Head of Financial Reporting

Job summary

CPS - Chief Finance Officer Directorate is delighted to advertise the role of Head of Financial Reporting.

The Financial Reporting Team perform a critical function for the CPS by providing a full financial accounting service. This includes, but is not limited to, annual and interim accounts, technical accounting and taxation other financial reporting. The main function of this post is to lead the Financial Reporting Team in producing the Annual Report and Accounts whilst managing its corresponding audit. As the post holder, you are responsible for leading the team to develop service levels and deliverables in consultation with the wider Finance Directorate and staff across the CPS and introduce streamlined business processes which deliver outstanding value for money.

CPS is currently delivering a Finance Evolution Programme to shape the future Finance function through the design and implementation of a new target operating model. This role is not anticipated to significantly change in the immediate future. You will be expected to actively engage with the Programme and be flexible to the evolving needs of the role as the Programme progresses.

The Crown Prosecution Service is based in England and Wales. If you’re applying for this role and live in Scotland or Northern Ireland, you must let us know when accepting this offer as you need permission to work from your home address if hybrid working is part of your role. There’s no guarantee that we will grant this approval.

You must be aged 16 before starting in this role. The start date is expected to be 8-12 weeks after the application deadline.

As part of this role, you are expected to undertake direct line management responsibilities.

Job description

Your roles and responsibilities

• You ensure that CPS’s accounts comply with International Financial Reporting Standards, the FReM and other relevant Government guidance documents.
• You manage the production, including appropriate management review and escalation where necessary of the annual report and accounts, including the narrative sections of the document, as well as the financial statements.
• You liaise with external audit over the audit period to ensure a smooth progression of the ARA to meet the laying timetable
• You analyse current processes to identify and implement ways to improve processes and financial control
• You act as a subject expert, providing technical accounting advice in line with IFRS and the financial reporting manual (FReM) and other relevant Government guidance documents and represent finance internally and externally as required.
• You motivate people, encouraging and helping them to learn, develop and achieve their best and, where appropriate, advising and supporting them on their projects.
• You advise the senior team on corporate financial, performance and risk issues and deputise for the Head of Financial Reporting and Accounting on matters relating to financial accounting and reporting.

A copy of the full job description is attached.

Person specification

To be eligible to apply, you need to have:

• Full CCAB/CIMA accountancy qualification.
• Experience of preparing an Annual Report and Accounts and managing its audit.
• Ability to understand complex financial reporting issues and accounting relevant to a government department.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to build and maintain strong working relationships with stakeholders.
• Clear communication and influencing skills.
• Analytical and problem-solving skills with the ability to present information clearly with strong consideration as to the intended audience.
• Experience of establishing the most efficient ways of working and standardising processes.

It is desirable that you have the below experience but this is not required to apply:

• Practical experience of IFRS 16 Leases and making robust accounting judgements relating to estimates that stand up to scrutiny under audit.
• Practical experience of the Financial Reporting Manual, Managing Public Money and Consolidated Budgeting Guidance
• Prior experience of using accounting software, preferably Oracle

Qualifications

•Full CCAB/CIMA accountancy qualification
Please note the qualification as stated is required for this role and equivalent qualifications will not be accepted.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Changing and Improving
• Making Effective Decisions
• Working Together
• Communicating and Influencing

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £58,330, Crown Prosecution Service contributes £16,898 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Join the Crown Prosecution Service and find your purpose.

Why we work for the Crown Prosecution Service

The Crown Prosecution Service is passionate about ensuring that we're a top performing organisation and a great place to work. We're a committed equal opportunities employer, creating a culture where you can bring your whole self to work, and individuality is truly appreciated.

This culture of inclusion is underpinned by our staff networks covering disability, faith and belief, LGBTQI+, race, social mobility alongside our mental health first aiders programme and wellbeing sessions.

The Crown Prosecution Service commits to offer its employees the following experience.

