Senior Financial Accountant

Senior Financial Accountant  

Job Title: Senior Financial Accountant 
Council/Function: UKRI Finance 
Band: UKRI Band E 
Reports to: Financial Control Manager  
Location: Swindon 
Contract: Permanent 

Purpose of the role 
Working closely with the other Senior Financial Accountants, Financial Control Managers and Financial Controller, the role will be responsible for ensuring accurate financial reporting, completion of external audits and working closely with National Audit office (NAO), Government Internal Audit (GIA) and Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) colleagues.  

Key Areas of Accountability 

Leadership / teamwork / collaboration 

• Actively contributes to team success by enhancing ways of working and fostering collaboration with other teams across UKRI. 

• Build & maintain strong relationships with colleagues & business partners to ensure timely resolution of queries and assist with meeting UKRI objectives.  

• Deals effectively with challenging situations and consults at a higher level when necessary. 

• Adaptable and flexible approach to work with the ability to effectively multi-task 

Delivery / programmes / projects / process 
 
Responsible for delivering allocated tasks and functions in support of the financial control team including: 

• Leading on the production of financial accounts from trial balance for 2 UKRI entities for month end, interim and year end including, reporting onto DSIT accounts portal  

• Working in partnership with the UKRI Finance Business Partners (FBP) to ensure good financial control and accurate financial accounts.  

• Leading on the preparation of UKRI consolidated TB and detailed TB for interim and final accounts to support UKRI accounts consolidation.  

• Leading on the review and implementation of UKRI harmonised accounts mapping.  

• Liaising with National Audit Office (NAO) and provide audit data sets  

• Providing training and advice to colleagues producing Counterparty and Whole of Government Accounts (WGA) datasets 

• Providing support to another senior reporting accountant in the team with non-current asset work which includes but is not limited to:  

            -Fixed asset reporting for UKRI Councils on working day 3 

            -Managing the workflow of 2 colleagues who assist on Fixed Assets reconciliations and Asset Verification and Validation 

            - Annual indexation of UKRI fixed assets  

            - Annual asset validation and verification exercise across UKRI

            - Leases review and reporting  

• We are implementing a cloud-based ERP system. This role will be integral to implementing and supporting continuous improvement across financial control.  

 Other 

• This job description is intended to provide a broad outline of the main duties and responsibilities only.  The post holder will need to be flexible in developing the role in conjunction with their line manager. The post holder may be asked to carry out any other delegated duty or task that is in line with the post. 

Essential skills, qualifications & experience 

 
(S) – Assessed at shortlisting 

(I) – Assessed at interview 

(S&I) – Assessed at both shortlisting and interview 

Experience & knowledge: 

• Comprehensive hands-on experience of preparing monthly, interim and year end financial accounts including notes to accounts derived from trial balance (S/I) 

• Experience in a finance environment, adept at managing and meeting tight deadlines. (S/I) 

• Experience of external audits, providing audit data and liaison with auditors (S/I) 

• Good working knowledge of Microsoft Office, in particular Excel, and Outlook. (S/I)  

• Knowledge of Oracle/Fusion (desirable) (S) 

Skills & abilities: 

• Ability to prioritise work and meet tight timescales and adapt to regularly changing priorities. (S/I) 

• Ability to work as a team and work unsupervised and under own initiative. (S/I) 

• Strong understanding and experience of financial accounts preparation, accounting standards and accounting principles(S/I) 

• Good written and verbal communication skills and the ability to communicate effectively with both internal and external customers. (S/I) 

• Strong attention to detail and accuracy(S/I) 

• Able to establish effective working relationships with colleagues and stakeholders. (S/I) 

• Skilled at independently resolving issues, with the ability to recognise when to seek guidance or advice as necessary. (S/I) 

About UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) 

UKRI launched in April 2018, UKRI is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT).

Our organisation brings together the seven disciplinary research councils, Research England, which is responsible for supporting research and knowledge exchange at higher education institutions in England, and the UK’s innovation agency, Innovate UK. Together we build an independent organisation with a strong voice and vision to ensure the UK maintains its world-leading position in research and innovation. More information can be found at www.ukri.org. 

Choosing to come to work at UKRI means that you will have access to a whole host of benefits from a defined benefit pension scheme, excellent holiday entitlement, access to employee shopping/travel discounts and salary sacrifice cycle to work scheme.  For more details, visit Benefits of working for UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

The role holder will be required to have the appropriate level of security screening/vetting required for the role.  UKRI reserves the right to run or re-run security clearance as required during the course of employment.

How we support EDI in the workforce 

At UKRI, we believe that everyone has a right to be treated with dignity and respect, and to be provided with equal opportunities to thrive and succeed in an environment that enables them to do so. We also value diversity of thought and experience within inclusive groups, organisations and the wider community. For further information, please visit ‘How we support EDI in the workforce’. 

Disability Confident Employer

As users of the disability confident scheme, we guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the vacancy/ies. We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us to request accommodation. 
 
How to apply 

Online applications only preferred for this role. Please submit a CV and covering letter which clearly outlines how you fulfil the criteria specified along with your motivation for UKRI and the role. Ensure that the job reference number is included in the filename description of each document uploaded. Note that failure to address the above criteria or submit an application without a covering letter may result in the application not being considered. Assessment will only be based upon the content of your submitted covering letter and CV and not the ‘experience’ section of the application. 

UKRI seeks to ensure it creates and maintains a system of openness, fairness and inclusion – a collaborative, trusted environment, which is attractive to and accessible to everyone who is interested in developing their career with us.