Senior Accountant, Grade 7, Fixed Term Contract, Liverpool/Newport

Job summary

• Are you good at applying analytical skills to inform decision making?
• Would you like to work for a national regulator and make a difference to society?
• Do you enjoy working as part of a multi-disciplinary team?

The Accountancy team is a close-knit team of 16 that leads on providing expert accountancy advice to the Commission’s case work, proactive projects relating to charity finances, as well as leading on policy proposals with a significant Accountancy element and advising on strategic projects within the business.

Working in and influencing multi-disciplinary teams of caseworkers and lawyers you will improve and drive case outcomes and enhance our credibility through your expert accountancy interventions in the highest risk casework. You will be responsible for delivering and explaining complex analysis that informs the commission’s understanding of how charities are operating.

This role operates at Grade 7, requiring significant personal discretion, strategic thinking and professional authority. The post‑holder will work within broad direction, take ownership of complex issues, and make decisions that may have implications beyond their immediate work area, including impacts on policy, organisational effectiveness and the Commission’s external reputation. Seeing the bigger picture is an important aspect of this role.

You will contribute to the strategic leadership of the Accountancy team and Legal and Accountancy Services Directorate, supporting Business Plan delivery, leading priority projects, building capability and ensuring the Commission’s regulatory approach is informed by developments in the charity accountancy framework and wider external environment.

Job description

Two positions available. 1 x 2 year FTC and 1 x 1 year FTC

Main Duties & Responsibilities

As a senior accountant you will –

• Take ownership of the accountancy advice you provide to Commission’s highest‑risk, most complex and sensitive regulatory cases, exercising personal discretion and professional judgement to determine the appropriate regulatory response.
• Using investigative skills you will analyse complex and incomplete financial evidence, assess risk, make decisions and produce reports detailing your analysis with reference to Charity Law, UK GAAP and the Charity Accounting and Reporting Framework that may have significant organisational or reputational impact. Some of this work will be carried out at charity premises.
• Where required you will provide witness evidence based on your analysis and this may involve assisting law enforcement or other regulators and agencies.
• You will pro-actively identify risks and solutions, making decisions to ensure that our resources are managed effectively.
• Act independently on day‑to‑day operational and technical matters within broad strategic direction, escalating issues only where there are significant policy, legal, or risk implications.
• Provide authoritative strategic accountancy briefings and advice to the Senior Management Team, Executive Committees and Board, to inform organisational decision‑making, risk appetite and strategic direction.
• Take responsibility as subject matter expert for ensuring that the Commission’s regulatory approach and operational projects are informed by and developed in accordance with the UK charity accountancy framework.
• Take responsibility as subject matter expert for developing internal and external accountancy guidance and policy proposals advising on content to ensure it is developed in accordance with the UK charity accounting framework.
• Provide visible professional leadership across the Commission, building capability through coaching, quality review, knowledge transfer and training delivery.
• Act as a senior representative of the Commission, when engaging with external regulators, trustees, professional advisers and accountancy bodies, and influencing external stakeholders to support effective regulation and protect public trust.
• Take responsibility for team projects and objectives and drive adoption of best practices and processes and continuous improvement initiatives across the team. This will include being innovative with technology.

Person specification

Ability:

• Excellent analytical skills both generally and related to financial analysis to inform and support effective decision making.
• Ability to explain complex financial information, in a variety of media, including excellent written communications skills.
• In complex and sensitive cases, where the Commission may exercise its statutory power, the ability to bring sound judgement and expert handling to the situation.
• Ability to exercise sound professional judgement and make confident decisions in complex, ambiguous or high‑risk situations where there is incomplete information.
• Ability to work as part of team, using accountancy knowledge and skills, supporting the work of policy, case officers and senior decision makers, taking a lead role in our more complex cases.
• Ability to apply accountancy knowledge and experience in a compliance and regulatory context.
• Ability to contribute to policy development with a financial focus.
• Ability to plan and prioritise competing demands to ensure operational performance targets and deadlines are met.
• Change management skills to deliver cultural change and embed new models and practices.
• Ambassadorial skills to represent the accountancy function internally and externally.

Experience:

• Experience of managing or advising on a project.
• Experience in developing others and building capability.
• Effectively manage a workload/task throughout its lifecycle.
• Maintaining a professional approach when presented with a challenging discussion /interview by using techniques to understand need(s); manage expectations and provide a constructive and proportionate outcome.
• Forensic or investigatory accounting experience within the accountancy profession or with a civil or criminal regulator.
• Experience involving high‑risk, high‑profile or sensitive matters, where outcomes may have significant organisational, sector or reputational impact.

