60236 - Assistant Management Accountant

We recognise the challenges that people with (multiple) protected characteristics may experience on the job market and in their career progression. We are fully committed to being an inclusive employer of choice and ensuring equity of opportunity for all. We welcome the unique contribution diverse applicants bring in terms of their culture, ethnicity, race, nationality or national origin, age, sex, gender identity or expression, religion or belief, disability status, sexual orientation, educational or social background or any other factor. To find out more about how we champion diversity and inclusion in the workplace please visit https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice/about/equality-and-diversity

Overview

• The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) sits at the heart of public service delivery and the government’s wider social reform agenda, working to protect and advance the principles of justice. The department has been at the forefront of the Government’s wider efficiency agenda making our finance roles an exciting and challenging opportunity.
• The MoJ Management Accounting Centre of Excellence team sits within the Financial Management and Control Directorate and supports the department by providing a centralized, professional service to the department and individual business areas, adhering to the key principles in Managing Public Money, the Estimates Manual, the Spending Controls Framework and Budget Holder Responsibilities. It supports all MoJ operational Agencies, Arms-length Bodies (ALBs) and Head Quarter (HQ) functions (resource budget ~£10bn, capital budget ~£1.7bn) in providing robust, timely and transparent management accounting services.
• The MoJ Management Accounting Centre of Excellence works with other Finance teams, including the Finance Business Partnering teams, to provide a high-quality finance service to the department. The teams are structurally separate with clearly defined roles and responsibilities and work closely together to deliver an effective end-to-end process of data extraction, analysis, reporting, insight and advice.
• The MoJ Management Accounting Centre of Excellence will promote and maintain best practice in management accounting, business intelligence, data integrity and visualisation, reporting from a standard suite that is tailored where It will also seek to exploit new and existing technology as an enabler to delivering more efficient services and focus on streamlining and optimising processes.

Role Purpose

This role is within one of the operational MA teams within the MoJ Management Accounting Centre of Excellence.  The postholder will need to be flexible in their approach as they may be asked to support one of the MoJ agencies (HM Prisons & Probation (HMPPS), Legal Aid Agency (LAA), Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA), Office of the Public Guardian) or one of the Finance Operating Model ALBs (Parole Board (PB), Youth Justice Board (YJB), Judicial Appointment Commission (JAC), Independent Monitoring Authority (IMA).

This role description applies to all EO roles within the MoJ MA Centre of Excellence (MA CoE) operational teams. Where more than one applicant meets the minimum criteria for the role, the unsuccessful candidates will be placed on a merit list.  If there are further vacancies for EO roles within the MA CoE in the next 12 months candidates can be taken from the merit list without running a new recruitment campaign.  Candidates will need to be flexible in their approach as they may be asked to support similar roles in different teams across the MA CoE to meet business needs.

This is a great opportunity to become part of the MoJ Management Accounting Centre of Excellence and contribute to its’ continued development. It is a team constantly evolving, working towards its’ vision which is:  ‘A Centre of Excellence, recognised for delivering high quality financial management and insight to our customers, by a respected capable team which constantly strives to reform and improve in order to add value’.

The primary purpose of the role is to support the Management Accounts Centre of Excellence in providing a time critical management accounting function for MoJ.

The post holder will be responsible to the Management Accountant for ensuring that all monthly, quarterly and annual accounting processes are correctly carried out to MoJ published timescales.

The post holder will be part of a geographically dispersed team.  There are no line management responsibilities.

Responsibilities

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

• Responsible for providing time critical monthly, quarterly and annual management accounts – at local cost centre (CC)/allocated area - meeting local and published timetables in accordance with the monthly management accounting cycle.
• For local CC and allocated areas of responsibility, responsible for the intelligent processing/posting of journals (Including the production of robust accruals) and uploading of budgets/ forecasts in accordance with local and MoJ published timetables.
• Maintain audit trail of activity
• Collaboration with colleagues and manager to ensure adherence to MoJ and HM Treasury policies and guidelines (journal policy, finance manual, Managing Public Money).
• Administer the functional mailbox to a high level, ensuring timely and quality responses.
• Ensure a strong partnership is developed and maintained with all Stakeholders (Finance Business Partners, the Business, Shared Services (SSCL)) to support organisational performance and delivery of plans.
• Support the function priorities and understand how you and your team feed into them through engagement in working groups, updates and team discussions.
• Support managers and the senior team in implementation of new ways of working, adopting smarter processes. Engage in continuous improvement through regular review and sharing of ideas to support improved ways of working.
• Challenge and influence decision making at local cost centre level/allocated area through analysis, interpretation and insight of key management information (regular reviews and monitoring of expenditure, both resource and capital, suspense accounts / balance sheet) to inform forecasting; make effective use reporting and of data gathering to support analysis and build MI.
• Responsible for ensuring information flow/sharing between the Business/FBPs and MA team is timely and relevant informing accurate accounts.
• Understand financial risks and opportunities, highlighting areas of non-compliant accounting or third-party practices to line managers and stakeholders (e.g. Compliance Team, FBP) as required, ensuring an accurate picture is incorporated within the wider MoJ accounts.

Other duties

The post holder will be required to work flexibly and undertake 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 financial improvements.

Travel

Some travel to locations across England and Wales may be required, however this will be ad-hoc and not a regular feature of these working arrangements.

Key skills and knowledge

• Experience of working in a diverse team to deliver an effective and efficient service, in a fast-paced environment.
• Finance / transactional processing experience.
• Good Excel skills
• Experience in Oracle based finance systems such as SOP, Hyperion/SmartView (or similar) is desirable, but not essential.

Success Profiles  

Success Profiles will enable a fairer and more inclusive method of recruitment by enabling us to assess the range of experiences, abilities, strengths, behaviours and technical/professional skills required for different roles. This flexible approach to recruitment focuses more on finding the right candidate for the specific role. To find out more about Success Profiles to support your application please click here for further guidance.

Civil Service Behaviours

The following HEO Civil Service Behaviours are essential to this post and will be assessed upon application:

• Communicating and Influencing
• Working Together
• Delivering at Pace
• Developing Self and Others

Please refer to the Civil Service Behaviours Framework, which can be found here, to complete this application: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/717275/CS_Behaviours_2018.pdf

In the event that we receive a large volume of applications we reserve the right to conduct the sift based on one lead behaviour. The chosen lead behaviour for this campaign is Working Together

Professional Competencies / Requirements

• Association of Accounting Technicians Level 4 is desirable for this post though not essential

The Selection Process

To apply please complete the online application form. Applications will be sifted by a panel who will look at the Civil Service Behaviour framework and what is evidenced in your application. Should a large number of applications be received, an initial sift may be conducted using the lead behaviour, Managing a Quality Service. Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift or progressed straight to interview. Applicants will be expected to demonstrate the essential role requirements within the application behaviour responses. 

Candidates who are successful following the sift process will be invited to interview, where the behavioural elements and strengths will be tested further alongside other elements of the post. Further details will be provided to shortlisted candidates in advance of the interviews.