• You can do impactful, purposeful work that’s making a difference to your local communities.
• You are able to learn and grow, with access to the right opportunities and resources.
• We care about your wellbeing.
• We want you to feel valued, trusted and included.

We also offer the following range of benefits:

• Civil Service contributory pension of up to 28.9%
• 25 days’ leave, increasing to 30 days after 5 years
• £350 each year to spend on personal development
• lawyer training programme for all new prosecutors
• an extra privilege day to mark the King's birthday
• competitive maternity, paternity and parental leave
• flexible working including flexitime, and a family friendly approach to work
• Cycle2Work scheme, employee savings.

Diversity at the Crown Prosecution Service is about inclusion, embracing differences and ensuring our workforce truly reflects the communities we serve. We want you to feel that you belong and can thrive, whatever your background, identity or culture. As a Disability Confident employer, we're happy to support requests for reasonable adjustments and improve your recruitment experience. If you'd like any reasonable adjustments made to our recruitment process, let us know within your application or contact ben.savage@cps.gov.uk.

We want to ensure our employees can thrive at work and home and offer a range of support to achieve a balance. This includes flexibility of working hours, flexibility to support caring responsibilities and a flexible approach to deployment. We offer a hybrid working policy. You must spend at least 40% of your contracted hours over a four-week period at court, in an office or another official workplace depending on business need and the kind of work you're doing.

If the following qualifications are held there is additional taxable allowance payable:

• £1,000 pa on achievement of ACCA Applied Knowledge and Skills / CIMA Managerial / CIPFA Certificate & 2 Diplomas / ICAEW Professional
• £2,000 pa on achievement of ACCA Strategic Profession / CIMA Strategic / CIPFA Certificate & 3 Diplomas / ICAEW Advanced
• £5,000 pa on achieving full qualification with ACCA, CIMA, CIPFA, or ICAEW

This allowance is paid monthly with salary and proportioned accordingly where the appointed candidate works part-time. The allowance is not pensionable nor is it included for the calculation of annual pay awards.

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

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.

Recruitment process

The recruitment process consists of an online application, interview and assessment. These are expected to take place on the week commencing 16th February 2026.

Your interview takes place online through Microsoft Teams. A member of our recruitment team will be in touch with guidance. If you have any queries about this, contact ben.savage@cps.gov.uk.

You should keep this week free or notify us if you're not available. We'll make every effort to accommodate your date preferences but we can't guarantee it.

Assessment

We ask you to complete an assessment as part of the recruitment process for this role. We will provide details 7 days prior to the interview date.

Personal statement

We ask you to complete a personal statement of no more than 1,250 words. You need to address the core behaviours for this role, which are:

1. Working together (Lead behaviour)
2. Changing and improving
3. Making effective decisions

You also need to demonstrate the following experience/technical skills required for this role:

• Experience of managing the production of an Annual Report and Accounts and its audit.
• Ability to understand complex financial reporting issues and accounting standards relevant to a government department.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to build and maintain strong working relationships with stakeholders
• Clear communication and influencing skills
• Analytical and problem-solving skills with the ability to present information clearly with strong consideration as to the intended audience.
• Experience of establishing the most efficient ways of working and standardising processes.

In addition, you need to demonstrate the Crown Prosecution Service or Civil Service values.

The panel has the right to assess the lead behaviour 'Working together' first. If the standard on this behaviour isn’t met, the other behaviours won’t be considered and your application won’t progress. The panel also has the right to raise the minimum standard pass mark. The panel may also refer to the lead behaviour at the interview stage to determine merit order.

Interview/Assessment

We use behaviours to help us understand your experience, to see if you're a good fit for the role. You are assessed against Grade 7 in the Civil Service success profiles behaviours framework. We are assessing 2 behaviours at interview / assessment stage

1. Working together– interview
2. Communicating and influencing – interview

Essential/Technical Experience will be assessed at interview. Technical assessment presentation to be given at interview with requirements circulated 7 days before interview.

