Role guide
Updated 22 September 2026
For applicants in the Quill Capital Partners Glasgow recruitment assignment, the documented process starts with a 20-to-30-minute consultant call about the applicant's background, motivations and fit for the Glasgow role. This guide explains that employer-specific example and the separate National Audit Office internal-promotion shortlisting route for existing staff. It also gives practical preparation steps without treating either route as standard UK-wide practice.
The Quill Capital Partners stages relate to one recruiter-described Glasgow assignment involving an unnamed hiring firm, not a standard UK-wide process. The National Audit Office example applies only to internal promotion to Audit Manager/Band 1 and does not establish the complete later assessment sequence.
Initial consultant call
Consultant call
20 to 30 minutes
Depends on the employerFor applicants in the Quill Capital Partners Glasgow recruitment assignment, an initial consultant call covers the applicant's background, motivations and fit for the Glasgow role.
Technical and competency interview
Technical and competency interview
Depends on the employerFor applicants in the Quill Capital Partners Glasgow recruitment assignment, the stated first round is a technical and competency interview with a senior team member covering relevant transaction or product experience.
Case study or technical exercise
Take-home or on-site case study or technical exercise
Depends on the employerFor applicants in the Quill Capital Partners Glasgow recruitment assignment, the process includes a take-home or on-site case study or technical exercise testing modelling, analysis or written work.
Final discussion
Case-study and longer-term fit discussion
Depends on the employerFor applicants reaching the final round of the Quill Capital Partners recruitment assignment, senior decision-makers discuss the case study and explore the applicant's longer-term fit with the team and firm.
Internal-promotion shortlisting
Panel review of promotion evidence
Depends on the employerFor existing National Audit Office staff seeking promotion to Audit Manager/Band 1, a shortlisting panel assesses the application, performance record, recent appraisals and Snapshots, the performance coach's statement and other relevant panel views.
Start with evidence rather than polished scripts. Choose truthful examples showing your personal actions, reasoning, result and learning. Check them against your Audit Manager CV so that dates, responsibilities and outcomes remain consistent. If your experience centres on accounting management rather than leading audit engagements, compare the Accounting Manager Interview Preparation Guide before choosing your examples.
Use professional guidance as a source of preparation prompts, not as proof of what every employer assesses. For auditors progressing to or working in an audit-manager role, ICAEW advises considering a bottom-up budget and using prior-year actual costs as a reference instead of simply copying the previous budget. For audit managers responsible for audit budgets and resourcing, ICAEW advises selecting an appropriately skilled team, including experts where needed, and budgeting for the team's time and costs. For audit managers briefing, monitoring and reviewing audit teams, ICAEW advises making the case for professional scepticism. For audit managers reviewing files and team members' work, ICAEW advises developing file-review skills and cautions that overzealous review points can demotivate staff. For Audit Managers planning audits within the ICAEW and UK auditing context, ICAEW says planning should account for efficient as well as effective auditing. For Audit Managers applying auditing and financial-reporting standards, ICAEW advises remaining technically current and continuing professional development for their practical application.
If you are targeting the HM Revenue & Customs CCG Audit Manager role at Senior Officer level, prepare against its specific remit rather than assuming it describes every Audit Manager post. In that role, the Audit Manager oversees the day-to-day operations of a team that may include HO-grade managers and staff below that grade. The same role collaborates with other managers to plan section workflow, meet deadlines, find efficiencies and deliver business objectives. HM Revenue & Customs makes that Senior Officer Audit Manager accountable for team business results, performance measurement and risk-based management assurance. The role also champions inclusion, builds team capability and acts as a visible, active leader. It supports HO and O managers by acting as a sounding board on difficult management issues. HM Revenue & Customs also expects that role to help the team respond to change and uncertainty and develop for future needs.
An Audit Manager may coach and mentor assistant managers so that engagements are completed on time, cost-effectively and to the required standard.
An Audit Manager may oversee work for compliance with client and statutory audit methodology while considering relevant internal and external factors and the need for timely delivery.
In UK accountancy practice, an Audit Manager may lead an audit engagement from planning through completion, coordinating the timetable, budget and audit process; the exact scope varies by firm.
A specific UK Audit Manager vacancy required oversight of audits, regulatory compliance and high-quality client service; requirements differ between employers.
An Audit Manager may agree audit timetables, brief the audit team and share information with clients, business departments and staff; the client portfolio and responsibilities vary by firm.
