Auditor, Financial Controls
Orchard LLC

Auditor, Financial Controls - Federal Financials

Silver Spring, Maryland
@Orchard LLC is actively seeking to engage an experienced Auditor, Financial Controls for a new project, anticipated to last up to 5 years in support of NOAA's financial and business management modernization initiative. This role is in support of The National Ocean Service (NOS) and the Management and Budget Office (MBO), Office of Coast Survey (OCS) and Office of National Marine Sanctuaries (ONMS).

As the Auditor of Financial Controls, you will be the primary client interface for key initiatives within the following areas.

The implementation of the Financial Management and Data System (FMDS). The BAS/FMDS Program will encompass dedicated DOC business applications for:

• Core Financial Management (including loans, financial statements, and interfaces)
• Acquisitions Management
• Property Management (personal, real, and fleet)
• Enterprise Data Warehouse and reporting (to include data from BAS, Grants, Travel, and HR/Payroll)
• Data Archiving Solution
• All related administrative system interfaces

The primary goals of the BAS/FMDS program are to deploy:

• Single Instance, Single Configuration of Essential Mission Support Systems
• Enterprise-wide, standard data warehouse
• Modernized Financial, Procurement, and Asset Management Systems
• Modernized Data Platform.

Key duties and responsibilities include.

• Apply the knowledge of the Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board (FASAB and, Generally Accepted Government Auditing Standards (GAGAS standards, outcomes from recent self and program evaluations, and Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) programs to conduct a risk analysis and develop a recommended five-year internal audit plan.
• Aligned with the approved audit plan and the established program evaluations, the successful candidate shall perform evaluations of internal controls of financial, budgetary, and programmatic scope and support the annual management control review audit and A 123 audit elements.
• The results of evaluations are to be delivered through internal audits, research and position papers and process documentation.
• Act as liaison between auditors, bureau leads, and program personnel.
• Coordinate correspondence between external audit agencies, as well as private sector auditing firms performing audits on behalf of DOC and NOAA line offices.
• External audits include those audits conducted by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) as well as audits conducted by private sector auditing firms engaged by DOC to audit the Department's annual financial statements to satisfy the requirements of the Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990 to provide audited financial statements.
• In a typical year, you will support the NOS Auditor in performing a minimum of one internal review and one program evaluation, completing the annual A-123 statement of assurance, and serving in the liaison capacity for the A-123 and external audit(s).
• Review all audit requests, distribute requests to cognizant program office personnel, and establish task timelines.
• Prepare and submit Correction Action Instruction packages, in accordance with DOC and NOAA guidance, as necessary to resolve discrepancies, track the status of packages submitted to DOC and NOAA, and review pertinent cost, accounting, and finance, or other records to ensure that corrective actions taken are reflected in all financial and cost accumulation data systems.
• Update the audit plan on an annual basis.

Your background will include the following.

• In-depth understanding and experience executing within NOAA's Internal Control environment, including NOAA-specific business processes and systems for payments, collections, grants, property, and financial reporting. This includes experience identifying control weaknesses and gaps in NOAA business processes.
• Provides extensive experience executing the NOAA Management Control Review process required by NOAA Finance every year.
• Provides an in-depth understanding and experience performing NOAA financial statement audit tasks, including Provided by Client (PBC) preparation, tracking, review, and submittal to NOAA stakeholders; Presentation of NOAA business process walkthroughs directly to NOAA external auditors; preparation of whitepapers to respond to NOAA audit inquiries and observations; Development and execution of corrective action plans.
• Possesses extensive experience documenting NOAA processes and identifying key internal controls for NOAA's external auditors to internally manage risk within NOAA.
• Must have experience evaluating internal controls of a large governmental organization with multiple program requirements and multi-year program funding requirements.
• Must understand governmental accounting principles and concepts and application thereof as required by the Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board (FASAB) and provide advisory services on accounting and auditing topics, including heritage assets and property management.
• Must have a thorough knowledge of standards applicable to financial statement audits. The contractor shall thoroughly understand auditing concepts and the current application thereof in accordance with the Generally Accepted Government Auditing Standards (GAGAS).

Established in 2010, @Orchard LLC, also known as, Talent Orchard has an exceptional reputation, providing staffing solutions to time-sensitive, talent scarcity issues to deliver better talent management ROI. Our specialty lies in the critical area of program talent acquisition and resource management, not in one narrow skillset, but across many areas of technical and functional delivery. To learn more about our other exciting opportunities, visit our Jobs Page at www.atOrchard.com.

---