Head of Financial Management and Reporting

Job summary

We’re responsible for Land Transaction Tax, Landfill Disposals Tax and the introduction of the Visitor Levy in Wales. Our work raises revenue to support public services, like the NHS and schools, in communities across Wales. But that’s not all, we're also involved with and support future tax design for Wales.

Join a place with purpose
You’ll join a team of 100+ talented people from across 14 different professions. Our culture is best described as innovative, collaborative and kind. By working together, we’ll deliver a fair tax system for Wales.

Our people
You’ll be working with people from a wide range of backgrounds and experience. From Operations, Policy, Digital and Data, HR, Communications to Finance – there’s a place for you in our friendly team.

You’ll be our greatest asset

You’ll be joining an inclusive organisation and be part of a team where you can thrive, be rewarded and heard.

We’re recognised as one of the top organisations for people engagement in the Civil Service People Survey. Inclusion and fairness are one of our strongest areas, as well as pay and benefits – our People Survey results say it all!

We’re also recognised for being innovative and a digital, ‘cloud-based’ organisation that supports hybrid and flexible working enabling a great work-life balance.

More about working for us, our roles and our Corporate Plan 2025 - 2028 .

Job description

The Head of Finance will lead and manage the finance team to provide of an efficient and effective finance function for both tax and corporate systems; they will be responsible for the financial and accounting processes related to both the collection of tax and the operation of the Welsh Revenue Authority (WRA).

The post holder will report to the Chief Finance Officer as part of their Senior Team and will be a deputy to the CFO and represent them on the WRA board and committees as required.

The post holder will have an opportunity to contribute and present financial information and reports including at board level.

As this is a small specialist organisation the post holder will need to be flexible in their approach and work with others at different levels to achieve the effective outcomes required. The finance team has a culture of continuous development and improvement.

This is a rare opportunity to be directly involved in the further development of a non ministerial department of the Welsh Government, with the introduction of new taxes and with full responsibility for the development, implementation and maintenance of the finance function.

“Working at the WRA has been a breath of fresh air from day one. It is exciting to be part of a new tax authority in Wales responsible for collecting and manging the first devolved taxes, helping to support Welsh public services. The WRA has provided me with the opportunities to develop and utilise my finance and leaderships skills in an organisation committed to supporting the process of delivering a fair tax system for Wales. We are a small, close-knit team of specialist individuals who support each other and the wider organisation to provide the best possible service for our taxpayers. Since joining in 2019, I have never looked back and would recommend anyone looking for a new and exciting opportunity look no further than the WRA.”

- Stephen Cooper, Senior Finance Manager

We recommend you review the job description (or candidate pack) under the 'attachments' section before completing your application.

Person specification

Budget management and forecasting

• Maintain the organisation’s approved budget structure and delegated budgets.
• Lead monthly forecasting, including pay, non-pay and capital where applicable.
• Identify financial pressures, opportunities, slippage and underspends at an early stage.
• Responsible for cash management.

Management reporting

• Produce timely finance reports for the Executive Committee, Board, Audit and Risk Assurance Committee and budget holders.
• Maintain a regular financial reporting timetable and clear responsibilities across the organisation.
• Continuously improve the quality, accessibility and usefulness of management information.

Finance business partnering

• Lead the finance business-partnering service for budget holders.
• Support managers to understand their financial responsibilities.
• Improve financial capability and ownership across the organisation.

Financial control

• Support the prevention and detection of error, fraud, irregularity and inappropriate expenditure.

Annual accounts and audit support

• Coordinate finance input into the annual accounts process both for the revenue account and tax statement.
• Prepare or review relevant working papers, reconciliations and supporting evidence.
• Support responses to external and internal audit enquiries.
• Key contact during the external audit.

Leadership and management

• Lead and develop the finance team including line management responsibilities such as training and development.
• Contribute to the leadership of the wider finance function.
• Set standards for accuracy, timeliness, customer service and professional challenge.
• Deputise for the CFO
• Business owner to ensure all repayments and refunds are made in accordance with processes

Stakeholder management

• Key contact for Audit Wales, Welsh Government and Local Authorities for the VL.

Systems

Business owner for the day-to-day operations of the finance system.

Candidate Information Session

If this seems like a role you’d be interested in, join us for our virtual Candidate Information Sessions. You’ll meet the Line Manager, get an overview of the role as well a feeling for what it’s like to work at the WRA. We’ll also talk through our benefits and provide helpful tips for your application with us. Please register for one of the sessions below:

Register here for 17th November at 12.30pm - 13.00pm: https://PennaethRheoliAriannolacAdrodd.eventbrite.co.uk

Register here for 17th November at 16.00pm - 16.30pm: https://PennaethRheoliAriannolacAdrodd4pm.eventbrite.co.uk

We recommend you review the job description (or candidate pack) under the 'attachments' section before completing your application.