Technical:

• A CCAB qualified accountant (ICAEW, ICAS, ICAI, ACCA, CIPFA) or CIMA membership or any equivalent with sound technical knowledge gained through post qualification experience. Please confirm which body you are a full member of within your application.
• Experience of providingprofessional advice that influences senior decision‑makers and determines regulatory or organisational outcomes.
• Application of risk management principles during the management of work and when making decisions.
• Handling data and information sensitively in accordance with the business procedures and/or law.
• Strong working knowledge of Microsoft Office Applications including excel and its application.
• Able to provide both focused leadership and high-level technical support to policy and operational work, identifying abuse and risk, and delivering a proportionate regulatory response.
• Sound understanding of auditing principles and methods of investigation.
• Knowledge and understanding of the principles of the Bribery Act 2010 and money laundering regulations.
• Sound understanding of UK charity reporting and accounting framework and practice including the charities SORP and UK-Irish GAAP.

Qualifications

A CCAB qualified accountant (ICAEW, ICAS, ICAI, ACCA, CIPFA) or CIMA membership or any equivalent with sound technical knowledge gained through post qualification experience

Behaviours

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

• Making Effective Decisions
• Communicating and Influencing
• Working Together
• Developing Self and Others

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £57,245, Charity Commission contributes £16,583 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

This is your chance to make a contribution that really matters and to make an impact in an organisation where your voice will be heard and your hard work noticed.

Watch this short video to find out more about us. short video

We operate a flexible hybrid working policy where office attendance is combined with homeworking days dependent on role and corporate requirements.

We recognise everyone as an individual, accepting people for who they are and treating everyone fairly. We welcome the unique contribution diverse applicants bring from all backgrounds and we aim to have a workforce that represents the wider society that we serve. We champion inclusion and wellbeing, aiming to create a workplace where everyone feels valued and has a sense of belonging.

We do not discriminate on the basis of culture, ethnicity, race, nationality or national origin, age, sex, gender identity or expression, religion or belief, disability status, sexual orientation, educational or social background or any other factor.

We offer access to the highly competitive Civil Service Pension Scheme (employer contributions of 28.97%), far more than in the private sector, and a flexible, family-friendly environment. Additionally, you can look forward to other great benefits via our ‘Perkbox’ and ‘Edenred’ schemes. These include everything from an interest-free season ticket loan, tenancy deposit loan scheme and bicycle loan (after two months) to discounts on gym membership, cinema tickets and restaurants. Please see the attached Charity Commission benefits document.

A minimum of 25 days of paid annual leave, increasing by one day per year up to a maximum of 30 days per year. You have the opportunity to purchase up to an additional 5 days annual leave (pro rata) per year, requests must be submitted in the February of that year.

The Charity Commission’s operational ambition is to realise the Commission’s values of being an expert regulator that is fair, balanced, and independent, which works in a way that is supportive, collaborative, and innovative to achieve our ambitions. We want to develop our capability to regulate charities to realise this goal and meet our statutory and public duties to ensure that charity in England and Wales can deliver maximum benefit to society in a way that upholds its reputation in the eyes of the public.

Work at the Charity Commission and you’ll make a difference every day to:

• The 170,000 charities of all shapes and sizes that we regulate across England and Wales.

• The trustees we partner with and advise.

• The people and causes that benefit from the £10bn generously donated each year by the public.

Find out more about working for us here.

To note: Any move across the Civil Service on or after 4 October 2018 may have implications on an employee’s ability to carry on claiming childcare vouchers.

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, Strengths, Ability and Experience.

As part of the application process as a minimum you are asked to complete a CV and 1000 word personal statement.

You are asked to complete the following online test prior to submitting your full application:

• Civil Service Judgement Test
• Civil Service Verbal Test

Guidelines for the tests will be available when you are invited to sit the tests.

After submission of the first stage of your application you will be invited to complete a Civil Service Verbal Test and Civil Service Judgement Test. If you successfully pass the test, you will be invited to complete the final stage of the application.

Please complete the online tests as soon as possible (within 24-48 hours is recommended), the closing date for the tests is 23:55 on 18th May 2026 . If you fail to complete the online test before the deadline your application will be withdrawn. Guidance for the test will be available when you are invited to take the test. The tests are administered online and accessed via the CS Jobs website.

Our online test supplier will be performing scheduled maintenance between Midday and 1.00pm on 10th May 2026. You will be unable to access tests during this period.

