About the job

Job summary

Discover a career in your hands at HMRC. Whether you're seeking purpose, growth, or a workplace that gives you a true sense of belonging, hear from some of our employees as they share their story about what it’s really like to work at HMRC.

   

Visit our YouTube channel to watch the full series and come and discover your potential.

Are you a qualified accountant with strong financial accounting experience from working in practice or industry?

Would the offer of hybrid working, actual flexi-time and genuine work-life balance alongside fascinating technical work interest you?

If you’re nodding your head reading this, you’ve come to the right place.

In return for your technical accounting skills, we can offer you a role that offers exciting and challenging work on high-profile complex accounting issues that has real impact on government tax policy decisions and makes a huge difference to the nation’s finances.

About the team:

The Commissioners’ Advisory Accountant (CAA) is accountable for all accountancy advice to Tribunals and Courts and to HMRC policy units, and for the quality of advice given by Advisory and Forensic Accountants in operational directorates to HMRC officers in those operational directorates.

The CAA is supported by the CAA team which is responsible for providing accountancy advice in litigation and policy matters, and for the delivery of a high-quality accountancy service throughout HMRC. Its work impacts on most parts of the Department and HMRC customers. The team also represents HMRC with external professional bodies such as the ICAEW, ICAS and ACCA.

We are looking for experienced technical accountants to fill two roles as a G7 CAA Advisory Accountant.

As a G7 CAA Advisory Accountant, you will support various areas of the CAA team’s work, including tasks such as the development of robust, quality accountancy advice to support litigation and policy matters, accountancy learning and guidance, and supporting the team on other priority lead areas (e.g. risk and governance, quality, knowledge management and communications).

Job description

As an Advisory Accountant, you will support the CAA team's work:

• Provide accounting advice for complex accountancy issues - analysing relevant customer facts, accounting frameworks and, where appropriate, challenging customers’ accounting analyses.  
  
  
• Work with other specialists to form a view and assess the impact of the accounting treatment for tax. 
  
  
• Support litigation, acting as an expert witness, case accountant or witness of fact and be proactive in assisting others involved in litigation.  
  
  
• Prepare and review professional reports with both factual and opinion evidence, attend case conferences, meetings and court acting with professionalism, integrity and independence.  
  
  
• Develop and provide quality accountancy training to accountancy and tax professionals, offering follow-up support to delegates.  
  
  
• Coach and mentor colleagues.  
  
  
• Share knowledge and best practice, using innovative methods and digital tools.  
  
  
• Actively and visibly role model leadership with energy and enthusiasm.
  
  
• Communicate effectively both orally and in writing to a variety of audiences, with the ability to explain complex issues to both accountants and non-accountants in a simple and articulate way.
  

Person specification

This role requires strong financial accounting experience gained and consolidated in either practice, industry, public sector or private sector, dealing with a range of stakeholders.

This should be demonstrated by:

• Experience of working on complex technical financial accounting matters, including:
  
  o Analysing and interpreting financial records;
  
  o Preparing or reviewing financial statements; and
  
  o Considering the appropriate accounting treatment of a variety of specific transactions.
  
  
• A clear understanding of accounting principles and the application of GAAP in the UK;
  
  
• Strong communication skills, including delivery of reports or briefings to senior stakeholders; and
  
  
• Commercial knowledge and an understanding of how businesses operate including accounting systems.
  

Essential Criteria:

Full and complete qualification from, and continuing membership of, at least one of the following professional accounting bodies:

• The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW)
• The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS)
• Chartered Accountants Ireland (CAI)
• The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA)
• The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA)
• The Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA)

Part qualified accountants are not eligible to apply for these posts.

Please confirm which body you are a full member of within your CV.

You will be required to show evidence of your qualification and membership at interview.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £54,439, HM Revenue and Customs contributes £14,698 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, Experience and Technical skills.

How to Apply

Sift Assessment

At this initial sift stage, we are assessing your experience. Your application will comprise of a name blind CV tailored to the role advertised, detailing your job history and including for each role:

• Dates in role (MM/YY – MM/YY).
• Employer.
• Job Title.
  
  
• A description of your responsibilities and relevant achievements detailing the ‘what you did’ and ‘how you did it’. 
  
  
• Detail any key achievements and the impact your work has had, tailor this to showcase how your experience aligns with the advertised role. 
  
  
• Qualifications: List all relevant qualifications required for the role as outlined in the job advert and criteria.
  
  Application Tips: anonymising your CV (youtube.com)
  

When giving details in your CV, you should be explicit in highlighting your experience to address all of the person specification requirements listed in the advert. You should therefore include details of the work you have been involved in and the roles you played.

