How numerical is a job in assurance? What is the difference between assurance and audit?

Working in assurance for your initial three years is quite numerical as the majority of your time is spent working on the audit of account balances. In addition, you will undertake your accountancy exams and these require numerical knowledge. Having said that, if you come from a non-numerical background for example a history degree this is not an issue and should not disadvantage you.

Assurance is one of the four service lines offered at EY. Audit is one of the assurance services offered by EY. We provide the following assurance services:

Accounting Compliance and Reporting
Climate Change and Sustainability Services
Financial Accounting Advisory Services
Financial Statement Audit
Fraud Investigation & Dispute Services
EU Audit Reform

Thanks for your question!

Since starting my career in Assurance four months ago, the majority of the work that I have been given has consisted of excel tasks therefore is highly numerical. Before joining I had not had much experience with excel but you learn tips and shortcuts to navigate excel along the way. Also, as Emily mentioned above, the professional qualification you undertake will also require numeracy skills. For instance, in my recent set of exams I found tax and reporting and performance to rely on numeracy. However, do not worry as you do not need to have a numerical background to join Assurance!

As for the difference between Assurance and Audit, Assurance is a service line provided by EY which improves the reliability and credibility of information. Audit is a more specific Assurance service line which involves an independent examination of an entities financial statements in order to provide an opinion as to whether they are true and fair i.e. free from error and/or fraud. I hope this helps!