About the job

Job summary

The Financial Control Division (FCD) is a friendly, dynamic, and fast paced team working at the heart of UK Export Finance.  We are responsible for ensuring that effective financial control processes are in place. We co-ordinate the Department’s estimates, budgets and forecasting processes. We produce accurate and reliable monthly management accounts, annual accounts, and other published financial information. We manage the UKEF bank accounts, purchase ledger, fixed asset registers and the general ledger (CODA). We advise on accounting treatments, own the UKEF accounting policies and are working with others across the organisation and beyond to implement large scale changes in our accounting policy, systems, and processes in order to operationalise IFRS 9 and IFRS 17 for 2025-26 reporting.

It’s an exciting time to join us as we support a business that is at the heart of delivering government export and trade policy to build the UK economy back stronger. We are also in a unique period of transition as we prepare to implement IFRS 9 and IFRS 17 accounting standards that will affect how we account for nearly all our front-line business. This will also involve implementing new systems, including a new general ledger, and new processes. The successful applicant will be supporting the Financial Control Division during this busy period of change.

N.B. We would also like to make you aware of a Financial Reporting Manager role available in our team. Civil Service Jobs Reference Number - 336608

Job description

You will be leading on all aspects of the accounting, forecasting and financial reporting of the Department’s insurance, financial guarantee, and direct lending products under the current accounting standards we follow (IAS 39 and IFRS 4). These are unique roles blending financial accounting and finance business partnering.

 You will be problem solving on a day-to-day basis, identifying anomalies, and seeking out their root causes, correcting them at source and working out interim solutions. You will be working with large amounts of data and large excel spreadsheets. You will also be working within tight deadlines, so quality, accuracy and timeliness is key.

 You will be responsible for providing accounting advice. You will be working with other experienced and qualified accountants within a wider supportive and collaborative financial control division. You will work with and forge good working relationships with colleagues across the department, including underwriters, claims handlers, risk analysts and externally with auditors.

 To succeed, you will be a high performing fully qualified accountant with a proven ability to deliver to challenging timetables in a pressurised environment. You will be a results-driven and ambitious team player, have excellent attention to detail and the ability to build productive working relationships across divisions within the organisation and with external auditors. You will also possess strong IT skills (in particular Excel) and have the ability to hit the ground running in a fast-paced role as the organisation goes through a period of rapid change.

Person specification

The responsibilities include:

1. Lead the production of monthly accounts for the UKEF’s insurance, financial guarantee, and direct lending portfolio. Key responsibilities include:

• Reviewing and analysing monthly and quarterly information from internal teams.
• Preparing reconciliations with upstream systems.
• Preparing journals for e.g., amortisation, provisions, impairment, ensuring that the treatment is in line with IFRS (as adopted by UKEF) and there is a robust audit trail.
• Preparing month end commentary for monthly management accounts; and
• Work closely with the Operations Division to ensure the correct reporting of all deals.

1. Support the production of the UKEF’s annual report and accounts. Key tasks include:

• Obtain year-end information from internal teams (Risk, Operations, Business Group);
• Prepare year-end journals for insurance, financial guarantees, and direct lending products.
• Prepare of a range of disclosures within the annual report and accounts; and
• Respond and resolve audit queries.

1. Support the production of the Supply Estimate (biannual budgets) and preparation of submissions accordingly by leading on all aspects relating to insurance, financial guarantees, and direct lending.
2. Review and consider new products or changes to products with regards to accounting treatment. Write accounting policy notes to document the consideration and conclusion. Liaise with and provide advice to the business to ensure that systems can operationalise the required accounting treatment.
3. Provide analysis of UKEF’s assets and liabilities and other financial information as and when required.
4. Participate in change projects and system changes and improvements and data cleansing.
5. Continuously improve current processes and models.
6. Support colleagues across the Financial Control Division
7. Manage, support and coach junior staff who report to you (this may be one or none and is to be decided).

This list is not exhaustive, you may be required to carry out additional duties according to business need.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £56,430, UK Export Finance contributes £15,236 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Things you need to know

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Ability, Experience and Technical skills.

You will be invited to complete the online application form.  The application form must be completed by 23.55 on the day of the closing date for it to be accepted.

All applications will be sifted against our minimum selection criteria outlined in the personal specification.

You will be asked in the relevant sections of the application form to provide examples of evidence against a range of the success profiles (refer to appendix 1).  Where applicants are asked to apply with a personal statement, you should fully articulate in 750 words how you meet the essential criteria outlined in the person specification within the Information Pack.

For the initial sift your application will be evaluated against:

1. Experience
2. Ability
3. Technical
4. Behaviours

If you are successful following the sift stage, you will be invited to an initial interview; this will include the following assessment:

1. Behaviours/Technical/Experience - a formal panel interview where you will be interviewed across all five behaviours highlighted and your technical ability to successfully carry out the role.
2. Technical - a short presentation (this will be on a topic determined by UKEF and will need to be prepared in advance).

Details of interview panel members will be e-mailed to all successful candidates who are invited for interview.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window). People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• 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) (opens in a new window)
• 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 European Union Settlement Scheme (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

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) 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 (opens in a new window). The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria. The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.