Senior Financial Accountant

Job summary

We have an exciting opportunity to join us at Companies House as a Senior Financial Accountant!

Are you a qualified accountant with a passion for financial accounting and reporting?

Do you have experience of producing financial accounts with the confidence to make technical accounting judgements?

If so, this could be the opportunity for you. Please read on to find out more.

Please note:

• You will be aligned to either our Cardiff, Edinburgh or Belfast office, where you will be expected to attend on a regular basis.
• Companies House cannot offer Visa sponsorship to candidates through this campaign.
• Due to the nature of the role and team structure, this is a full time position and the successful candidate will be required to work a full time working week, however, we can consider applications from those looking to work compressed hours.

Why choose Companies House?

At Companies house we take a proactive approach to wellbeing by promoting a welcoming culture, healthy work life balance and supporting colleagues to be their best in work because we know people are the key to our success.

Our benefits include:

• Flexible working with no core hours (between 6am and 8pm)
• 30 days annual leave
• 8 bank holidays & 1 privilege day
• Enrolment into the Civil Service Pension scheme, with an average employer contribution of 28%

Find out more about what a great place Companies House is to work.

Job description

Financial Accounting ensures that the organisation’s results are presented accurately and in line with all relevant legislation, accounting standards, and reporting conventions. This role is responsible for managing the month end process for Companies House’s new powers and sanctions, as well as the Late Filing Penalties company code. This includes preparing and posting journals, completing balance sheet reconciliations, and producing the monthly reporting pack. The role also contributes to the preparation of monthly Board reports.

The role supports the Chief Technical Accountant in producing the Annual Financial Statements and the associated Trust Statement, including preparing supporting schedules for audit and undertaking IFRS 9 calculations. In addition, the role plays a key part in ensuring the completeness and accuracy of financial data in line with NAO accounting requirements, supported by strong financial controls and robust evidence.

Specific responsibilities and day to day tasks include:

• Completing the month-end process for both Late Filing Penalties and New Powers and Sanctions company codes. This includes managing the timetable of monthly Financial Accounting tasks, preparing and posting journals, and completing balance sheet reconciliations.
• Ensuring Financial Accounting monthly actuals are delivered in line with the DBT monthly reporting timetable.
• Performing monthly balance sheet reviews.
• Preparing IFRS 9 reports and working papers to support the Chief Technical Accountant with periodic bad debt calculations for both Late Filing Penalties and New Powers and Sanctions penalties.
• Preparing the monthly LFP Trust Statements and contributing to the preparation of Board Reports for the Chief Technical Accountant.
• Supporting the Cash Accountant in the preparation and submission of cash forecasts.
• Supporting, including drafting where required, the annual process for preparing and laying before Parliament the Annual Financial Statements and the associated Trust Statement for Companies House.
• Task management of the Financial Accountant and Assistant Financial Accountant.
• Engaging with the external auditors, the National Audit Office (NAO), to ensure the audit process runs efficiently.
• Assist with the completion of Whole of Government Accounts.

Person specification

We're looking for a Senior Financial Accountant with:

• Extensive accounting experience.
• Experience of producing financial accounts and making technical accounting judgements, and then explaining those judgements to others.
• Extensive experience working in a finance role within a finance function, gained in either the private sector, public sector, or within Audit and Assurance services.
• Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to network and build relationships at all levels.
• Customer service empathy and focus and people management skills.
• Strong Excel and presentation skills.
• An awareness of government accounting principles & processes.
• Extensive experience working in a finance role within a finance function, gained in either the private sector, public sector, or within Audit and Assurance services.
• At least two years of post‑qualification experience, demonstrating the ability to apply professional accounting knowledge in a complex financial environment.

Qualifications

Fully qualified chartered accountant (CCAB, CIMA , or equivalent) with a passion for financial accounting and reporting.

Behaviours

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

• Managing a Quality Service
• Delivering at Pace
• Communicating and Influencing
• Working Together

We only ask for evidence of these behaviours on your application form:

• Working Together

Technical skills

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

• Strong technical knowledge of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £46,744, Companies House contributes £13,541 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

We believe that our success is driven by the well-being and satisfaction of our team members at all levels of the organisation. At Companies House we’re committed to providing a comprehensive benefits package that goes beyond the ordinary, ensuring your career journey with us is not only fulfilling, but also rewarding. We pride ourselves on offering a quality work-life balance with our employee wellbeing being central to our working practices.

Head to Our benefits - Working for us - Recruitment (companieshouse.gov.uk) to find out more about the fantastic benefits package we have at Companies House.

We celebrate diversity...

As an equal opportunity employer, we celebrate diversity, being committed to ensuring we’re representative of the citizens we serve and creating an inclusive environment. Everyone in Companies House brings something different, and so will you. To fulfil our commitment to recruiting and attracting diverse talent we welcome applications from underrepresented groups. We also welcome applications from Welsh speakers.

We are proud to be a disability confident leader. Our recruitment process is fully inclusive and we can make adjustments as needed through our process. These could include having an interview buddy, extra time at interviews/assessments and receiving interview questions in advance, to name a few.

If you require any reasonable adjustments at application stage, or if you'd like to discuss any person-centred adjustments, please contact us by emailing recruitmentCH@companieshouse.gov.uk.

Read our 'Applying under the Disability Confidence Scheme (DCS)' guide to find out how to successfully complete an application under the Disability Confidence Scheme (DCS).

Where will you be working?

