Management Accountant (3079)

Job summary

Are you looking for an opportunity to apply your financial expertise in a complex public sector environment, supporting high-quality decision-making and stewardship of public funds? As a Management Accountant, you will support key financial reporting processes, contributing to the monthly financial reporting and budget monitoring, enabling senior officials to make informed decisions based on timely and high-quality information.

Job description

Responsibilities

• Provision of high quality monthly financial reports to required timescales, providing accurate, relevant and timely management information.

• Provide financial advice and assistance to stakeholders, and build and maintain effective working relationships with business areas including with the wider Scottish Government.

• Contribute to the completion and quality assurance of input to corporate financial exercises in accordance with corporate timetable. Ensuring working papers provide a full audit trail and are retained and easily accessible during the audit process.

• Providing assistance in updating the financial ledger for example performing monthly reconciliation’s and preparing and processing journal entries.

• Review budget monitoring returns, undertake the first check of forecasts, year to date actuals, and budget data, and ensure that explanations make sense and support the figures, challenging areas where more explanation is required.

• Assisting in the maintenance of overall financial control, to ensure the integrity of financial data on the ledger and the accuracy of the supporting systems and records.

• Ensuring adequate financial controls and clear audit trails are in place around accounting and reporting processes.

• Working flexibly across the team and shifting direction quickly to meet changing priorities and demands.

Person specification

QualificationsYou should be part CCAB qualified (or equivalent)* or have an extensive financial expertise and be willing to work towards attaining such professional qualification. Success profileSuccess profiles are specific to each job and they include the mix of skills, experience and behaviours candidates will be assessed on.

Technical / Professional Skills:

Working with Data in Finance - Practitioner.

• Applies knowledge of relevant data analysis packages and methodologies in conjunction with strong analytical skills to examine varied sources of information in order to support decision making
• Examining and making sense of financial data to draw meaningful conclusions and insight, applying appropriate analytical techniques. It involves data analysis; interpretation of findings; drawing conclusions; and formulating recommendations
• Interpreting requirements and presenting data in a clear and compelling way, using graphical presentations and data visualisations.
• Connecting finance information together from one or more systems/sources in a logical way in preparation for analysis and interpretation. Working with stakeholders to ensure relevancy of data to support insight driven finance decisions.

Understanding of costing, forecasting and budgeting guidance - Working.

• Process of recording costs with the correct accounting treatment with associated drivers in the production, analysis and use of information for decision-making in the organisation. Using cost centre analysis to determine under/overspend. Working with stakeholders to drive decision making.

Skill Level:

Working - Moderate understanding of the topic with occasional use in role/prior experience.
Practitioner - Strong understanding of the topic with regular use in role/moderate prior experience.

Experience:

Lead Criterion: Enhanced analytical skills using a variety of tools to develop informed options, make evidence recommendations and support informed decisions.

Behaviours:

• Communicating & Influencing - Level 3
• Delivering at Pace - Level 3
• Working Together – Level 3

You can find out more about Success Profiles, here: Success profiles: candidate guide - gov.scot

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £38,422, Scottish Government contributes £11,130 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 employer contribution of 28.97%

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

How to apply

Apply online, providing a CV and Supporting Statement (of no more than 1500 words) which provides evidence of how you meet the skills, experience and behaviours listed in the Success Profile above. Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools can be used to support your application, but all statements and examples 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, and presented as your own) applications will be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance for more information on acceptable and unacceptable uses of AI in recruitment. If invited for further assessment, this will consist of an interview and presentation. Assessments are scheduled for w/c 16 March 2026, however this may be subject to change.

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.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.

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 : Philip McKibben
• Email : Philip.Mckibben@gov.scot

Recruitment team

• Email : scottishgovernmentrecruitment@gov.scot