Senior Financial Accountant (Ref: 16751)

Job summary

Please refer to Job Description

Job description

Overview

The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) is here to protect the public, reduce offending, and deliver swift access to justice. We are responsible for:

• prisons
• probation
• courts and tribunals
• a range of services to help victims of crime, children, vulnerable people, and those seeking access to justice.

The roles advertised are in MOJ’s Financial Accounting and Reporting team. The team produces financial accounts for the MOJ Group and agencies and supports accounts production for arm’s length bodies (ALBs).

Information about the MoJ and its priorities can be found at www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice/about

About the Role

The Senior Financial Accountant will be expected to produce statutory financial accounts, ensuring they meet the Government Financial Reporting (FReM) and HMT reporting standards. Training on the FReM can be provided. The Senior Financial Accountant will liaise with a range of colleagues and wider stakeholders to obtain and assure the information relevant to the production of these external reporting outputs.

Senior Financial Accountants work with Management Accounting and Finance Business Partnering colleagues to support the organisation they have responsibility for, but are also a part of, and are supported by, the wider Financial Reporting team which covers the whole of MOJ.

In addition to salary, a pensionable, non-contractual specialist allowance will be applied to this role. Specialist allowances apply to certain roles only, are non-transferable to other roles and are subject to annual review. This applies to fully qualified candidates only.

Progression Routes

Staff in this role typically move into other SEO roles in Finance or progress to Financial Accounting and Reporting G7 or wider finance G7 roles.

Main Activities / Responsibilities

The job holder will be required to undertake the following duties and responsibilities:

• produce high-quality quarterly financial statements to challenging timescales;
• reconcile ledger balances on a monthly basis and making sure discrepancies are resolved in a timely manner;
• prepare robust working papers and analyse variances;
• review current systems and processes to ensure they incorporate the appropriate financial controls and that system documentation is accurate and up to date;
• answer queries from internal and external auditors and resolving issues raised in management letters;
• maintain a strong working relationship with the NAO and other external stakeholders;
• prepare or contribute to technical accounting papers and present these to senior management;
• work with Business Partners and Management Accounting to better understand operational issues behind the financial information;
• line management.

The post holder will be required to work in a flexible way and undertake any other duties reasonably requested by line management which are commensurate with the grade and level of responsibility of this post. This may also include working closely with other MoJ Finance staff to develop solutions/problem-solve, engaging in project work to drive finance improvements.

Essential Criteria

Qualifications

• or equivalent
• Working towards a qualification
• Financial experience over an extended period.

• Knowledge of IFRS and/or FReM reporting requirements for central government (assessed via statement of suitability)

• Experience of providing professional finance services to stakeholders, including experience of dealing with external auditors (assessed via communicating and influencing)
• Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to build and maintain strong working relationships with stakeholders (assessed via working together)
• Ability to manage a team and coach staff ensuring all professional training and development requirements are met (assessed via making effective decisions)
• Excellent Microsoft Excel skills (assessed through statement of suitability)
• Adaptable and willing to review role and priorities with senior management team to meet the current and future needs of the organisation (assessed via delivering at pace)

Application process

You will be assessed against the Civil service success profiles framework.

Sift

Behaviours

Please provide examples of how you have met each of the behaviours below:

• Making Effective Decisions
• Delivering at Pace

• Communicating and Influencing

• Working Together

Please refer to the CS Behaviours framework for more details at this grade:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/717275/CS_Behaviours_2018.pdf

If we receive a large number of applications, we will carry out an initial sift on the lead criteria of Making Effective Decisions.

Experience

In addition to the Civil Service behaviours identified above, please also submit:

• a 750-word Statement of Suitability which should outline your financial experience and skills, giving clear examples of how you meet the criteria outlined in the essential criteria above.

Candidates invited to Interview

Please note that interviews will be carried out remotely via MS Teams. During the interview, we will be assessing you on Behaviours, Technical and Strengths from the Success Profiles framework.

Please provide examples of how you have met each of the behaviours below:

• Making Effective Decisions
• Delivering at Pace

• Communicating and Influencing

• Working Together

You will also be assessed on strengths and a technical based question which are not shared in advance of the interview.

If you have any questions on the role please contact - sesek.hairedin1@justice.gov.uk

Person specification

Please refer to Job Description

Qualifications

Please answer 'yes' to meeting the qualification requirements if you are:
1) Someone who is qualified under one of the main five Consultative Committees of Accounting Bodies (CCAB) i.e. ACCA; CIPFA; ICAEW; ICAI / ICAS or CIMA or
2) Working towards the qualification or
3) Have financial experience over an extended period of time

If you are answering yes to option 2, please provide evidence or a note regarding how you are working towards the qualification. If you are answering to option 3, please upload a note that you have extensive experience and this will be assessed using your Statement of Suitability.

Behaviours

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

• Making Effective Decisions
• Delivering at Pace
• Communicating and Influencing
• Working Together

Technical skills

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

• Technical accounting question

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £42,914, Ministry of Justice contributes £12,432 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

• Access to learning and development
• A working environment that supports a range of flexible working options to enhance your work life balance
• A working culture which encourages inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%
• Annual Leave
• Public Holidays
• Season Ticket Advance

For more information about the recruitment process, benefits and allowances and answers to general queries, please click the below link which will direct you to our Candidate Information Page.

Link: https://justicejobs.tal.net/vx/candidate/cms/About%20the%20MOJ

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.https://justicejobs.tal.net/vx/candidate/cms/About%20the%20MOJ

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 : SSCL Recruitment Enquiries Team
• Email : moj-recruitment-vetting-enquiries@resourcing.soprasteria.co.uk
• Telephone : 0345 241 5359

Recruitment team

• Email : moj-recruitment-vetting-enquiries@resourcing.soprasteria.co.uk

Further information

Appointment to the Civil Service is governed by the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles. If you feel a department has breached the requirement of the Recruitment Principles and would like to raise this, please contact SSCL (Moj-recruitment-vetting-enquiries@gov.sscl.com) in the first instance. If the role has been advertised externally (outside of the Civil Service) and you are not satisfied with the response, you may bring your complaint to the Commission. For further information on bringing a complaint to the Civil Service Commission please visit their web pages: http://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/civil-service-recruitm…

https://jobs.justice.gov.uk/careers/JobDetail/16751?entityId=16751