AMS PSR

On behalf of Department for Education (DfE), we are looking for an

Assistant Financial Accountant (InsideIR35) for a 6-month contract.

Hybrid - 3 days per week in office & the rest WFH. 

Office locations - Manchester, Sheffield or Darlington.

The Sector Reporting division in Department for Education is responsible for designing data collections that facilitate efficient and effective financial data submissions from organisations covering nearly 11,000 individual schools and colleges. We then use that information to ensure academies and FE colleges can comply with budgeting and financial management obligations that are relevant for central government bodies, including supply estimates and production of the Academy Sector Annual Report and Account, known as the SARA, one of the most significant consolidation exercises across the public sector.

The SARA provides Parliament with an overview of all academy schools in England. It fulfils the reporting requirements of the Academies Act 2010 alongside the requirement to report on the finances of the sector. To consolidate the audited financial statements of 2,500 academy trusts that report to a different accounting framework to that in place for central government bodies, the SARA team in Sector Reporting need to make judgements, estimates and assumptions to ensure consistent accounting policies are applied to sector amounts of assets and liabilities, income and expenditure.

As an Assistant Financial Accountant, your main responsibilities will be:

• Preparing analysis and using this to draft suitable disclosures to be reported in a number of notes to the IFRS financial statements.
• Updating the asset register for all land and buildings movements relating to a £60 billion property portfolio, ensuring that general ledger entries derived from this are correct and accurately transcribed in our Workday Adaptive Planning accounting system.
• Identifying issues, errors and solutions across the group accounts, mainly within the land and buildings space, preparing journal corrections where agreed, and drafting reports on findings, conclusions and recommendations where requested.
• Commissioning land and buildings valuations in support of the SARA 2023-24 PPE note, in accordance with the selected accounting policy and method, and moderating the valuations received.
• Leading on other sector reporting processes if needed, e.g. the validation of Accounts Return data received from the academies sector.

Essential:

• Fully qualified CCAB accountant (or internationally recognised equivalent) and member of a CCAB accountancy body.
• Significant experience of preparing annual accounts, including working with auditors throughout the audit processes.
• Adept at identifying opportunities for system and process improvements, including developing and implementing proposals.
• Ability to work under pressure and deliver to tight timescales, with good attention to detail, and to work independently with minimal supervision.
• You will have excellent communication and stakeholder management skills and be able to document and explain complex findings, treatments and processes to managers, external auditors and other stakeholders.
• Strong Excel and wider IT skills, enabling you to work confidently with large data sets using advanced Excel functions for analysis and reporting.

Desirable:

• Experience of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central or Workday Adaptive Planning (our accounting software)
• Experience of Microsoft Dynamics CRM (a customer relationship management tool)
• Good skills in using Microsoft Word, to assist in preparing a final draft of the Annual Report and Accounts suitably formatted for our printing supplier.

Please be aware that this role can only be worked within the UK and not Overseas.

Disability Confident 

As a member of the Disability Confident Scheme, DfE guarantees to interview all candidates who have a disability and who meet all the essential criteria for the vacancy. In cases where we have a high volume of candidates who have a disability who meet all the essential criteria, we will interview the best candidates from within that group. This scheme encourages candidates with a disability and/or neurodivergence to apply.

DE&I Commitment

DfE guarantees to interview all candidates who have a disability and who meet all the essential criteria for the vacancy. In cases where we have a high volume of candidates who have a disability who meet all the essential criteria, we will interview the best candidates from within that group. This scheme encourages candidates with a disability and/or neurodivergence to apply. In exceptional circumstances, we may also need to apply the desirable criteria in our shortlisting process which may include holding active security clearance.

Armed Forces Covenant

DfE guarantees to interview veterans or spouses / partners of military personnel who meet all the essential criteria for the vacancy. In cases where we have a high volume of ex-military candidates / military spouses or partners, who meet all of the essential criteria, we will interview the best candidates from within that group. In exceptional circumstances, we may also need to apply the desirable criteria in our shortlisting process which may include holding active security clearance.

In applying for this role, you acknowledge the following "this role falls in scope of the Off Payroll Working in the Public Sector legislation. Any rates of payment quoted will reflect the gross rate per day for the assignment and will be subject to appropriate taxes and statutory costs. As such the payment to the intermediary and your income resulting from this contract will be different".