About the job

Job summary

This role is in the central Financial Accounting and Control Team (FACT). In addition to being DCMS’ financial accounting Centre of Excellence, the team leads in the production of the consolidated accounts of the DCMS Group (with 34 of its 42 Arms Length Bodies directly consolidated)  and manages the National Lottery Distribution Fund.

The team is the hub for all financial operational and control functions including treasury management, VAT, purchase to pay support and manages the relationship with DCMS’ shared services provider.

The DCMS Finance team (of which FACT is an integral part) is relatively small and this provides opportunities for development not always found in a bigger department. Finance is high on the agenda and provides the opportunity to influence the direction of the Department for the future.

Job description

You will lead a small team, reporting to the Head of Financial Control and Operations, your primary responsibilities are:

• Management and delivery of robust financial policies, controls, processes and systems.
• Management of the core department’s key finance system (Integra) and the relationship with the department’s shared service provider.
• Overseeing the payment process for suppliers via Purchase to Pay (P2P), including prompt payment monitoring and reporting.
• Lead on the preparation of the DCMS core accounts.
• Leading the audit of the Core Department and ensuring all necessary documentation is available to the National Audit Office.Provision of sound technical advice on complex accounting, taxation and budgeting issues to a wide range of stakeholders.
• Ensuring that the Department’s financial systems, cash management and cash forecasting regimes run securely, smoothly and efficiently.  
• Key influencer in the Matrix cross-departmental cluster to drive decision making for the new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system which DCMS will be an early adopter of.
• Leadership and line management (including recruitment, development and training) of 3 direct staff and task management/close collaboration with 2 other staff members within the wider team. 

Person specification

The ideal candidate would have the following key skills and experience:

Essential requirements:

• Qualified financial accountant (CCAB, CIMA or equivalent) with demonstrable post qualifying experience in a large finance team
• Experience of preparing (or auditing) accounts in conformity with relevant accounting standards
• Experience of managing or using financial systems and advanced knowledge of Excel
• Be an excellent communicator, able to explain complex ideas both verbally and written at all levels
• Proven ability to work as part of a team delivering at pace in a fast-moving environment

Desirable skills:

• External audit background
• Knowledge and experience of the FReM, Consolidated Budgeting Guidance (CBG), Managing Public Money and HM Treasury’s supply estimates manual

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £49,839, Department for Culture, Media and Sport contributes £13,456 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.

To apply for this post, please send us the following documents no later than 23:55 pm on Monday 22nd April 2024 to Robertson Bell - DCMS@robertsonbell.co.uk

• A CV setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. Please ensure you provide employment history that relates to the essential and desirable criteria, and that any gaps in employment history within the last 2 years are explained. The CV should not exceed more than 3 x A4 pages and you should insert your CV into the "Job History" section on Civil Service Jobs on the Civil Service Jobs application form.
• A Statement of Suitability (max 750 words) explaining how you consider your personal skills, qualities and experience provide evidence of your suitability for the role in reference to the essential requirements highlighted. You may also choose to reference the desirable skills listed.

For the shortlist, we will assess your experience and select applicants demonstrating the best fit for the role by considering the evidence provided in your application.

In the event of a large number of applicants, an initial sift will be conducted on the statement of suitability .Those who are successful in the initial sift will then be scored on all elements of the application.

For support in writing your application and interviewing, please refer to the ‘Application and Interview Guidance’ document attached to the job advert.

The interview process will assess behaviours and technical ability

The behaviours to be tested at interview are:

• Leadership
• Working together
• Managing a quality service
• Delivering at pace

The technical skills to be tested at interview are:

• Accountancy
• Finance Systems
• Excel

Your interview will take place remotely via GoogleMeets.

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is counter-terrorist 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

Please note this Post is NOT regulated by the Civil Service Commission. 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.