Audit & Risk

There’s something special about the Howdens internal audit and risk team. The way we work, and our attitude, are strikingly different to what you’ll find in other companies.

For starters, we have the same helpful and entrepreneurial spirit that you’ll see elsewhere at Howdens. We have a strong service ethic, and we deal with other departments with the same urgency and care as we would with customers.

We focus on building relationships with other teams by listening and understanding how they work. Above all, we do not sit behind our desks like remote accountants. Instead, we expect all the team to work primarily face-to-face.

As you’d expect, the business implements strict controls over high-risk assets such as stock and cash. And thanks to this control framework and our robust oversight, bad debts are negligible and the whole company understands the importance of scrupulous asset management.

The team has a broad set of expertise and can use data analytics, provided by the Howdens’ single ERP system, to inform technical audits across the group. Operational, technical (IT) and financial audit managers can also carry out subject-matter-specific audits and integrated audits together to ensure process risk is assured end-to-end, and we use a risk management tool that ensures the audit team stays focused on the key risks to the business.

Howdens encourages opportunistic initiatives such as trials and special offers, new products and designs. Managers know that they’re responsible for their own initiatives and implement these at a local level. The audit and risk team needs to understand this highly entrepreneurial and commercial decision making environment in the context of risk management.

We’re looking for friendly, open-minded and outgoing people. Personality is key – sometimes more important than qualifications and experience – because this a people business.