A sales auditor ensures that a company's internal policies, mechanisms and guidelines around sales and revenue processes comply with regulatory standards, senior management's recommendations and industry practices. This employee uses auditing skills to review sales data and detect errors that may be due to fraud, technology breakdowns or accounting inaccuracies.

Responsibilities

A sales auditor works under the guidance of an audit manager to ensure that a corporation's sales procedures and controls are adequate, operating properly and in compliance with firm policies and regulatory standards. A "control" is a set of instructions that top management establishes to limit risks of loss due to error, fraud, cash theft or technology malfunction. A control is adequate if it clearly tells employees involved in sales processes how to perform tasks and report control problems. An effective sales control finds appropriate solutions to internal problems.

Education/Training

A sales auditor typically holds a four-year college degree in accounting, audit or finance. An auditor also may have a liberal arts (e.g., sociology or philosophy) background but may receive on-site training in sales processes. Audit professionals who hold advanced degrees such as master's or doctorate diplomas are common in the industry. A sales auditor also may hold a professional certification such as the certified internal auditor (CIA) designation.

Salary

A sales auditor's compensation depends on experience and company size. The U.S. Labor Department indicates that median wages of sales auditing clerks were $32,510 in 2008, with the top 10 percent earning more than $49,260 and the bottom 10 percent earning less than $20,950. Compensation levels may be higher for experienced and/or certified sales auditors. The same government data show that median wages of sales auditors were $59,430 in 2008, with the bottom 10 percent earning less than $36,720 and the top 10 percent earning more than $102,380.

Career Development

A sales auditor role may be a junior or a senior role depending on company, industry and scope of sales processes. A sales auditor may improve chances of promotion by enrolling in a master's degree in finance or business management or seeking a professional license such as a certified public accountant (CPA) or a certified fraud management (CFE) designation. A competent sales auditor typically could move to senior positions, such as senior auditor or audit manager, after a few years.

Work Conditions

A sales auditor works a typical 8.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m. shift but may stay late at the office depending on business needs such as monthly close procedures, periodic inventory counts and quarterly filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) or the Internal Revenue Service. A sales auditor also may help external auditors review sales processes.