Assistant Financial Accountant

at  Department for Business and Trade

JOB SUMMARY

The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) is the Department for economic growth and supports businesses to invest, grow and export, creating jobs and opportunities across the country. DBT’s scope is unique, and you would be working for a team responsible for establishing the finance function and ensuring business continuity across all aspects of finance, including financial management, financial reporting, internal controls, financial governance, business processes and systems.
Financial Accounting, Reporting and Control Team (FARCT) lead on the production of DBT’s financial accounts, DBT’s relationship with the National Audit Office (NAO), HMRC and providing advice on compliance with HM Treasury and Cabinet Office controls. The team are critical in establishing and embedding high quality financial accounting controls practices and processes in DBT, within and beyond the Finance team.
FARCT plays a critical role within the Department’s Finance and Business Services Directorate with responsibility for ensuring compliance with financial standards and best practice, delivery of statutory reporting, oversight of key financial controls, VAT compliance, cash management. It is a high-profile team which also provides advice on the accounting, budgetary and tax implications of new projects and programmes.
The position reports to the Senior Executive Officer (SEO) and will be expected to be flexible to take on varying roles in the team. You will be exposed to all aspects of the Department’s financial accounting and reporting and are required to share your financial accounting expertise with stakeholders across the department.
FARCT is looking for an outstanding, self-driven and enthusiastic finance professional with the required experience, skills, and personal qualities. You will be a results-driven, collaborative player, with excellent attention to detail and with the ability and communication skills to build good working relationships at all levels across the DBT family.
DBT will provide you with the opportunity for a diverse, exciting, worthwhile career and support you with training and development.

ESSENTIAL CRITERIA

• Fully or part qualified accountant - CCAB (e.g., ACCA, ACA, CIPFA or CIMA) and If part qualified, you must be actively studying towards completing the accountancy qualification.
• Ability to build trusting relationships with various stakeholders and work towards influencing them.
• Must be a good team player, have excellent attention to detail and be someone who adapts to a changing environment, seeking opportunities to improve and progress their own work.
• Experience of financial management and transactions, forecasting and budgeting.
• Good written and verbal communication skills, including experience of communicating financial performance and management information to non-financial audiences.
• Excellent Excel and presentation skills.
• Experience of external audit cycles in Central Government/public sector set of accounts or private sector organisation.
• Experience of Group Accounts consolidation and producing financial statements in a complex organisation within or outside of government and making sound accounting judgements.
• Strong accounting skills (e.g., IFRS Application ability to accurately create accounting journals, identify the audit evidence required to support a transaction and perform General Ledger (GL) reconciliations).
• Experience of using different Group Accounts preparation and consolidation systems e.g., Oracle Financials, EPM, CDM or similar systems.
• Ability to work flexibly and respond positively to changing business needs.

QUALIFICATIONS

Fully or part qualified accountant - CCAB (e.g., ACCA, ACA, CIPFA or CIMA) and If part qualified, you must be actively studying towards completing the accountancy qualification

TECHNICAL SKILLS

We’ll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• You will be asked to demonstrate for previous finance experience through a technical question.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £32,858, Department for Business and Trade contributes £9,518 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%

We recognise the challenges that people with (multiple) protected characteristics may experience on the job market and in their career progression. We are fully committed to being an inclusive employer and ensuring equal opportunities. We are keen to make our workforce as diverse as possible, and we hope to attract applications from underrepresented groups, including ethnic minorities, people with a disability, and people with gender diverse identities.
Please refer to the attached candidate pack for further information on our benefits.
Things you need to know

NATIONALITY REQUIREMENTS

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE TEAM:

• Overall primary objective is to deliver the Annual Report and Accounts (ARA) and completion of the interim and final audit exercises each year.
• Financial Accounting and Reporting: Maintain the integrity of the Core Department’s ledger, and assist in the production of the Departmental Group accounts, consolidating over 19 partner organisations with the Core Department. Provide expert accounting advice and information used to inform key decisions to wider finance teams within the Department’s and partner organisations’ stakeholder management.

MAIN DUTIES INCLUDE:

• Taking an active part in the month end accounts process including journal preparation – especially monthly VAT reconciliations, balance sheet reconciliations, accounts production and other general ledger activities.
• Engaging and working collaboratively with the wider finance community (including DBT’s Partner Organisations) to mitigate accounting risks so that the Departmental Accounts are free of material errors.
• Engaging with the auditors (NAO) to ensure that the audit process runs smoothly. Work collaboratively to resolve Management Letter Points, especially those relating to VAT technical issues.
• Completing the NAO disclosure checklist, challenging where necessary, and escalating potential issues to senior managers or decision makers.
• Taking a leading role in ensuring that correct public sector VAT treatments are applied within each supply procured by the wider businesses.
• Taking a leading role in carrying out the monthly VAT reviews and undertaking any necessary corrective actions through adjustment journals.
• Providing technical support to the VAT lead with review and timely submission of the quarterly VAT returns to HMRC and undertaking any necessary corrective actions through relevant adjustment journals in a timely manner.
• Becoming an expert in the department’s accounting systems used to prepare full accounts and associated notes using the relevant consolidation system tools, including EPM, CDM and Excel models.
• Identifying improvements to current processes and procedures, including engagement in projects to implement new systems.
• Working collaboratively in an integrated and interdependent way, to improve financial capability and understanding across the organisation.
• Supporting senior managers with making decisions on the accounts production process and other financial controls and risks.