Audit and Assurance - Sustainability Assurance - Associate 2

At PwC, our people in audit and assurance focus on providing independent and objective assessments of financial statements, internal controls, and other assurable information enhancing the credibility and reliability of this information with a variety of stakeholders. They evaluate compliance with regulations including assessing governance and risk management processes and related controls. In sustainability assurance, you will focus on obtaining limited or reasonable assurance about whether sustainability reporting, for selected KPIs or as a whole,is free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud (that can take the form of "greenwashing") or error, and to issue an auditor’s opinion, in order to help organisations and their stakeholders build trust in their sustainability strategy and performance while complying with relevant regulations. Your work will include assessing the existence of of gaps between disclosure and sustainability reporting frameworks, assessing materiality analysis and reporting process, testing data quality and controls.

Driven by curiosity, you are a reliable, contributing member of a team. In our fast-paced environment, you are expected to adapt to working with a variety of clients and team members, each presenting varying challenges and scope. Every experience is an opportunity to learn and grow. You are expected to take ownership and consistently deliver quality work that drives value for our clients and success as a team. As you navigate through the Firm, you build a brand for yourself, opening doors to more opportunities.

Examples Of The Skills, Knowledge, And Experiences You Need To Lead And Deliver Value At This Level Include But Are Not Limited To:

• Apply a learning mindset and take ownership for your own development.
• Appreciate diverse perspectives, needs, and feelings of others.
• Adopt habits to sustain high performance and develop your potential.
• Actively listen, ask questions to check understanding, and clearly express ideas.
• Seek, reflect, act on, and give feedback.
• Gather information from a range of sources to analyse facts and discern patterns.
• Commit to understanding how the business works and building commercial awareness.
• Learn and apply professional and technical standards (e.g. refer to specific PwC tax and audit guidance), uphold the Firm's code of conduct and independence requirements.
  
  

Job Description

Main Purpose of the job and key background information

Driven by curiosity, you are a reliable, contributing member of a team. In our fast-paced environment, you are expected to adapt to working with a variety of clients and team members, each presenting varying challenges and scope. Every experience is an opportunity to learn and grow. You are expected to take ownership and consistently deliver quality work that drives value for our clients and success as a team. As you navigate through the Firm, you build a brand for yourself, opening doors to more opportunities.

At PwC, our people in sustainability focus on integrating environmental, social, economic, and governance considerations into business strategies and operations. They provide guidance and support to organizations by managing sustainability risks, identifying opportunities, and driving positive social and environmental impact.

Those in sustainability reporting and assurance at PwC will focus on:

• Increasing the capability of clients' reporting function to meet regulation and stakeholder needs for trusted transparent reporting, covering activities such as scoping, materiality, gap assessments and offering technical interpretation of regulatory or voluntary frameworks/ standards.
• Calculating the GHG Inventory for the client and prepare Inventory Management Plans.
• Helping provide independent assurance over sustainability metrics and frameworks/ standards (voluntary and regulated).
  
  

Examples Of The Skills, Knowledge, And Experiences You Need To Lead And Deliver Value At This Level Include But Are Not Limited To:

• Apply a learning mindset and take ownership for your own development.
• Appreciate diverse perspectives, needs, and feelings of others.
• Adopt habits to sustain high performance and develop your potential.
• Actively listen, ask questions to check understanding, and clearly express ideas.
• Seek, reflect, act on, and give feedback.
• Gather information from a range of sources to analyze facts and discern patterns.
• Commit to understanding how the business works and building commercial awareness.
• Implement firm methodologies and technology resources.
• Learn and apply professional and technical standards (e.g., refer to specific PwC audit guidance), uphold the Firm's code of conduct and independence requirements. We are looking for an extremely self-motivated individual who will relish the opportunity to join a growing part of the PwC business, using their skills in developing key internal relationships. You will play an integral role in PwC’s ESG services provided to clients. Understand the process workflow related to work requests from initiation through completion, understand how workflow is managed within the firm's workflow management tool, understand optimal and required manner in which to document results of work performed Participate in a wide range of projects and collaborate across multiple work streams or teams ; consistently demonstrating creative thinking, individual initiative and timely completion of assigned work Consistently demonstrate teamwork dynamics by working as a team member: understand personal and team roles; contribute to a positive working environment by building solid relationships with team members; and proactively seek guidance, clarification and feedback. Serve as participant on communications with numerous engagement teams The individual should have the ability to work effectively under pressure without compromising professional standards or quality of the work being performed.
  
  

As part of the ESG team members will assist territory engagement teams with multiple ESG specific related activities as given below. Desktop research including both qualitative and quantitative aspect of various ESG / sustainability matrices (GHG, D&I etc.) for companies in diversified sectors and comparing with multiple framework and rating requirement to support the landscape assessment Supporting the assurance process for non-financial data including substantive testing / analytical Procedures / test of details / for various ESG / Sustainability matrices (GHG, D&I, Waste, Water, Biodiversity etc) GHG Inventory Workbook and IMP preparation as per GHG protocol Documentation of current ESG process, creation of guidelines, checklists, policies, procedures, and other related program content, to align with best practice and frameworks as part of ESG readiness program Perform work and provide related deliverables in accordance with SDC User Guide instructions as applied to engagement team work request submissions Maintain working knowledge of SDC User Guides Monitor time and manage deadlines Adhere to PwC SDC policies and procedures Participate in training, coaching and other developmental opportunities

Requirements

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor's or Masters Degree in master’s degree in accounting, Business Administration/Management, Computer Science, Information Technology/ Information Systems, Economics, Engineering, Environmental Law/ Science, Finance, Management Information Systems, Mathematics, Sustainability and/or other relevant degrees.
• Minimum Accounting and Statistics/ Sustainability Management and related fields / Management Information Systems/Engineering
• 1 year of financial and/ or non-financial auditing or consulting experience. Sustainability experience would be preferred.
  
  

Minimum 1 -3 years experience in the domains mentioned in the Job Description above – Candidates with “Big 4” or equivalent experience would be preferred

Certification(s) Preferred (not Mandatory):

• Any auditing or accounting related credentials, e.g., CPA, charted accountant, etc.
• SASB FSA Level 1 /Level 2Credential and/ or other relevant sustainability credentials.
• ISO 14064 Greenhouse Gas Validation and Verification
• GRI/TCFD Certification
• ISO 14001 Environmental Management Systems
  
  

Knowledge/ Skills Requirements:

• Basic Knowledge of Global sustainability regulations/ frameworks/ standards such as SASBCSRD, California Climate Bills, SEC Climate Rule, ISSB, TCFD, CDP, GRI, GHG protocol, and ESG ratings (MSCI, Sustainalytics) etc.
• Basic understanding of audit concepts and, business process risk and regulations controls.specific to non-financial data
• Basic understanding of concept of carbon neutrality and Net Zero, circular economy, environmental due diligence
• Experience with Microsoft suite of products (i.e., Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Visio) including basic understanding of data visualization and analytics. Team Player, committed to provide high quality and adhering to engagement deadlines
  
  

What Sets You Apart:

• Creative problem-solving abilities and consultancy mindset.
• Understanding current and emerging sustainability reporting frameworks.
• Building reliable relationships with key stakeholders.
• Conducting analyses leveraging creative and critical thinking.
• Demonstrating flexibility. Strong organizational and interpersonal skills; A highly motivated team player with excellent oral and written communication skills; Willing to take up additional responsibilities; Demonstrates high attention to detail and ability to handle large amounts of technical information