An Audit Manager in UK accountancy practice may brief specialists and other audit team members, supervise the audit process and direct assistant managers in delivering engagements.
An Audit Manager in UK accountancy practice may manage client relationships, share information and identify current or future audit requirements; some UK vacancies also refer to supporting high-quality client service.
Use the answer plans as prompts, not scripts. Your examples should sound like you.
Practise explaining a demanding decision in enough detail to show your own actions, reasoning, constraints, result and learning.
What they want to learn: Assess whether the candidate can turn an audit plan into controlled delivery while making sensible trade-offs under time and budget constraints.
Evidence to use: For labelled Audit Manager interview practice on budgeting and resourcing, ICAEW advises budgeting early, discussing fees with the client and avoiding an underestimate of the resources needed for a quality audit; this is operational guidance, not a reported interview question, and responsibilities may vary by firm. Choose a truthful engagement where a material change forced you to revise the plan.
What they want to learn: Examine whether the candidate can weigh evidence, compliance, delivery constraints and audit risk to make a defensible decision.
Evidence to use: Select a decision you can discuss without disclosing confidential information. Recall the options, information available at the time, record you made and observed result.
Keep team direction and individual coaching distinct, using one truthful example for each.
What they want to learn: Explore how the candidate sets direction, coordinates people with different responsibilities and maintains collective performance across an engagement.
Evidence to use: Choose an audit involving people with different responsibilities. Prepare one specific moment that shows how your direction affected the team's work.
What they want to learn: Assess whether the candidate can set clear expectations, give useful feedback and support improved performance while protecting engagement delivery.
Evidence to use: Prepare an example where you can describe the initial shortfall and later change in concrete terms while respecting the other person's privacy.
Prepare examples that show how you listened, explained your position and gave different audiences what they needed to act.
What they want to learn: Assess whether the candidate can understand client needs without losing sight of audit requirements, quality or delivery.
Evidence to use: Choose a genuine disagreement rather than a routine update. Recall how you established the client's priorities and explained your position.
What they want to learn: Assess whether the candidate communicates audit information accurately and gives each audience what it needs to act.
Evidence to use: Select one event where you communicated the same underlying matter to a client and the audit team. Reconstruct what each audience needed from you.
Practise a candid account of a difficult position, including what you said, what you did and the observed consequences.
What they want to learn: Assess whether the candidate will uphold professional and regulatory duties when doing so is inconvenient or creates tension.
Evidence to use: Choose a truthful example where protecting compliance or audit quality involved a genuine disagreement, cost or delivery consequence. Prepare to explain your own words and actions.
This helps you judge whether the remit and level of ownership suit your experience and next career step.
The answer can show how the firm handles competing demands and supports managers when plans need to change.
This clarifies the people you would direct, the support available and how the firm approaches resourcing.
This helps you understand the firm's approach to development and the time managers receive for supporting others.
The response can show how escalation works and how much support managers receive in sensitive discussions.
This lets you assess the practical support available for continued learning alongside engagement responsibilities.
This gives you a clearer basis for judging the early priorities, expectations and available support.
For a National Audit Office internal promotion, treating the CV update as a task to leave until the campaign is under way.
National Audit Office promotion guidance encourages staff to maintain an up-to-date CV because the process would normally require one.
For a National Audit Office internal promotion, overlooking available practice support without first deciding whether it would help.
National Audit Office candidates may arrange a practice interview with colleagues or seek other support, including diversity-network advice. This is optional, and uptake is not assessed.
Giving a long engagement history without making your own decisions and actions clear.
Choose the relevant turning point, explain what you personally did, then state the result and what you learnt.
For auditors progressing to or working in an audit-manager role, treating the previous audit budget as a figure to copy.
ICAEW advises this group to consider building budgets from the bottom up and using prior-year actual costs as a reference.
For audit managers reviewing files and team members' work, discussing every review point as though it had equal value.
ICAEW advises audit managers to develop file-review skills and cautions that overzealous review points can demotivate staff.
For Audit Managers applying auditing and financial-reporting standards, relying on a vague claim that their technical knowledge is current.
ICAEW advises these Audit Managers to remain technically current and continue professional development for the practical application of those standards.
After the interview, write down the questions, any commitments you made and points that still need clarification. Send a brief, factual thank-you message to the named contact. Refer to one specific part of the conversation, confirm your interest without overselling it, and provide extra information only if it was requested or previously promised.
From guide to application
Use cvlift to tailor your CV to the role and bring the most relevant experience forward. Then use this guide to practise the examples behind it.