Qualifications

Consultative Committee of Accountancy Bodies (CCAB) / Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) qualified

Languages

We’ve undertaken an objective assessment of the Welsh language skills needed to undertake the duties of this role. For this role:
Welsh language skills - Welsh skills are not essential. This means that you do not need Welsh language skills to undertake this role and these skills won’t be assessed during the recruitment process. However, we actively encourage all staff to learn, or improve their Welsh language skills and offer a range of opportunities to suit everyone.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £61,098, Welsh Revenue Authority contributes £17,700 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

What we offer

• 31 days annual leave + Bank holidays, and 2 Privilege days
• Flexible and hybrid working
• Generous employer pension schemes with a contribution of upto 28.97%
• Tusker car scheme
• Vivup Cycle2Work and advances of salary for season Travel Tickets
• Lifestyle Benefits offering discounts on shopping, restaurants and entertainment
• Wellbeing hour each week
• Access to subsidised sports groups
• Generous family-friendly leave policies
• Free Welsh language courses and time off to learn
• Access to a range of staff diversity networks
• Free counselling and support service via our Vivup Employee Assistance Programme and Your Care Health platform
• A thriving culture that’s described as innovative, collaborative and kind.

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

We’ll always be clear about how we assess your application, at each stage of the process. This will usually include:

• Assessment of your Application Form and CV against the relevant Success Criteria
• A panel interview (if you’re successful at the initial sift stage) Interviews will take place in person.
• If any additional assessments are needed for this role, such as a test or presentation at interview, we’ll let you know in advance.
• Should a large number of applications be received, an initial sift will be conducted using the lead behaviour, Delivering at Pace.

We’re proud to be a Disability Confident Leader so we’ll ask you if you need any adjustments at each stage of the recruitment process. So that we can support you in a way that works for you, we’ll offer a pre-interview accessibility chat to anyone that declares a disability or needs any adjustments. This will take place with someone who is independent of the recruitment process and you won’t be placed at any disadvantage as a result of needing adjustments.

A reserve list may be held for this role for applicants that have scored above the appointable threshold at interview. This means that if a similar vacancy becomes available in the next 12 months we may contact you to offer you the role.

Success criteria

Behaviours

Criteria

Assessed in personal statement and CV

Assessed during interview or assessment

Seeing the Bigger Picture

Ensure plans and activities in your area of work reflect wider strategic priorities and communicate effectively with senior leaders to influence future strategies

Bring together views, perspectives and diverse needs of stakeholders to gain a broader understanding of the issues surrounding policies and activities

Yes

Yes

Delivering at Pace

Ensure delivery of timely quality outcomes, through providing the right resources to do the job, reviewing and adjusting performance expectations and

Ensure everyone clearly understands and owns their roles, responsibilities and business priorities rewarding success

Yes

Yes

Communicating and Influencing

Communicate with others in a clear, honest and enthusiastic way in order to build trust.

Introduce different methods for communication, including making the most of digital resources whilst getting value for money

No

Yes

Strengths

Criteria

Assessed in personal statement and CV

Assessed during interview or assessment

Adaptable

You can adapt to variations in work or environment. Your effectiveness is not affected by change. You are flexible and versatile. You act as an advocate for change.

No

Yes

Problem Solver

You take a positive approach to tackling problems. You find ways to identify suitable solutions.

No

Yes

Experience

Criteria

Assessed in personal statement and CV

Assessed during interview or assessment

Experience of preparing public sector accounts and preparation for audit.

Yes

No

Ability to lead and manage a finance team with competing priorities and deadlines.

No

Yes

Experience of using Financial Systems

Yes

Yes

Qualifications

Criteria

Assessed in personal statement and CV

Assessed during interview or assessment

Consultative Committee of Accountancy Bodies (CCAB) / Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) qualified

Yes

No

We recommend you review the job description (or candidate pack) under the 'attachments' section before completing your application.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a basic (or equivalent) criminal record check.Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

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)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : WRA Recruitment Team
• Email : Recruitment@wra.gov.wales
• Telephone : 03000254000

Recruitment team

• Email : Recruitment@wra.gov.wales

Further information

The law requires that selection for appointment to the Civil Service is on merit on the basis of fair and open competition. See the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles where this is set out.
If you feel your application has not been treated in line with the recruitment principles, and you wish to complain, you should contact the Head of HR.
Email: hr@wra.gov.wales
If you’re not satisfied with our response, you can contact the Civil Service Commission.

Attachments

Job description - Head of Financial Management and Reporting - (Final) Opens in new window (pdf, 304kB)Disgrifiad swydd - Pennaeth Rheoli Ariannol ac Adrodd - (Final) Opens in new window (pdf, 308kB)