Senior Financial Assurance Manager

Job summary

About Us

We are an arm’s length body of the Welsh Government, responsible for the strategy, funding and oversight of:

• further education
• higher education including research and innovation;
• apprenticeships
• adult community learning; and local authority maintained school sixth forms.

We work in close collaboration with our partners to enable a tertiary education and research system which is centred around the needs of learners; society; and economy with excellence, equality and engagement at its heart.

Our values really matter to us, they help shape the culture of our organisation:

• Dysgu (to learn; to teach; to educate) - learning is at the heart of everything we do. We believe curiosity fuels innovation and helps expand our horizons.
• Cydweithio (to work together; to collaborate; to co-operate) - we can achieve far more together than we ever could alone.
• Cynnwys Pawb (to include everyone; to involve everyone) - we are passionate about inclusion, seeking to create the right conditions for everyone to achieve their full potential.
• Rhagori (to exceed; to excel) - we have high aspirations for tertiary education and research in Wales and always set high standards for ourselves to be the best we can be.

We are proud to be a Disability Confident employer and accredited as a Living Wage employer.

Location

Our headquarters is in 2, Capital Quarter, Cardiff, which has been specifically designed to meet our needs. This is where most colleagues will meet to collaborate, both with each other and with stakeholders.

As we operate across Wales, we also have limited office and collaboration space in Welsh Government offices in Llandudno Junction, Aberystwyth, Swansea and Merthyr Tydfil.

Main Purpose of the Job

Financial sustainability is foundational for the Welsh tertiary sector and underpins the feasibility of delivery of all of Medr’s regulatory conditions. You will be responsible for monitoring this and for working towards the development of a rigorous but proportionate monitoring system for all parts of the sector. Existing and emerging risks will need to be communicated both formally and informally within Medr and as appropriate to stakeholders. The role involves significant external engagement.

Job description

What you'll be doing

• Analyse and provide a critical appraisal of regulated providers’ financial performance; this will involve the preparation of templates and publications, review of institutions’ financial statements, finance records and forecasts to produce a report for the Audit & Risk Assurance Committee and Medr’s Board analysing and assessing each institution’s financial position, through working with the Risk Assurance Manager and across other Medr teams.
• Meet with provider finance teams to develop a broad understanding of their financial forecasting models and long term sustainability plans
• Provide advice and guidance to providers relating to financial reporting
• Input into work with other UK funders and regulators and other UK representative bodies on major areas of development in the sector
• Input into work with other stakeholders
• Manage and develop the financial aspects of Medr’s regulatory processes to reflect the new regulatory framework and external changes in regulation and risk environment.
• Carry out ad-hoc financial reviews and investigations on behalf of the Accounting Officer or the Audit & Risk Assurance Committee
• Monitor compliance with Medr’s regulatory conditions relating to financial sustainability and management

Key Challenges

Ensuring robust ongoing oversight under the current regulatory arrangements until they are superseded and adapting this to the new regulatory framework.

Robust assessment of sector financial returns and intelligence to identify key trends and risks and appropriate dissemination of these.

Implementing and delivering appropriate and strategic reporting mechanisms in respect of financial assurance that manage the risks posed to providers and alert Medr’s leadership and Welsh Government to key risks.

Maintaining credibility and trust with a range of partners including our senior leadership team, key stakeholders and finance professionals within the tertiary education sector.

About your team

The Financial Assurance team sits within the Regulation Directorate which is responsible for the regulatory oversight of all tertiary education providers in Wales. Your team is responsible for regulatory work in relation to the financial management and financial sustainability of the tertiary education sector, helping to manage financial risks and protect learners and public funds.
Given the cross cutting nature of financial sustainability of the sector, the team work closely with other areas of the regulation team, with other Medr teams and with external stakeholders.

Currently this is a small team and your role will not involve line management.

About your line manager

Diane Rowland, Head of Financial Assurance.

I have worked in financial sustainability of the tertiary education for over 8 years, having previously worked in the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales. I work between home and Medr’s Cardiff headquarters.

Person specification

What you'll bring

Attributes

• Reflective – You critically assess your decisions and actions, seeking to learn from both successes and failures.
• Humility - You listen to diverse perspectives and incorporate feedback into decision-making.
• Agile - You drive forward improvements, through collaboration, embracing new technologies and nurturing a culture of continuous learning.
• Act with integrity – You consistently act in the best interest of the organisation and its stakeholders and take responsibility for your decisions

Experience

• A strong financial background in the areas of financial analysis, (including review of financial statistics and forecasts and identification of key risks) and financial reporting (technical accounting frameworks and template modelling). Understanding of not for profit sectors is helpful but not essential.
• Experience of dealing with/ reporting financial matters to senior management and/ or a governing body

Welsh Language requirements

We have evaluated that the Welsh language requirements for this post are:

Desirable

Welsh desirable means that while having Welsh language skills is useful for the role, it is not an assessment criterion, so it won’t disadvantage you during recruitment if you don’t currently possess these skills.

