Senior Financial Accountant (Range E)

About HM Treasury 

The Treasury is the United Kingdom’s economics and finance ministry. It is responsible for formulating and implementing the government’s financial and economic policy. Its aim is to raise the rate of sustainable growth, and achieve rising prosperity and a better quality of life with economic and employment opportunities for all.

About the Group

Corporate Centre Group

The Corporate Centre Group provides corporate systems, services, solutions and facilities to enable HM Treasury Group to deliver effectively and efficiently. It currently consists of 8 teams: Commercial; Correspondence and Information Rights; Finance; HR; Information and Workspace Services; Locations and Culture; Group Management Services and Treasury Group Shared Services.  We provide a vast array of services and solutions that enable the Treasury and its Arms-length bodies to operate effectively. It is a large group of over 200 staff – based in London and Norwich. It is a diverse group – both in terms of backgrounds and ways of working; and staff are supported to work a large variety of working patterns.

About the Team

The Financial Reporting and Accounts Team consisting of eight members sits within the Corporate Centre Group. We are responsible for the production of the Annual Report and Accounts for the Treasury Group and a number of small companies within the Group; lead on the tax returns and ad-hoc tax advice; provide advice on the accounting and budgeting impacts of the Treasury’s policies; and support other finance processes such as in-year budget management, Main and Supplementary Estimates and Spending Review. Our team proactively looks after each other’s wellbeing, promotes a collaborative and inclusive working environment, and seeks to provide stretching and interesting opportunities that are suitable for individual needs and career aspirations.  

Key accountabilities

The Treasury is a small, agile and professional organisation with a large and complex balance sheet, managing a wide range of financial interventions and support schemes. This is an exciting opportunity to make real contribution in a fast-paced environment, being a part of the organisation that is at the heart of the central government’s decision making, especially in this current economic climate.   

It is a particularly exciting time to join the Financial Accounts and Reporting Team, as the Finance Team has been driving an ambitious change agenda seeking to build a high performing diverse finance team and improve controls and processes across all finance functions.    

   
The role is high profile and very varied. You will not only be the key contact liaising with different stakeholders and managing the accounts production process, lead on a number of complex accounting areas, provide accounting analysis and advice for the Treasury’s policies, but also support other teams within Finance with in-year budget management, Main and Supplementary Estimates and Spending Review.

To succeed, you will be a high performing finance professional with advanced excel skills and financial knowledge and experience. You will be able to understand and interpret governance requirements and communicate and present information to suit the needs of the user. You will be a results-driven and ambitious team player who is able to work at a fast pace in a pressurised environment, has good attention to detail and the ability to build excellent working relationships at all levels. As one of the team leaders, you will have an active interest in the personal development of your team members and will take pride in building the capability and the resilience of the team.

The role will be required to deliver the following responsibilities:

1. Together with other range E managers in the team, lead on the interim and year-end preparation of the Treasury’s Annual Report and Accounts and Whole of Government Accounts return, involving the consolidation of the department’s agencies, non-departmental public bodies and companies.

2. Lead the production of the small company accounts for a number of the Treasury’s bodies.

3. Develop good relationships with stakeholders, including policy teams within the Treasury, finance colleagues from arm-length bodies, Audit and Risk Committee, to obtain relevant information and sign-off for the Annual Report and Accounts and provide ad-hoc advice when appropriate.

4. Liaise with external auditors over the completion of the audit of the Treasury’s Annual Report and Accounts and the small company accounts.

5. Lead on projects to improve the processes and controls for the Annual Report and Accounts production and various ad-hoc projects that may come up during the year, for example, the implementation of the new accounting standards or data returns to the central team.

6. Manage a number of key balance sheet items and the monthly processes including reviewing working papers and approving journals.

7. Liaise with policy teams and other finance teams, provide advise on the financial implications of new policies and initiatives including changes to the financial structure of the Treasury group and financial operations requirements, and support other finance processes such as in-year budget management, Main and Supplementary Estimates and Spending Review.

8. Direct line management of at least one staff member to assist the production of the Annual Report and Accounts and other work to support the Finance team, including ensuring sufficient development opportunities are provided to those staff.

If you have any questions about the job, please get in touch with the hiring manager at Ngan.Jones@hmtreasury.gov.uk.

This post is available on a full time, part time or job share basis, and flexible working hours can be accommodated.
 
If shortlisted you will be interviewed against the following criteria;

Behaviours (Seeing the big picture, Making effective decisions, Leadership, Communicating and influencing, Delivering at pace)
Strengths
Technical Skills
Experience