Financial audit is the most classic entry point into finance: firms hire in volume, train juniors on the job and open many doors afterwards, from corporate finance to consulting. But behind the "Big 4" image lies a precise job, with its busy seasons, its rhythm and its codes. Here is what auditors really do, which studies lead there, what the pay looks like and where an early audit career can take you.
What does a financial auditor actually do day to day?
A financial auditor checks that a company's accounts give a true and fair view of its situation. They do not keep the books: they review the work of those who do, and give an independent opinion on the annual accounts.
An audit engagement usually runs in three stages:
- Planning: understanding the client's business, identifying risk areas, choosing the controls to run.
- Interim and final work: testing internal controls, bank reconciliations, confirmations with customers and suppliers, checks on inventory, fixed assets, provisions and revenue.
- Conclusion: reviewing open points with the client, writing the summary and recommendations, report signed by the partner or statutory auditor.
Day to day, a junior auditor spends most of their time testing samples, filling in working papers, asking the client's accounting team questions and documenting conclusions. The work is often done at the client's premises, as a team, with a senior and a manager reviewing.
Statutory audit and contractual audit. Statutory audit (certifying the accounts) is mandatory above certain thresholds and leads to the statutory auditor role (commissaire aux comptes in France). Contractual engagements (due diligence, acquisition audits, procedure reviews) are more varied and closer to consulting. Both exist at the Big 4, with dedicated teams.
💡 Learn more: if you are aiming for a firm, our guide to Big Four recruitment: stages and tests details the interview process.
Studies and routes into the profession
There is no single route. Firms hire varied profiles, provided you have a solid accounting and finance base.
The most common routes
- Business school (Grande École or equivalent) with a finance, accounting or audit specialisation: the majority profile in the large firms.
- University: a master's in accounting, control and audit (CCA), corporate finance or audit, often as a work-study programme.
- Accounting track: DCG then DSCG, which also prepare for the chartered accountant qualification (see this overview at Diplomeo 🔗).
- Engineering school with a specialisation year or a double degree, rarer but welcome for IT or data audits.
Work-study and internships
Work-study has become one of the main entry doors: it lets you see a full audit cycle, learn the firm's tools and land a job offer more easily. End-of-studies internships are also a classic route, with a very marked recruitment season. For timing, see our article on the finance and consulting recruitment calendar.
And to become a statutory auditor?
The statutory auditor title requires a regulated path: a master's-level degree or equivalent, a professional internship of several years in a firm, then an aptitude exam. The exact conditions change, so check them with the profession's bodies. L'Étudiant offers an overview of the job 🔗 with its duties and training (in French).
Key skills recruiters expect
Firms recruit less on ultra-specialised knowledge than on a solid foundation and behavioural qualities.
Technical skills:
- Accounting and standards: command of the chart of accounts, reading a balance sheet, income statement and cash-flow statement, a base in French GAAP and IFRS.
- Excel: sorting, pivot tables, lookups, consistency checks. It is the everyday tool (see our essential Excel skills for finance).
- Data analysis: firms increasingly use tools that analyse entire populations of transactions. A first experience with SQL or visualisation is a plus.
- English: essential in international firms, where part of the files and exchanges are in English.
Behavioural qualities:
- Rigour and critical thinking: doubt politely, verify, assume nothing.
- Communication: asking the right questions of people who are sometimes hard to reach.
- Handling workload: closing periods are intense. Knowing how to organise yourself is a real criterion.
- Teamwork: an audit is collective work.
These qualities appear in our article on essential soft skills in finance.
Salary and pay at each stage
Pay varies by firm, city, degree level and period. The following are orders of magnitude, to be checked against current offers and the grids published by firms.
- Work-study student or intern: pay set by the status (apprenticeship or internship agreement), sometimes with a bonus depending on the firm.
- Junior auditor (0 to 2 years): the first step, pay around an early-career firm salary, with steady progression.
- Experienced auditor / senior (2 to 4 years): bigger raises at each grade change, with more responsibility in the field.
- Manager (5 years and more): pay rises clearly, in exchange for managing teams and the client relationship.
- Partner: variable pay tied to the firm's results, after many years.
To compare audit with other tracks, see our article on salaries in finance. Audit pays less than investment banking early on, but offers a clear grade progression and a recognised training.
Career paths and exit options
Audit is often a springboard as much as a career. After two to five years, many profiles move on.
Staying in the firm
Progression follows the grades: junior, experienced, senior, manager, senior manager, director, partner. Firms also offer bridges to other service lines: advisory, transaction services, tax, risk.
Moving to the corporate side
- Management control and FP&A: the auditor profile is highly valued for its rigour (see becoming a management controller).
- Corporate finance: audit is a frequent path to the CFO role (see becoming a CFO).
- Internal audit and compliance: the transition is natural (see our example internal audit CV).
- Transaction services, M&A, private equity: the strongest due diligence profiles can join investment teams.
Many auditors stay in a firm for less than five years, which does not mean audit "leads nowhere": it is an accelerated training in the accounts of many companies.
How to showcase this profile on your CV
A junior auditor's CV must show that you master the method, not only that you "took part in engagements".
What to do:
- Give the context: client sectors, size, standards ("statutory audit of an industrial group, IFRS").
- Quantify: number of engagements, scope covered, volume of transactions tested, number of audit points raised.
- Name the tools: advanced Excel, data analysis tools, the firm's audit software.
- Show autonomy: "took charge of the sales cycle on three engagements".
Example bullet: "Statutory audit of three subsidiaries of an industrial group (combined revenue of €200M): tested the purchase-to-payment cycle on 400 transactions, raised 5 adjustment points to the manager, corrected before closing."
To structure the whole document, see our guide to writing a CV for finance. An audit CV is read quickly: FinanceCV handles the layout so you do not have to worry about design, and the document it produces is ATS-compatible, so it is read correctly by the screening software firms use at scale.
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