About the job

Job summary

Have you got strong financial accounting experience from working in practice or industry?

Are you able to bring commercial knowledge of large corporates and able to apply accounting standards to complex transactions?

Would the idea of working with the UK’s largest businesses excite and challenge you, whilst making a difference to the nation’s finances?

If the answer to all 3 is yes, we can offer you an opportunity with a role that has real impacts on Government tax policy decisions. We also offer hybrid working, actual flexitime and genuine work-life balance alongside fascinating technical work.

We currently have a team of 35 Advisory Accountants who have previously worked in varied roles in practice or industry, including audit and financial accounting positions. Equivalent roles in the private sector will include managers in Big 4 Practice and financial accountants in industry.

Our team are based within our Large Business (LB) Directorate which forms part of HMRC’s Customer Compliance Group and is responsible for around 2,000 of the UK’s largest businesses.

We use our technical and commercial knowledge in a range of interesting and exciting work. We pride ourselves on undertaking CPD and share best practice both within the team and with customers.

We are expanding and looking for 3 accountants to join our growing team (2 roles based in Croydon/Stratford and 1 role based in any of the other UK locations advertised).

New Entrants to the Civil Service will join on the entry point stated, transferees from OGD need to read the guidance on how their pay will be calculated.

See what it’s like to work at HMRC: find out more about us or ask our colleagues a question. Questions relating to an individual application must be emailed as detailed later in this advert.

Job description

As an LB Advisory Accountant, your role will include the following:

• Provide accounting advice for complex accountancy issues involving our LB customers - analysing relevant customer facts, accounting frameworks and, where appropriate, challenge customers’ accounting analyses.
  
• Demonstrate accounting technical expertise within and outside HMRC with our key stakeholders.
  
• Utilise the appropriate accounting frameworks, accounting standards and company law, and apply your commercial experience to identify risks and substantiate your advice.
  
• Meet with customers and 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. You will 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.
  

Responsibilities:

• Use your commercial acumen to support risk activities, including reviewing financial statements and commercial and accounting information.
  
• Work with Customer Compliance tax specialists to understand the impact for tax and forming your own independent view on accountancy matters.
  
• Play a key role in litigation where accountancy is relevant to cases. This could include acting as an independent accountancy expert witness.
  
• Collaborate closely on accountancy issues with internal and external stakeholders.
  Coach and mentor colleagues.
  
• Share knowledge and best practice, using innovative methods and digital tools.
  
• Demonstrate expertise, experience, and authority to credibly engage with key stakeholders (including Big 4, multinational corporate groups, senior HMRC officers and tribunals).
  

Person specification

Strong financial accounting experience gained and consolidated in either practice, industry, public sector or private sector, dealing with a range of stakeholders, and specifically including:

• Experience of analysing and interpreting a range of financial records; 
• Experience of preparing or reviewing financial statements; 
• Clear understanding of accounting principles and the application of GAAP in the UK; 
• Experience of considering the appropriate accounting treatment of a variety of specific transactions; 
• 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, 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.

Desirable Criteria:

• It will be advantageous for a candidate to have experience in large corporates.
  

Benefits

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%

Find more about HMRC benefits in 'Your little extras and big benefits handbook' for further information or visit Thinking of joining the Civil Service.

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.

All Criminal Record Checks applications are considered fairly in accordance with the DBS Code of Practice and the Recruitment of ex-offenders Policy.

How to Apply

As part of the application process you will be asked to complete a name blind CV.

Your CV will be tailored to the role advertised, detailing your relevant job history and including the following for each role: 

• A brief summary of your role, including dates. 
• Skills and experience gained; and 
• Key achievements. 

When giving details in your CV, you should be explicit in highlighting your experience to address all of the essential criteria and 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.  

Sift

The sift will be carried out against the CV, with the successful candidates being invited to interview. All interviews will be conducted via Teams video call.

Interview

The interview process 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 the attachment below for further details.

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 ‘Making effective decisions’; and

Experience questions to understand your suitability for the role advertised.

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

Interviews will take place via video link (Teams). Interview dates to be confirmed.

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

Technical tests and interviews are expected to take place from January 2024 due to Christmas holidays.

Please note that we are also currently recruiting for other HMRC Advisory and Forensic Accountancy roles – if you choose to apply for other roles, you are only required to sit the technical test once.

After interview, merit lists will be created for each location advertised within the vacancy. If you are successful at interview, you will be placed on the merit list for any locations you have expressed an interest for. Appointments from each merit list will be made in strict merit order.

If you wish to find out more about the role, please contact the vacancy holder, Ting Patrick, using the details below.  

A reserve list may be held for a period of 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.

Eligibility

To check that you are eligible to apply, review this eligibility information

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, so please review the advertised office locations for this role when applying and only select locations from the ‘location preferences’ section that you are able to travel to.       

Reasonable Adjustments 

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

If you need a reasonable adjustment or a change to be made so that you can make your application, review this information on reasonable adjustments, and contact hmrcrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible.

Diversity and Inclusion

At HMRC we are committed to creating a great place to work for all our colleagues and creating an inclusive and respectful environment that reflects the diversity of the society we serve.

Diverse perspectives and experiences are critical to our success and we welcome applications from all people from all backgrounds with the experience and skills needed to perform this role. We’re committed to creating a great place to work for all our colleagues here at HMRC. We want everyone to feel valued and supported to achieve their potential at HMRC.

For more information on how we make this happen, review this information on our culture and values

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.

We welcome applications from those who need to work a more flexible arrangement and will agree to requests where possible after considering operational and customer service needs. We can’t guarantee that we can meet all requests to work flexibly, as agreement will be subject to business ability to accommodate, and any request to work a more flexible arrangement should be made prior to your acceptance of the provisional offer.

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. 

The Civil Service runs 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. 

Locations 

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.

Security Update

For more information on the level of security checks we will carry out, review this information on security checks

Further Information

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. 

Duplicate applications for the same vacancy will also be withdrawn.

Transferring into HMRC from Civil Service If you are currently working for an ‘Other Government Department’ (OGD) and would like to consider the impact on your pay when joining HMRC, please see the attached document "Combined T&C and OGD Pay English”, found at the bottom of this advert. Further information on staff transfers can be found on gov.uk

Problems during the application process 

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

If you think you’ve made a mistake on a short application form (e.g. you’ve ticked the incorrect eligibility box), please contact hmrcrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk at least two working days before the vacancy closes. After this, we won’t be able to reopen your application.   

Please use the subject line to insert appropriate wording e.g. Please re-open my application - 328338 & vacancy closing date 05/01/24. Please note that we cannot amend or re-open your application if you have submitted your full application in the interests of fair and open recruitment.

For reasonable adjustments queries or requests, please see details within reasonable adjustments section above.

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.