Business activity

Those who work for an organisation need to know where they are going. This is often expressed in a mission statement. The mission of the Audit Commission is 'to be a driving force in the improvement of public services. We promote good practice and help those responsible for public services to achieve better outcomes for citizens, with a focus on those people who need public services most.'

Within the Audit Commission, there are many different jobs with varying levels of duties. Junior posts are involved with a range of administrative duties. The next level involves supervisory posts where they could be managing teams of people.

Job roles within the Audit Commission fall into three different families or groups of jobs:

• audit family
• performance audit family
• functional family.

Audit family

Those in the audit family are involved in carrying out financial audits. Most of these auditors will have professional accounting qualifications. Each team of auditors will visit clients such as local authorities or police services to carry out complex audits.

Performance audit family

The people working in the performance audit family will have worked in the public sector and have direct experience of running public services. They use their experience to help public sectors managers improve the efficiency of their organisations.

Functional family

The functional family includes many others who help to ensure that the core business is run well. These people work in research posts, internal finance, human resources, information technology, communications and the legal department.