Qualifications

CCAB qualified accountant or equivalent professional qualification relevant to the role.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £49,301, Medr contributes £14,282 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Your Perks and Benefits

We recognise the importance of looking after ourselves in work and in life, so in recognition of this we provide:

• 34 days annual leave a year (pro rata)
• An environment that embraces work life balance.
• A culture that celebrates diversity and welcomes everyone.
• Dedicated well-being time to all our people each week.
• A Cycle to Work Scheme to make owning a bicycle more affordable.

Additional Support when you need it

We know that sometimes you may face challenges or life events that mean you need additional support.

• We provide a comprehensive employee assistance programme with remote access to resources and in person support whenever required.
• We have a special leave policy ensuring everyone in the organisation receives the support they need during difficult times.

More than just a workplace

• You will be entitled to take 5 days paid leave per year to undertake voluntary work to support the communities we serve.
• We will encourage you to grow your networks across Wales, the UK and internationally.
• We have an active social committee who offer a range of activities for our people to come together outside the work setting. You can participate as much or as little as you want.

Personal and professional development

• Once you’re offered a post, we will get to know you and work with you to develop a personalised onboarding plan which considers your experience, skills, learning style and knowledge.
• We’ll help you shape your development plans with personalised career conversations and objectives, taking account of delivery goals alongside your career aspirations and helping you own your career.
• We support all our staff to learn or improve their Welsh language skills.

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

We are really interested in you as an individual and what you will bring to our organisation.

Our assessment process is designed to help us get to know you better enabling us to appoint someone who will thrive in the role and who shares our organisational values.

If you are interested in working with us, please send us your application and personal statement through Civil Service Jobs.

The following attributes/experience will be assessed at sift stage:

Attributes

• Reflective – You critically assess your decisions and actions, seeking to learn from both successes and failures.
• Act with integrity – You consistently act in the best interest of the organisation and its stakeholders and take responsibility for your decisions.
  

Experience

• A strong financial background in the areas of financial analysis, (including review of financial statistics and forecasts and identification of key risks) and financial reporting (technical accounting frameworks and template modelling). Understanding of not for profit sectors is helpful but not essential.
• Experience of dealing with/ reporting financial matters to senior management and/ or a governing body

To be fair to everyone who applies, we won’t accept:

• Late applications
• Applications with missing or incomplete information
• Personal statements over 1,250 words

The deadline for application submission is Tuesday 7 April.

Applications are welcome in Welsh and will not be treated less favourably than those submitted in English.

All applications will be notified of their outcomes via Civil Service Jobs at sift and interview stage.

Candidates who successfully navigate the sift stage will be required to complete an online exercise to enable us to determine their behavioural and personality preferences. Immediately on completion you will be given a report which highlights your strengths plus some development tips to help you prepare for interview. Candidates should note that the online exercise is not intended to eliminate anyone from consideration. Instead, it serves as a tool to aid in the decision-making process.

Following this, you will be required to participate in an interview and an in-tray exercise, both of which will be conducted on Wednesday 29 April.

In addition to the attributes assessed at sift stage, the remaining attributes will also be assessed at interview:

• Humility - You listen to diverse perspectives and incorporate feedback into decision-making.
• Agile - You drive forward improvements, through collaboration, embracing new technologies and nurturing a culture of continuous learning.

We strive for a diverse and inclusive workplace and we want to help you demonstrate your full potential whatever type of assessment is used. We are happy to discuss any person-centred adjustments required to the recruitment process. Please contact swyddi@medr.cymru.

We're looking forward to meeting everyone invited to interview at our headquarters in 2, Capital Quarter, Cardiff. We don’t usually pay travel expenses, but if this presents a real barrier to your attendance in person or if you require a reasonable adjustment, please let us know in advance by emailing swyddi@medr.cymru so we can discuss and agree arrangements prior to your interview.

Following interview we are committed to offering constructive and actionable feedback to support you on your future career journey.

Next steps

Interested…? Want to find out more?

We know how important it is for you to find out more about us so we will be holding a virtual information session for candidates on Thursday 26 March at 1pm on Microsoft Teams. This session will not be recorded.

This will be an opportunity for you to hear more about our organisation; the role and how we invest in our people.

If you would like to attend, register by emailing swyddi@medr.cymru

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

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 : People and Culture Team
• Email : swyddi@medr.cymru

Recruitment team

• Email : swyddi@medr.cymru

Attachments

Swydd Ddisgrifiad - Uwch Reolwr Sicrwydd Ariannol Opens in new window (pdf, 285kB)Canllaw i Ymgeiswyr ar Lunio Datganiad Personol Opens in new window (pdf, 112kB)A Candidate's guide to crafting a personal statement Opens in new window (pdf, 113kB)Job description - Senior Financial Assurance Manager Opens in new window (pdf, 287kB)