CV

You’re not required to upload your CV. However, when submitting your application there is a ‘CV section’. You are required to provide information about your employment and/or academic history for the past three years. The CV section will be used as supporting evidence, it won’t be assessed.

It’s your responsibility to provide the specified information in the requested format to ensure that you're considered for the post.

If you're unable to cover three years through employment or academic history, you must provide a character reference for clearance purposes.

Online tests

After submitting your application, you’re invited to complete an online numerical reasoning test. You must successfully complete the test to progress to the next stage. Please complete the online test as soon as possible – we recommend within 24-48 hours. The closing date for the test is 24th January 2026.

We send you an invitation to take the test and provide full instructions about how to complete it. The test can’t be taken on mobile phones or tablets.

For more guidance about the online Civil Service tests, please see the GOV.UK website: Civil Service online tests - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Other

This is a full-time post. We do consider requests for flexible, part-time working and job share, always considering the operational needs of the department.

Please note that the CPS is unable to offer visa sponsorship. Therefore, if you require visa sponsorship to work in the UK, you will not meet the eligibility criteria for this role.

Clearance

If successful, you are required to secure a Disclosure and Barring Service check and Security Clearance, for which you must have a current valid UK address.

If successfully appointed, we ask you to complete a character enquiry form, nationality and immigration questionnaire and a national security vetting form.

If you're a Crown Prosecution Service member of staff, you won’t need to do a Disclosure and Barring Service check as you already hold this clearance.

The job you’re applying for is covered by Article 3(a) of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975, consequently Section 4(2) of that Act doesn’t apply. You’re required to disclose all previous convictions and cautions including spent convictions. Failing to make a full declaration will result in withdrawing your offer of employment if our checks reveal convictions that haven’t been disclosed.

To be cleared to Security Clearance level, you have to be able to meet the residency requirement in the Cabinet Office guidance. For the Crown Prosecution Service they are:

• Security Clearance – three years within the last five years

Reserve list

If you're recommended by the selection panel but not appointed to the current vacancy, you’re put on a reserve list for 12 months. You may be offered another Head of Financial Reporting post in our Chief Finance Officer Directorate if a vacancy comes up during this period. We may also approach candidates on the waiting list to fill other roles that require similar knowledge and experience.

Feedback

We only provide feedback if you attend an interview or assessment.

Fraud check

The Crown Prosecution Service provides a Fair Processing Notice to all new applicants after they’ve been successful at interview. These candidates are informed that, as one aspect of pre-employment screening, their personal details – name, National Insurance number and date of birth – are checked against the Internal Fraud Database. We won't employ anyone included on the database unless they can demonstrate exceptional circumstances.

The Strategic Resourcing team in the Crown Prosecution Service will, on behalf of the vacancy holder, inform applicants when they are refused employment because of their inclusion in the Internal Fraud Database.

Civil Service Commission

If you’re dissatisfied with the recruitment process and wish to make a complaint, please contact Strategic.Resourcing@cps.gov.uk with your concerns.

If you remain dissatisfied and wish to make a further complaint, please click on the following link to the Civil Service Commission complaints page https://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/recruitment/civilservicerecruitmentcomplaints/

Civil Service Commission Recruitment Principles can be found at

https://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/recruitment/

Details of the Civil Service Nationality Rules are located at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nationality-rules

Candidates are subject to UK immigration requirements. For the most up-to-date information on the requirements of working in the UK, please go to the UK Visas and Immigration website at https://www.gov.uk/browse/visas-immigration/work-visas

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a 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

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.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 : Ben Savage
• Email : ben.savage@cps.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : strategic.resourcing@cps.gov.uk

Attachments

CPS Terms and Conditions 2025 Opens in new window (docx, 255kB)NEW CPS Personal Statement Guidance 2023 Opens in new window (docx, 269kB)Head of Financial Reporting Job description Opens in new window (pdf, 130kB)