Your CV will be scored against the person specification requirements outlined in the advert.

A preliminary sift on the Essential Criteria will be conducted and only candidates meeting the criteria will progress.

Important information

• If your CV contains any personal details (such as your name or contact details) your application will be withdrawn.
  
  
• Your CV should be no more than a total of 1,500 words.
  
  
• You do not need to include references in your CV.
  
  

Interview process

This will include:

• An accountancy based technical assessment (to include both a presentation and a written output). Further details will be provided in advance. Current or former members of the HMRC Advisory and Forensic Accountants Profession may be exempt from the technical assessment, see Note 1 below for further details.Only candidates who pass the technical assessment, or who have a valid exemption, will be invited to a panel interview.

• A panel interview following the Success Profiles Framework used for all Civil Service recruitment, comprising the following:

- Questions seeking examples of the selected behaviours ‘Communicating and Influencing’ and ‘Delivering at Pace’; and

- Experience questions to understand your suitability for the role advertised.

Full details will be provided to those candidates invited to interview.

The technical assessment and panel interview will be held via Teams video call.

Note 1: Technical Test Exemption

Current or former members of the HMRC Advisory and Forensic Accountants Profession may be exempt from the technical assessment, see the attachment below for further details.

All applicants that believe they are exempt must complete the attached technical exemption form and send to recruitmentteam.sols@hmrc.gov.uk once you submit your application on Civil Service Jobs. Please quote “359304” in your email title. Please provide your candidate ID, NOT your name. You should not include any identifying details, i.e. name, contact details or address.

We reserve the right to raise the score required at any stage of the process in order to manage numbers.

A session on how this recruitment will be run, including advice on completing the application form, during which you will have the opportunity to ask questions, will be run on 31st July at 12:00.

If you would like to attend this, please contact:- recruitmentteam.sols@hmrc.gov.uk, quoting “359304 – candidate’s session" in the heading of your email by 11 am on the 31st July to ensure you receive an invitation.

Eligibility 

Please take extra care to tick the correct boxes in the eligibility sections of your application form. We understand mistakes sometimes happen but if you contact us later than two working days (Monday-Friday) before the vacancy closes, we will not be able to reopen your application for you. If you do make a mistake, please contact us via: ubsrecruitmentexcellence@hmrc.gov.uk – Use the subject line to insert appropriate wording for example – ‘Please re-open my application – [insert vacancy ref] & vacancy closing date [insert date]’ 

To check that you are eligible to apply for this role, please review the eligibility information before submitting your application. 

Reserve List

A reserve list may be held for up to 12 months from which further appointments may be made for the same or similar roles – if this applies to you, we’ll let you know via your Civil Service Jobs account.

Merit List 

After interview, a single merit list will be created, and appointments will be made in strict merit order until the set demand is filled in each location. If successful, you will be informed which locations are available when we reach your position on the merit list.

Criminal Record Check

Applications received from candidates with a criminal record are considered fairly in accordance with the DBS Code of Practice and the Recruitment of ex-offenders Policy. 

Reasonable Adjustments 

We want to make sure no one is put at a disadvantage during our recruitment process. To assist you with this, we will reduce or remove any barriers where possible and provide additional support where appropriate. 

If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should:  

• Contact the UBS Recruitment Excellence Team via ubsrecruitmentexcellence@hmrc.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.  

Complete the “Assistance required” section in the “Additional requirements” page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional. 

Important information for existing HMRC contractual homeworkers

This role may be suitable for existing HMRC employees who are contractual homeworkers. Occasional attendance to the office will be required where there is a business need. Please consider the advertised office locations for this role when applying and only select locations from the ‘location preferences’ section that you can travel to. 

Terms and Conditions

Customer facing roles in HMRC require the ability to converse at ease with members of the public and provide advice in accurate spoken English and/or Welsh where required. Where this is an essential requirement, this will be tested as part of the selection process. 

HMRC has a presence in every region of the UK. For more information on where you might be working, review this information on our locations. 

The Civil Service values honesty and integrity and expects all candidates to abide by these principles. The evidence you provide in your application must relate to your own experiences. 

Any instances of plagiarism or other forms of cheating will be investigated and, if proven, the relevant application(s) will be withdrawn from the process.  

Recording of interviews is prohibited unless explicit agreement is sought in line with the UK General Data Protection Regulations. 

Questions relating to an individual application must be emailed as detailed later in this advert. 

Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant’s details held on the IFD will be refused employment.  

A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5 year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government. 

New entrants will join on the minimum of the pay band.  

If you experience accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section. 

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. 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.