input, and methodology mean by actively practicing the art of knowledge management within the business by harnessing the organization's inherent wisdom's platform in one place.

Mechanical Skills:

Mechanical Skills are the abilities to solve problems that arise in the workplace, although it may vary from one company to another.

A Senior Forensic Auditor must be well equipped with technical skills to handle any underlying mechanical problem that may arise from wrong scheduling to meeting unique customer needs, budget, legal constraints, environmental and social issues, technology changes and any other management requirements.

Hard Skills Required to be a Senior Forensic Auditor

Hard skills are job-specific skill sets, or expertise, that are teachable and whose presence can be tested through exams. While core skills are more difficult to quantify and less tangible, hard skills are quantifiable and more defined.

Hard skills are usually listed on an applicant's resume to help recruiters know the applicant's qualifications for the applied position. A recruiter, therefore, needs to review the applicant's resume and education to find out if he/she has the knowledge necessary to get the job done.

A senior forensic auditor should have a good command of the following hard skills to succeed in her job.

Senior Forensic Auditor: Hard skills list

Account Analysis
Account Reconciliation
Accounting Information Systems
Accounting Software
Accounts Payable
Accounting Processes
Accounting Principles
Accounts Receivable
Accuracy
ADP
Aging Reports
Analytical
Analysis
Annual Reports
Asset Management
Attention to Detail
Audits
Audit Schedules
Balance Sheets
Banking
Bank Deposits
Bank Reconciliations
Bill Payment
Bookkeeping
Budgets
Business Awareness
Cash Receipts
Certified Public Accountant (CPA)
Chart of Accounts
Check Runs
Collections
Commitment
Communication
Compliance
Computer
Corporate Reports
Corporate Tax
Cost Accounting
Credit Management
Credits
Crystal Reports
Debt Management
Depreciation
Detail Orientation
Federal Tax Law
Finance
Financial Analysis
Financial Reporting
Financial Software
Financial Statements
Financial Statement Analysis
Fixed Assets
Forecasts
Forecasting
Full Charge Bookkeeping
Full Cycle Month-End Close
Full Cycle Year-end Close
GAAP
General Ledger
Great Plains Accounting
Great Plains Dynamics
Income Tax
Interest Calculations
Interpersonal Skills
Invoices
IT Knowledge
Job Cost Reports
Journal Entry Preparation/Posting
Mathematical
Microsoft Office
Monthly Closes
Motivation
Multitasking
MS Access
MS Excel
MS Word
Numerical Competence
Oracle
Organization
Paychex
Payroll
Payroll Liabilities
Payroll Taxes
Peachtree
Personal Tax
Petty Cash
Platinum
Prepaid Income/Expenses
Problem Solving
Profit and Loss
Professionalism
QuickBooks
Reconciliation
Regulatory Filings
Reporting
Revenue Projections
Revenue Recognition
Sales Receipts
SAP
Special Projects
State Tax Law
Tax Analysis
Tax Compliance
Tax Filing
Tax Law
Tax Liabilities
Tax Reporting
Tax Returns
Tax Software
Technology
Teamwork
Time Management
Training
Trial Balance
Vouchers
Writing
Written Communication
Year End Reporting

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