If you are in the middle of a test when the maintenance begins, your progress will be paused. You will be able to resume your test from where you left off via your application centre once the downtime has ended. Please note that you will not be able to launch any new tests while the system is offline.

Your 1000 personal statement should describe how you match the essential abilities, experience and technical skills on the attached job description.

At interview you will be asked to carry out a presentation on a prepared topic and assessed on your technical knowledge and experience and the following behaviours

• Making Effective Decisions
• Communicating and Influencing
• Working Together
• Developing Self and others

Interviews will be taking place via MS Teams

The sift is due to take place on 22/05/2026

Interviews will be held 03/06/2026 and 04/06/2026

We will try to meet the dates set out in the advert. There may be occasions when these dates change. You will be provided with sufficient notice of the confirmed dates.

Interview Arrangements

Interviews will be taking place Face to Face or on MS Teams in our Liverpool/Newport office.

• We will assess you on the behaviours listed in the job description, and experience.

At the interview, the panel can then probe further and ask applicants to provide further specific examples that show how they best demonstrate their skills.

We reserve the right to raise the score required at any stage of the process to manage numbers.

The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment.

Behaviours:

The distinguishing Behaviours (the required skills, knowledge, and behaviours) for this role are set out in the Civil Service Behaviours Framework 2018 (Success Profiles - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)) and should be referred to when making this application.

You are required, under the Behaviours approach, to describe how you have dealt with a specific situation.

You must give evidence of your knowledge, skills, and behaviours and how you have applied this, such as what you did or said and how you interacted with other people.

When you are giving your examples, do not spend too many words on description and background information. Avoid using general or unspecific statements. Instead say what the situation was, what you did, what your thought process was and what was the result.

This post is full time however those applicants who do or wish to work an alternative working pattern are welcome to apply. The preferred working pattern may or may not be available. You should discuss this with the vacancy holder.

Fixed Term Contracts – Important Information

This is a fixed-term appointment as a Grade 7 in the Senior Accountant Team. Your responsibilities are listed in the Job Description for this post. This post will therefore begin from the date of your appointment and end after 2 years or 1 year.

Permanent civil servants joining the Charity Commission on a Fixed-term Appointment:

If you accept a Fixed-term Appointment with the Charity Commission it must be a transfer from your home department on a loan basis to ensure you can return to your home department at the end of the Fixed-term Appointment.

Reasonable Adjustment:

If a person with disabilities is put at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled persons, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes.

If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should:

• Contact Government Recruitment Service via Charitycommissionrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.
• Complete the “Assistance required” section in the “Additional requirements” page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at an interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional.

Reserve Lists

If we have more successful candidates than available vacancies, we will hold a 12-month reserve list as standard.

During that time, we may use the list to fill the same, or similar roles with closely matching essential criteria, without further testing of merit. Any appointments from the Reserve list will be made in strict merit order.

Applying

We recognise everyone as an individual, accepting people for who they are and treating everyone fairly

All applications for these vacancies must be made online. There are limited exceptions to this. Paper applications will only be considered if you have a disability that will prevent you from applying online. If this is the case, please email Charitycommissionrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Once you have submitted your application it cannot be amended; only submit your application when you have completely finished and answered all the relevant questions.

Please note that late applications will not be accepted.

If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section.

New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band.

Existing Civil Servants and applicants from accredited NDPBs are eligible to apply, but will only be considered on loan basis (Civil Servants) or secondment (accredited NDPBs). Prior agreement to be released on a loan basis must be obtained before commencing the application process. In the case of Civil Servants, the terms of the loan will be agreed between the home and host department and the Civil Servant. This includes grade on return.

Feedback

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.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 : Amie Woods
• Email : Recruitment@charitycommission.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : charitycommissionrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Further information

The Charity Commission’s recruitment processes are underpinned by the Civil Service Commissioner’s Recruitment Principles, which outlines that selection for appointment is made on merit based on fair and open competition.
If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the values in the Civil Service Code and/or if you feel the recruitment has been conducted in such a way that conflicts with the Civil Service Commissioner’s Recruitment Principles, and wish to make a complaint, then you should contact in the first instance hrselfservice@charitycommission.gov.uk.
If you are not satisfied with the response that you receive, then you can contact the Civil Service Commission. For further information on bringing a complaint to the Civil Service Commission please visit their web page here.

Attachments

Grade 7 Senior Accountant JD - English Opens in new window (pdf, 309kB)Grade 7 Senior Accountant JD - Welsh Opens in new window (pdf, 311kB)02. Advert - Benefits Opens in new window (pdf, 169kB)02. Advert - Benefits - Welsh Opens in new window (pdf, 170kB)