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 2 Financial Accountant roles available in our team. Civil Service Jobs Reference Number - 336835

Job description

You will be a leader amongst your peers in the division, co-ordinating and leading across the division to bring together and produce the monthly management accounts and annual statutory accounts.

You’ll be the first point of contact for the external auditors and has well established relationships across the UKEF business, including underwriters, claims handlers and risk analysts.

You will be responsible for providing accounting advice and implementing changes to financial reporting in response to changes in the business. You will be working with other experienced and qualified accountants within a wider supportive and collaborative financial control division.

You will be responsible for analysing and reporting on financial information, communicating this and ‘telling the story’ to various stakeholders including Senior Management.

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 of the role include:

• Leading on the planning and production of the FReM and IFRS-compliant Annual Accounts (collaborating with UKEF’s Marketing and Communication Division on the Annual Report production), the dry run accounts and the Whole of Government Accounts to agreed timetables.
• Providing support, guidance and input to the Audit Committee, Credit Committee and Executive Committee in connection with year-end including the production of key year-end papers. Working closely with all stakeholders including the external auditors, HM Treasury and internal stakeholders to an agreed timetable.
• Leading on engagement with external auditors, building and maintaining effective working relationships on behalf of UKEF. This includes, coordinating, directing, planning, responding to audit queries and agreeing on technical accounting treatments.
• Managing (including, completing, overseeing, and reviewing) the Monthly Accounts Process, ensuring they are delivered on time and to a high standard.
• Improving the year-end close and quality of deliverables to the external auditors.
• Provision of accounting advice on financial reporting matters including drafting papers for management purposes and relevant UKEF Committees, supporting programmes and projects which impact FCD (e.g. system and process improvements).

Further duties of the role can be found in the candidate information document.

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.

We are assessing candidates using Success Profiles and across the whole process we will assess your Experience, Ability, Technical aptitude and Behaviours as highlighted below.

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.  You will also be asked to complete a 750 word covering letter on how you meet the essential criteria. You should fully articulate and provide examples of how you meet the essential criteria outlined in the person specification. It is not enough to reiterate the criteria.

Sift

For the initial sift your application will be evaluated against:

1. Experience
2. Ability
3. Technical

 

Interview

Behaviours/Technical/Experience - a formal panel interview where you will be interviewed across all four behaviours highlighted and your technical ability to successfully carry out the role.

• Behaviour - Changing and Improving
• Behaviour - Delivering at Pace
• Behaviour - Leadership
• Behaviour - Communicating and Influencing
• Behaviour - Working Together
• Technical questions relating to the role
• Technical - a short presentation (this will be on a topic determined by UKEF and will need to be prepared 

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.