Job Description

About the group
Public Spending Group sits within the HM Treasury Finance Ministry and is responsible for:
 

• Setting the Government’s spending plans (spending reviews) and ensuring they are delivered;
• Reporting to the public and Parliament on public spending (including estimates and Whole of Government Accounts); setting rules for budget management and the accounting framework;
• Setting policy on public sector pay and pensions;
• Driving up the capability of Government Finance and developing the management information, tools and frameworks to better understand and ensure value for money; and,
• Work closely with the Cabinet Office to deliver the Efficiency Agenda.

About the team
The Government Financial Reporting (GFR) team sits within the public spending group. It is responsible for a wide range of activities:

 

• Drafting and updating key government financial reporting guidance, including the Estimates Manual, Consolidated Budgeting guidance and Government Financial reporting Manual.

 

• Adapting and interpreting guidance and working with Departmental Finance teams, the Financial Reporting Advisory Board, Accounting standards bodies, National Audit Office, Parliament and Office for National Statistics to ensure high quality financial reporting and management across government.

 

• Preparing the Whole of Government Accounts, a comprehensive picture of what government owns, owes, takes in revenue and spends. WGA consolidates over 9,000 entities.

The GFR comprises around 30 members of staff, and provides exposure to a wide range of colleagues across the government finance function, as well as working on areas of emerging policy and risk management within government. The team is dynamic, and fully supports learning, development and growth.

Key Accountabilities

The Whole of Government Accounts (WGA) is a set of consolidated accounts for the public sector, which incorporates central government, devolved administrations, local authorities, health bodies and public corporations. This is a highly complex account, with technical and logistical issues. There is strong support for WGA both from within the Treasury and by other interested parties such as Parliament, the National Audit Office and the Office of Budget Responsibility. This is a really exciting time to be joining the team as we seek to produce the account more quickly, improve the document, remove the qualifications and ensure that the best use of it is made across user communities.

1. Provide a helpdesk function to all users and preparers of WGA materials, ensuring that queries are responded to promptly and accurately
2. Support the production of the account through the elimination of counterparty transactions, reviews between WGA data and published accounts and by carrying out analytical review of key balances and disclosure notes
3. Maintain key documents to support the production of the account including the reconciliation between WGA and the national accounts and the procedures used by the WGA team
4. Prepare and maintain analytical review files used by the external auditors during their verification processes
5. Support the development and maintenance of data collection tools to ensure that they reflect the requirements of the accounting standards, have appropriate controls and collect the data in the most effective and efficient manner
6. Support the delivery of training though the development of materials, management of the training programme and review of guidance
7. Take responsibility for preparing responses to Freedom of Information requests, Parliamentary Questions and Ministerial correspondence, and maintaining good knowledge management practices
8. Produce analysis as required to support the production and use of the account
 

Responsibilities

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:

1. CCAB (or equivalent) qualified or part qualified accountant


REQUIRED SKILLS, KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

1. Ability to work independently and manage a busy workload in a complex environment
2. A well-developed understanding of and ability to communicate financial reporting requirements
3. Excellent IT skills and the ability to work confidently with large amounts of complex data

The lead criteria is: Managing a quality service
If we receive a large number of applications, applications will be assessed against this criteria alone first. They will then be assessed against the other criteria if they have met the minimum score on the lead criteria.


Recruitment timeline:

Closing date:30/09/2020
Sift: 5/10/2020
Interviews: 12/10/2020
Start in post: 1/12/2020

Behaviours

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

• Seeing the Big Picture
• Making Effective Decisions
• Working Together
• Developing Self and Others
• Managing a Quality Service
• Delivering at Pace

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

• Making Effective Decisions
• Working Together
• Managing a Quality Service
• Delivering at Pace

Technical skills

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

• CCAB (or equivalent) qualified or part qualified accountant

Benefits

Flexible working arrangements:

HM Treasury views flexible working as essential in enabling us to recruit and retain talented people, ensuring that they are able to enjoy a long-lasting career with us. All employees have the right to apply for flexible working and there are a range of options available including; working from home, compressed hours and job sharing. Additionally, we operate flexitime systems, allowing employees to take up to an additional 2 days off each month, providing you work enough hours to meet business need.

We also offer a generous maternity/ paternity and adoption leave package.

At HM Treasury we have an incredibly broad remit; our work touches every citizen of the country. So, it’s important our employees come from the widest possible range of backgrounds, bringing us the widest possible range of perspectives and ways of thinking. We are committed to ensuring that all staff are able to realise their potential and achieve a healthy work-life balance.

Benefits:

 

• 25 days’ annual leave (rising to 30 after 5 years), plus 8 public holidays and the Queen’s birthday (unless you have a legacy arrangement as an existing Civil Servant)
• Flexible working patterns (part-time, job-share, condensed hours)
• Access to a generous Defined Benefit pension scheme with employer contributions.
• Onsite restaurant and coffee bar. The London office also offers a gym, showers and prayer room
• Access to a cycle-to-work salary sacrifice scheme, season ticket advances and payroll giving
• Access to a retail discounts and cashback site
• A Rental Deposit Advance Scheme to help meet the total costs of deposits for privately rented homes
• A range of active staff networks, based around interests (e.g. analysts, music society, sports and social club) and diversity (e.g. women in the Treasury, ethnic minority network, LGBT* network, faith and belief network)

Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

1. Ability to work independently and manage a busy workload in a complex environment 2. A well-developed understanding of and ability to communicate financial reporting requirements 3. Excellent IT skills and the ability to work confidently with large amounts of complex data