Risk & Internal Audit
Risk advisory has become the fastest-growing flagship practice inside accounting firms, and the talent to lead it is the scarcest resource in the market. CharteredPartners conducts retained search for the partners and principals who build and run internal audit, GRC, cyber-risk, resilience and regulatory practices across Singapore, Hong Kong, Sydney, Dubai and London.
The talent market
Risk advisory is now the growth engine of the modern accounting firm, and nowhere more visibly than in Asia Pacific's two financial hubs, Singapore and Hong Kong. As assurance fees compress and audit-independence rules cap the consulting a firm can sell to its audit clients, the Big Four, mid-tier networks (BDO, Grant Thornton, RSM, Crowe, Forvis Mazars) and independents have repositioned risk advisory as a flagship, partner-led profit centre. The Asia Pacific risk management consulting market was valued at roughly USD 26.1 billion in 2024 and is forecast to grow at about 9.5% a year through 2031, with Southeast Asia compounding even faster at around 10.5% [1].
Demand is structural rather than cyclical, and in Asia it is regulator-made. The Monetary Authority of Singapore's response to the 2023 money-laundering case, more than S$3 billion in assets seized and S$27.45 million in penalties across six banks and three other institutions, each now in multi-year remediation [13], together with MAS technology-risk, operational-resilience and outsourcing expectations and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority's OR-2 operational-resilience regime, has turned compliance and controls into standing, partner-led advisory programmes. Boards listed in both markets also carry an annual duty to review the effectiveness of their risk management and internal controls.
The defining constraint is people, not pipeline. The 2024 ISC2 study put the global cyber workforce gap at 4.8 million [2], and Asia Pacific carries persistent unfilled cyber demand despite a growing workforce. A partner who combines a recognised credential, a portfolio of named relationships and a defensible specialism is a genuinely rare asset, and counter-offers are aggressive. As a global benchmark, the Certified Internal Auditor credential commands a 37 to 50 percent pay premium over non-certified peers [5], a gap mirrored across Singapore and Hong Kong audit teams.
That scarcity is precisely why risk-advisory leadership hires belong in retained search. These are confidential, reputation-sensitive moves, frequently with a following of managers and a book of clients attached. CharteredPartners runs a mapped, off-market process led from Singapore and Hong Kong and extending to Sydney, Dubai and London, assessing not just technical depth but the chargeable network, regulatory standing and team that move with the hire.
Risk & Internal Audit disciplines
Internal Audit & Controls
We place the partners and directors who lead co-sourced and outsourced internal audit, design and test controls, and run risk-and-controls advisory across Singapore, Hong Kong, Sydney, Dubai and London.
Explore →Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC)
We place the leaders who build enterprise risk frameworks, design governance structures and stand up compliance programmes for accounting firms and their clients across Singapore, Hong Kong, Sydney, Dubai and London.
Explore →Cyber, Technology & Data Risk
We place the cyber, technology-risk and IT-audit leaders accounting firms compete hardest to hire, into the scarcest and highest-premium specialism in risk advisory across Singapore, Hong Kong, Sydney, Dubai and London.
Explore →Business Resilience
We place the leaders who design business continuity, operational resilience and crisis-management capabilities, an advisory area MAS and HKMA supervision has turned from optional to mandatory across Singapore, Hong Kong, Sydney, Dubai and London.
Explore →Regulatory & Compliance Advisory
We place the financial-services regulation, licensing and remediation leaders riding a sustained enforcement-driven hiring wave across Singapore, Hong Kong, Sydney, Dubai and London.
Explore →