You will be aligned to either our Cardiff, Edinburgh or Belfast office, where you will be expected to attend on a regular basis. We are currently using a hybrid approach to the way we work which provides opportunities for you to be adaptable in the way you work so that you can achieve a healthy balance between your work and home life. The degree of choice you have will depend on your role and your day-to-day work activities. Your manager will agree regular patterns of attendance with you, however you may be required to make yourself available to attend the office more frequently when required to meet business needs.

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, Experience and Technical skills.

Key dates (dates are indicative only and could be subject to change)

• Closing date - 19th April 2026, at 23:55
• Sifting - w/c 20th April 2026 onwards
• Interviews - 7th and 8th May and/or w/c 11th May 2026, on Microsoft Teams

Communications will be electronic via email therefore it is important that you check your Civil Service Jobs account regularly, as well as your spam/junk email folder.

What will the process look like?

1. Application

We are assessing applications against the Success Profile: Experience, Behaviours and Technical Skills.

In your application form we’d like you to:

1. Tell us about your employment history, including any key responsibilities, achievements and qualifications relevant to the role. Please tell us in this section about your: Fully qualified chartered accountant: CCAB, CIMA, or equivalent qualification and passion for financial accounting and reporting.
2. Provide a 250-word example to demonstrate the Behaviour: Working Together.
3. Write a personal statement of 500 words where you demonstrate how you meet the skills required for this role, providing examples to evidence your experience and level of skill. In your personal statement we are looking for evidence of the following:

• Extensive accounting experience.
• Strong technical knowledge of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

We’re committed to being diverse and inclusive, so please make your application anonymous by removing all identifying personal information (such as names and dates) from your employment history and personal statement.

Your personal statement should aim to make use of the full word count and show how you meet the above criteria. Please give clear and specific examples of what you have done personally and the impact it has had.

2. Sift

Once the advert has closed we will sift applications - this involves reading through them all, please bear with us as this can take some time. We will be sifting looking through your employment history and personal statements for evidence of the following sift criteria:

• Extensive accounting experience.
• Strong technical knowledge of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).
• Working Together (Behaviour).
• Fully qualified chartered accountant (CCAB, CIMA , or equivalent) qualification with a passion for financial accounting and reporting.

We may raise the score required if we receive a high number of applications. We may also choose to take through the highest performing candidates to the next stage. If, after the final stage is completed and roles are unfilled, we will proceed to invite lower scoring candidates to interview.

Also, if we receive a high volume of applications, we may carry out a pre-sift and will look at your application for evidence of: Extensive accounting experience. Those applications which are successful at pre-sift stage will then progress to the main sift, where we'll read and score the rest of your application.

3. Interview

Successful candidates from the sift stage will be invited to attend a virtual interview, which will conducted using Microsoft Teams. You'll be required to provide evidence of the qualifications required in advance of your interview.

Companies House uses a blended interview technique, allowing us to find out more about you. At interview we will be assessing Success Profiles: Behaviours, Technical Skills and Strengths.

At interview, we will be asking questions relating to the following:

• Behaviours: Managing a Quality Service ,Delivering at Pace, Communicating and Influencing
• Strengths: Not shared in advance as we want to see your first, natural response.

There will also be an activity as part of the interview process.

• This will assess the Technical Skill: Strong technical knowledge of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).
• Candidate will be asked to deliver a presentation on a technical accounting topic.
• Further information will be provided candidates invited to interview.

The lead criteria to distinguish between tied candidates will be the Technical Skill: Strong technical knowledge of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

4. Offer

Once all interviews have been completed, you will be notified of the outcome. Offers will be made in strict merit order.

A reserve list may be held for up to 12 months from which further appointments may be made for the same or similar roles (of the same or lower grade). Subject to business need, if a suitable position opens during this time we may reach out to individuals in merit order.

Our recruitment process is underpinned by the principle of recruitment based on fair and open competition with decisions made on the basis of merit, as outlined in the Civil Service Commissioners’ Recruitment Principles.

Working hours

Due to the nature of the role and team structure, this is a full time position and the successful candidate will be required to work a full time working week, however, we can consider applications from those looking to work compressed hours.

Sponsorship

Companies House cannot offer Visa sponsorship to candidates through this campaign. Companies House holds a Visa sponsorship licence but this can only be used for certain roles and this campaign does not qualify. Should you apply for this role and require sponsorship, your application may be rejected, and any provisional offers of employment withdrawn.

Nationality statement

As part of our recruitment process, it is essential for all candidates to independently verify their eligibility to work in the UK before applying. This includes a thorough check of your right to work to ensure compliance with UK employment laws, being mindful of the recent changes to going rates detailed on GOV.UK.

Please ensure you have the necessary documentation and permissions in place. Our team is dedicated to fostering a diverse and inclusive workforce and encourages applicants from all backgrounds to apply. However, it is the candidate's responsibility to ensure they meet the UK's legal requirements to work.

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.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.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 : Jon Shenton
• Email : jshenton@companieshouse.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : recruitmentch@companieshouse.gov.uk

Further information

We welcome applications in Welsh / Rydym yn croesawi ceisiadau yn y Gymraeg. Selection for appointment to the Civil Service is on merit, on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles. In accordance with the Civil Service Commissioners’ Recruitment Principles, our recruitment and selection processes are underpinned by the requirement of appointment on the basis of merit by fair and open competition. If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles and you wish to make a complaint, you should contact infopoint@companieshouse.gov.uk in the first instance. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive you can contact the Civil Service Commission .

info@csc.gov.uk

Civil Service Commission, Room G/8, 1 Horse Guards Road SW1A 2HQ