Internal Audit Graduate Scheme

Why join EDF Energy?

EDF Energy is a company that's seen a vast amount of change already. In the space of only a few years, we've grown to become a major name in the energy market. We've won major contracts to serve customers like Canary Wharf, the Channel Tunnel and several international airports. We've been named sustainability partner for both the 2012 Olympics, and for London as a whole, in conjunction with the Mayor. We're also already well on the way to tackling big issues like climate change, searching for new sources of energy and ways to decrease our impact on the environment.

Internal Audit will contribute to helping us realise these goals. Since uniting a group of diverse energy companies, including London Energy and Seeboard, a few years ago, they've helped us highlight areas for us to improve the way the business works.

This is an exciting stage in our history. What's more, the speed and volatility of the energy market means that change within our business is set to continue apace. And it's change that will affect you most in Internal Audit – and lend both interest and challenge to your career.

What will you be doing?

The graduate programme here lasts 24 months. As we touched on earlier, there are two possible routes for graduates here, depending on your skills. If you show real analytical talent and are particularly good at teasing important insights from data, we may send you on a more energy market risk-focused programme. If you're more of an all-rounder, however, we'll give you a broader, more generalist programme.

Whichever you're involved in, you'll experience a range of different placements, from the following list. Audits tend to last around two months, so you'll be able to see through between six to eight audits during the programme. These placements could consist of the following areas:

  1. Risk-based
    Here, you'll look at the material risks we face, and give your opinion on how well the company is managing those risks. This could cover virtually any headline risk, from our retail strategy to health and safety to our IT strategy.
  2. Data Analysis
    As you might imagine, you'll investigate clusters, trends and patterns in a variety of data – from transactions associated with energy trading, or procurement of critical goods and services to the overtime our people put in, or company expenses.
  3. Special Investigations
    Very rarely, we're called in to investigate a serious error or a case of fraud. Clearly, integrity and confidentiality are key.
  4. Process Reviews
    A more traditional audit cycle is involved here: you'll look at how fluently our branches work, and how their critical processes are controlled. Your focus here will be on the risks involved.
  5. Projects
    When a big project or future initiative is signed off, Internal Audit get involved from the beginning, looking at the methodology, sign/off and review processes and how in general the project is likely to be managed.

You may also get the chance to work with the EDF Group Audit team who are based in Paris but often spend time in the UK undertaking audits.

If you take on the energy market risk-focused role, you'll gain experience in our sister company, EDF Trading – possibly undertaking an audit of the trading floor activities – and a stint in our Energy branch, possibly doing an audit on our generation capabilities – a process which is particularly fascinating considering that, as a business, we're involved in every stage of the energy cycle.