recruiting

With the global financial crisis slowing down we are seeing a significantly increased level of activity in the transaction  space. Most notably the mining / resources sector is now again full of life. PPP / infrastructure is continuously strong and is representing the majority of work at Corality at present.

We need to look after our clients to keep them happy

With the increased activity comes an increased work load for our team members and we are now looking for a business developer to take on the responsibility of looking after our key clients to ensure that they know that we are always available for their projects.

Facilitating an easy engagement process

Working with Corality on a model audit engagement should be easy from a client’s perspective. Being responsive to requests and facilitating a no-nonse engagement process is at the core of what we do to respond to our client’s frustrations with the accounting firms’ model audit teams. The responsibility of the new person would be to ensure that client’s know that we are available and to assist in engagement matters and to generally keep clients happy.

Recruitment process?

We are not looking at running a big formal recruitment process at this stage as we prefer to have a more tailored approach and I would be interested in discussing this opportunity with anyone who believes it could be an interesting role. As always, we can make the role fit around the person - not the other way around.

Personal attributes of a business developer for financial model audit services

• experience from a transaction environment and understands the process of financing of projects $100m - 1 billion
• interested in building an international network (Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Australia)
• proven experience in business development

The role will be Sydney based for the first 12 months and can then be discussed. Options in the future include London, Frankfurt and Singapore. Should you also happen to love financial modelling and model audits then that is of course a big bonus, but if not then we can probably sort that out.

Interested? Give me a call on +61 2 9222 9222
(No recruiters please).

Money? We will tailor a package based around the risk appetite of the candidate. The right person will be willing to set high targets and get highly rewarded if they are reached.

Over the last few weeks we have been recruiting to fill two positions as Analysts at Corality specialising in financial model audits. While reviewing, short listing and interviewing candidates it has become clear that the majority of candidates are from three distinct categories: I have below tried to outline typical strengths of the different background when it comes to working successfully as a financial model auditor. Clearly everyone is different and I have had to generalised a bit to arrive at the conclusions below.

Accounting / audit / finance

The most common background by far in the field of financial modeling and financial model audit is accounting, audit or finance. The strength of this background is pretty clear given the similarities in process, structure and work performed in financial audit compared to financial model audit and this is also why it is so common to see auditors moving into the field of model audits.

The shortcomings of this particular background is in my view that other backgrounds may have stronger financial mathematics and numerical skills (actuarial), and stronger technology skills including Excel coding, tools, tricks (science, computing).

Science / computing / technology / engineering

A lot of people start out studying science and then working in a technical role for a few years before getting into financial modeling (often via an MBA, CFA or similar). Once the financial skills have been absorbed the result is candidates that have a ‘complete package’ of numerical excellence and financial awareness. Sure, I would agree that I am terribly biased here given my own background of a M.Sc. in Physics and a M.Bus.. in Finance, but anyways…

The main shortcoming of this group of candidates in general is the lack of client interaction, presentation of work outputs and customer service. (again, I have been guilty of all of the above when starting out in finance)

Actuarial studies

Actuarial studies give students a good mix of financial knowledge and ability to solve complex problems. These skills give them a great starting platform for a successful career in financial modeling and financial model audits. Actuarial students often have a very strong technical Excel background which certainly helps when starting out in financial modelling.

The shortcomings are not too dissimilar to the science category and for similar reasons. Students opting for actuarial studies tend to be more on the geeky side of life given their interest in mathematics etc. Trust me, I have a genuinely geeky background and know one when I see one.

A combination of actuarial studies, an outgoing personality and a couple of years in a role where complex problems are mixed with client interaction and written presentations generally result in very strong candidates for a financial modeling career.

Programmers - Good financial model audit material?

I would encourage more programmers to look into the financial model audit sector, in particular those who have been involved in structured software testing where the concepts of ‘release version’, bug control, bug reporting etc. These concepts are related to programming as well as model audits and in my view programmers have a lot of the core skills required to do a good job in financial modelling. Sure, these skills would have to be coupled with studies in finance to be able to make sense of the analysis, but this shouldn’t cause too much of a problem.

Over the last few weeks we have been recruiting to fill two positions as Analysts at Corality specialising in financial model audits. While reviewing, short listing and interviewing candidates it has become clear that the majority of candidates are from three distinct categories: I have below tried to outline typical strengths of the different background when it comes to working successfully as a financial model auditor. Clearly everyone is different and I have generalised a fair bit to arrive at the conclusions below.

Accounting / audit / finance

The most common background by far in the field of financial modeling and model audit is accounting, audit or finance. The strength of this background is pretty clear given the similarities in process, structure and work performed in financial audit compared to financial model audit and this is also why it is so common to see auditors moving into the field of model audits.

