Senior Accounting Technician, HEO, Perm, Liverpool/Newport

Job summary

• Are you able to analyse complex case work and financial information to form sound judgements and conclusions?
• Do you have an aptitude for analysis and have excellent written and verbal communication skills to present your findings?
• Are you a team player who thrives in a fast-paced environment, where no day is ever the same?

The Accountancy team is a close-knit team of 16 that leads on providing expert 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 projects within the business.

As a Senior Accounting Technician, you will be accountable for analysing financial information and providing expert advice to the Commission’s case working teams. You will produce reports detailing your findings ensuring all matters are accurately addressed in a professional, efficient, timely manner. Your judgement and findings will support the Commission to take appropriate timely solutions and/ or regulatory outcomes. You will escalate complex/high-risk issues and decisions as appropriate.

The role requires the ability to work in a fast-paced, customer-focussed environment dealing with high-risk and complex matters. High standards of written work and fluent verbal communication skills are essential. You must be able to work independently within a wider team, deliver at pace, strive to meet all desired performance levels and be confident working in a digital environment.

Job description

Main Duties & Responsibilities

• Carry out reviews of charity reports and accounts scrutiny and bank analysis reports for matters referred from the operational divisions, identifying any possible causes for concern and any instances of failure to comply with the Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) for charities, advising on recommendations for the case officer and case strategy.

• Analyse accounting records and bank statements from Charities using specialist Altia software when necessary, highlighting and documenting underlying risks, issues and recommendations in written reports to inform case strategy and regulatory solutions/outcomes.

• Working on your own initiative, supporting the team in undertaking proactive systematic or ad hoc accounts monitoring exercises to identify trends or areas of non-compliance.

• Planning for and participating in books and records visits to Charities – identifying risk factors and potential consequences.

• Build capability of case officers through training and sharing knowledge and skills with case officers and own team- actively contributing to the quality of service provided by the team.

• Support continuous improvement and better ways of working. This will include being innovative with technology.

• Personally contribute to the achievement of the department’s targets, including performance and quality expectations.

• Undertake the agreed course of study to become a CCAB qualified accountant (ICAEW, ICAS, ICAI, ACCA, CIPFA)

Person specification

Key skills, experience and knowledge you will need are:

Ability:

• Aptitude for accountancy analysis and an ability to turn the outputs of the analysis into accountancy reports that can be shared with case officers.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Ability to analyse complex case work/information to form sound judgements and conclusions.

Experience:

• Ability to organise own workload and prioritise.
• Analytical skills to evaluate financial information.
• Experience of managing a large workload with evidence of planning and prioritising competing demands to ensure performance targets and deadlines are met.
• Application of risk management principles during the management of work and when making decisions.
• Anticipate, investigate and resolve problems in systems, processes and services.
• Experience in innovating and improving processes or ways of working.

Technical:

• AAT qualified or working towards a CCAB qualification (ICAEW, ICAS, ICAI, ACCA, CIPFA).
• Agreement to undertake study to become a CCAB qualified accountant (ICAEW, ICAS, ICAI, ACCA, CIPFA).
• A knowledge of the charity accounting framework and the charity SORP
• Understanding of the principles of accruals accounting.
• Sound knowledge of Microsoft applications including Excel
• Handling data and information sensitively in accordance with the business procedures and/or law.

Qualifications

AAT qualified or working towards a CCAB qualification (ICAEW, ICAS, ICAI, ACCA, CIPFA).

Behaviours

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

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

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £35,384, Charity Commission contributes £10,250 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.

After submission of the first stage of your application you will be invited to complete a Civil Service Numerical 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 08/06/2026. 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

Please note: Our online test supplier will be performing scheduled maintenance between 4 p.m and midnight on the 31/05/2026 and on the 07/06/2026 between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. 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.

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

• Numerical Reasoning.
• Verbal
• Judgement

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

in the personal statement please describe how you match the essential abilities, experience and technical skills on the attached job description (max: 750 words).

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

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

Interviews will be taking place Face to Face in our Liverpool/Newport Office

The sift is due to take place on 12/06/2026

Interviews will be held Liverpool 24/06/2026, Newport 23/06/2026

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.

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.

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 for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

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.

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.

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 hrsupportservices@charitycommission.gov.uk. in the first instance
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

02. Advert - Benefits Opens in new window (pdf, 169kB)02. Advert - Benefits - Welsh Opens in new window (pdf, 170kB)HEO Senior Accounting Technician JD English Opens in new window (pdf, 307kB)HEO Senior Accounting Technician JD - Welsh Opens in new window (pdf, 328kB)