After David's Linked In post criticising the FCA appointment of an insider with no audit experience or training as their new Head of Internal Audit (as a qualified auditor himself) was picked up by The Times that first broke the story, he was interviewed and quoted on Page 1 of the Times business section
Anger at FCA's recruitment of ‘unqualified' internal auditor
The Financial Conduct Authority hired a chief internal auditor who does not have audit qualifications after advertising the role for only five working days, leading to claims that the recruitment process had been rigged in favour of an internal candidate. The appointment of Robin Jones, who has spent more than two decades working at the City regulator, has been greeted with surprise and anger in the internal audit profession. It can now be revealed that the FCA posted the role, which had an advertised salary of up to £220,000, on Monday, October 30, with a closing date of Sunday, November 5. Recruitment experts said senior roles should typically be advertised for four to six weeks.
David Symes, managing director of Compliance Recruitment Solutions, which specialises in recruiting compliance staff, said three weeks was the minimum that such a role should be advertised for. He said that allowing external candidates less than five working days to see the post and write an application would lead to questions as to whether a “genuine attempt” had been made to “source suitable outside talent” rather than a “cosmetic” one in a process that was a “foregone conclusion”.
A former FCA worker who has asked MPs on the Treasury select committee to look into the appointment claimed that it was “common knowledge within the regulator that the FCA will on occasion rig a recruitment process to stack the odds in favour of a preferred internal candidate”. The former worker, who spoke on condition of anonymity, alleged: “They do this by adding ‘essential skills' to the job specification that the preferred candidate is particularly strong in and then advertising the role for as little time as possible to minimise the chances of stronger candidates applying.” They alleged that the brief advertising period was “a fig leaf of cover for the appointment of an unqualified individual with no internal audit experience”.
The FCA said it had had a “strong response” to the recruitment advert, with more than 40 applications and four external candidates shortlisted for interview. Liam Coleman, chairman of the FCA's audit committee, said: “Robin's prior role was a director of risk and compliance and this was a sideways move. He was the best candidate in a competitive field and the committee is happy with the work he's doing.”
Public sector rules require a professional qualification for a senior internal auditor but the FCA said it was not obliged to follow these. Jones is now said to be working towards a “specific” qualification.
Public sector internal auditors provide independent assurance that an organisation's risk management, governance and internal control processes are operating effectively. These are sensitive issues for the regulator after a series of scandals and oversight failures. Jones joined the FCA in 2001 and has held 15 roles at the organisation. Internal auditors are supposed to have an impartial attitude and avoid conflicts of interest, such as supervising operations for which they were previously responsible. Jones has previously dealt with several contentious FCA matters such as its mishandling of the London Capital & Finance scandal.
Jones will recuse himself from areas where there are conflicts of interest, the FCA said.
Symes said he had never seen a senior auditor hired by a large organisation who did not have a qualification and that it was “quite amazing” that the FCA had done so whilst Mark Bishop, of Transparency Task Force, a consumer group, said: “When an organisation is under pressure to raise its game, appointing unqualified and inexperienced insiders to roles that would benefit from an outside perspective is not acceptable.”
The FCA previously faced criticism for failing to advertise externally for an executive to lead an overhaul of the watchdog before it appointed an insider to do the job.
Jones was approached for comment.