The shortcomings of this particular background is in my view that other backgrounds may have stronger financial mathematics and numerical skills (actuarial), and stronger technology skills including Excel coding, tools, tricks (science, computing).

Science / computing / technology

A lot of people start out studying science and then working in a technical role for a few years before getting into financial modeling (often via an MBA, CFA or similar). Once the financial skills have been absorbed the result is candidates that have a ‘complete package’ of numerical excellence and financial awareness. Sure, I would agree that I am terribly biased here given my own background of a M.Sc. in Physics and a M.Bus.. in Finance, but anyways…

The main shortcoming of this group of candidates in general is the lack of client interaction, presentation of work outputs and customer service. (again, I have been guilty of all of the above when starting out in finance)

Actuarial studies

Actuarial studies give students a good mix of financial knowledge and ability to solve complex problems. These skills give them a great starting platform for a successful career in financial modeling and financial model audits.

The shortcomings are not too dissimilar to the science category and for similar reasons. Students opting for actuarial studies tend to be more on the geeky side of life given their interest in mathematics etc. Trust me, I have a genuinely geeky background and know one when I see one.

A combination of actuarial studies, an outgoing personality and a couple of years in a role where complex problems are mixed with client interaction and written presentations generally result in very strong candidates for a financial modeling career.

Programmers - Good financial model audit material?

I would encourage more programmers to look into the financial model audit sector, in particular those who have been involved in structured software testing where the concepts of ‘release version’, bug control, bug reporting etc. These concepts are related to programming as well as model audits and in my view programmers have a lot of the core skills required to do a good job in financial modeling. Sure, these skills would have to be coupled with studies in finance to be able to make sense of the analysis, but this shouldn’t cause too much of a problem.

We have now had an accepted offer for the role of Associate - Financial Model Audit and are now looking to further expand the team by taking on two financial modelling analysts.

The financial modelling analyst role description will tell you the whole story but I thought I would expand on it slightly here.

We are trying to find two people with the following attributes

• Willing to put in 110% to become the most respected financial model audit team in the world
• Numerically and technically exceptional and combining this with a consultative and professional approach
• Love the challenge of global projects in infrastructure, utilities, power, mining, oil and gas, renewable energy
• Enjoys the challenge of understanding every singe detail of some very complex transactions and financial models
• Interested in working globally - we have clients all over the world - Germany, Saudi, Singapore, Vietnam, Norway, United Kingdom…

We are offering AUD 60k + super + bonus for this role and can see that a successful new joiner should be able to increase that significantly relatively quickly. A quarterly bonus structure makes sure that hard work is remunerated without having to wait a full year on it…

If you think you are our person, please let me know, and if not - tell your friends!

Since the launch of the brand Corality in Dec 2008 (post the spin-off from Navigator Project Finance) we have seen a big upswing on financial model audit mandates and we are now recruiting to get us ready for busy years ahead.

The last few months have been quite busy for the team mainly in the infrastructure/water/utilities space and there has been limited time to focus on recruiting. We are now overdue on filling the role as Senior Associate and will be conducting interviews over the coming weeks.

If you are interested in a new challenge in the field of financial model audit then please give me a call on +61 2 9222 9222 for a confidential discussion.

Key attributes for a Senior Associate in Financial model audit

In short, we are looking for someone who has significant experience in auditing financial models in a range of industry sectors and who would be comfortable in further developing our already leading processes and to train and coach junior team members. Based on this it is quite likely that you have a background in one of the accounting firms or in one of the more specialised model audit/actuarial firms.

Financial model audit outside the big accounting firms

Working in a specialised, non-accounting, firm has many advantages

• Have a direct and immediate impact on the business
• Flexible working hours and arrangements
• Less admin and reporting
• A more direct approach to implementing improvements
• Closer interaction with clients
• Instant recognition for good work and a quarterly bonus scheme
• A global client base

How do you know if this is right for you?

This is pretty simple question to answer for the right person. The infrastructure sector is, and will, be quite active for the coming years. If you can answer ‘yes’ to the following questions then I would very much like to have a chat with you.

Have you….

• Performed financial model audit on +10 infrastructure projects of USD/AUD/GBP +100m
• Trained and coached junior team members in the art of financial model audits

The job is based in Sydney, however if you are located somewhere else but would be interested in working in a fantastic city, live by the beach and enjoy the most comfortable climate on the planet then we could probably work something out to get you over here.

Salary expectations for this role

Getting the right salary is important for motivation. We have a pretty good understanding of how much the competition is paying and I am confident that we can give the right person a very good incentive to move away for your current role. This is all made even more attractive by a quarterly bonus scheme which makes the sometimes very intense work more enjoyable.

If you are worried about the salary, we could have a chat about your expectations early on in the interview to make sure that we are on the same page before getting more formal in the interview process.