Head of Financial Accounting & Tax

FORESTRY COMMISSION; Bristol; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 70,000; Full time

Job summary

A government agency in the UK is seeking a Senior Finance Leader to oversee financial accounting, tax compliance, and banking operations. This role involves managing a team of nine, ensuring compliance with statutory requirements, and collaborating with external auditors. Candidates must be qualified accountants with significant experience in financial management. A competitive salary and generous pension benefits are offered.

Benefits

Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension

Learning and development opportunities

Flexible working options

Inclusive workplace culture

Qualifications

• Significant relevant experience in a senior financial role.
• Ability to lead and manage a team effectively.
• Experience working with external auditors.

Responsibilities

• Oversee financial accounting, tax compliance, and banking operations.
• Prepare interim and annual accounts to audit-ready standards.
• Ensure timely and accurate production of statutory accounts.

Skills

Team leadership

Financial accounting

Tax compliance

Banking operations

External auditing

Education

CCAB, CIMA, or equivalent qualified accountant

Job description

A senior finance leadership role responsible for overseeing financial accounting, tax compliance, and banking operations across Forestry England and the Forestry Commission. The postholder leads a team of nine, ensures timely and accurate production of statutory accounts, manages the external audit relationships, and provides strategic guidance on financial reporting and tax matters.

Responsibilities

• Maintaining strong professional relationships with colleagues across the organisation, including working closely with:
  • The Transaction Processing, Finance Business Partnering, and Finance Systems teams, to ensure the delivery of robust financial information and reporting
  • District and Business Unit Finance Managers, supporting their delivery of transactional accounting information
  • Contributors to the Annual Report and Accounts, including senior management
  • Ensuring that accounting, banking and tax services for the Forestry Commission are delivered to a good standard
  • Model Forestry England's leadership behaviours
• Delivering or managing the team in the delivery of the following services and outputs:

Financial Accounting and Reporting

• Preparing, to audit‑ready standard, the interim and annual accounts for Forestry England and Forestry Commission, in accordance with HM Treasury’s Financial Reporting Manual and other relevant guidance
• Leading production of the Annual Report section of the Annual Report and Accounts, including being responsible for identifying all information requirements, liaising with contributors, and managing the quality assurance process
• Liaising with external audit, including preparation or collation of all audit schedules
• Providing Whole of Government Accounts returns to HM Treasury
• Management of the Annual Report and Accounts production timetable, including issuing guidance to colleagues nationally
• Providing clear and comprehensive national guidance on financial accounting matters
• Ensuring Forestry England accounting practice remains compliant with HM Treasury’s Financial Reporting Manual, including implementing new accounting standards and other disclosure changes as and when required
• Monthly reconciliation of all active asset and liability account codes
• Capital accounting, including accounting for the nation’s forests

Tax

• Completion of tax returns, including VAT and CIS returns, and their appropriate recording in the ledger
• Providing first line advice and guidance on tax matters, and liaising with external advisers where appropriate
• Monitoring and quality control of VAT recording across Forestry England and the Forestry Commission
• Provision of training and guidance to colleagues across the organisation
• Responding to HMRC queries and correspondence as necessary

Banking

• Banking services as provided by the Government Banking Service, including ensuring payments can be processed in a timely manner and cash balances are appropriately safeguarded
• Efficient banking processing, ensuring Forestry England and the Forestry Commission have a clear view of their cash position and outstanding debt balances, and bank reconciliations are completed in a timely manner
• Management of the Government Procurement Card contract and administration of GPCs internally, including ensuring that our systems and processes adequately protect the organisation from fraud and error
• Management of the Payment Service Provider and Merchant Acquirer contracts, including administration of the issue and surrender of terminals as appropriate

Qualifications

• CCAB, CIMA, or equivalent qualified accountant with significant relevant experience
• Ability to lead and manage a team of 9 people in delivering finance services, including financial accounting, tax and banking
• Experience liaising with external audit and ensuring that all audit schedules are provided and queries answered in a timely manner

Benefits

Alongside a salary of £60,293, Forestry Commission contributes £17,466 towards membership in the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. The scheme offers an employer contribution of 28.97%.

Additional benefits:

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension

Application Requirements

You will be asked to write a 200-word statement on your relevant qualifications, experience and career history, and a personal statement of no more than 500 words. These applications will be assessed during the preliminary stage.

You will also be assessed on a technical skill during your interview.

Interview Assessment Criteria

• Seeing the Big Picture
• Making Effective Decisions
• Managing a Quality Service
• Leadership
• Delivering at Pace

Security

• Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check
• People working with government assets must complete the baseline personnel security standard checks

Nationality Requirements

• 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)
• 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 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

About the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code 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. The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. We run a Disability Confident Scheme for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria, and also offer a Redeployment Interview Scheme for civil servants at risk of redundancy who meet the minimum requirements.