Principal Accountant

Job Title: Principal Accountant
Starting Salary: £52,138 progressing to £57,652 per annum – pay award pending
Hours: 37
Location: Stevenage with hybrid working opportunities
Contract Type: Fixed Term Contract or Secondment for 18 months
Directorate: Resources

About the team

Hertfordshire Pension Fund is one of 86 local pension funds in The Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS). The Fund consists of more than 120k scheme members across more than 500 employers with assets of approximately £6.3 billion.

We are seeking a Principal Accountant to lead on the completion of the Fund’s annual report and statement of accounts in addition to statutory returns. The successful candidate will report to the Finance Manager of Pensions.

About the role

• Closely liaise with the Finance Manager in the financial year end process for the Fund including work on the Annual Report and Statement of accounts, closing timetable, preparation, and completion of working papers and liaising with external third-party consultants
• Assist with strategic asset management decisions that have complex financial market movements, working with the officers, the Fund’s custodian and transition manager ensuring that costs of transition are managed and that an effective audit trail is in place.
• Assist the Pooling and Investment analyst assist the Investment and Pooling Analysis on the Fund’s pooled Assets and supporting the development of pool strategies.
• To contribute to the management of key controls audits and the audit of the annual accounts, helping maintain effective working relationships with internal and external audit and coordinating responses to audit queries.
• To support the maintenance of sound financial accounting through the quarterly close process and management of the Fund’s ledger, maintaining the chart of accounts and system-based hierarchies for financial reporting, and understanding and promoting best practice in this area
• To lead on or contribute to the coordination and completion of statutory returns as required and other information requests including Freedom of Information and consultation responses.
• To write reports and present recommendations to the Pension Committee and Pension Boards. This role will work closely with elected members of the Pension Committee in the development of Pension Fund investment strategies and policies.
• To contribute to the implementation of new systems and processes as required, ensuring these are compliant with required standards, and to the ongoing review and documentation of finance regulations and procedures.
• To assist the Finance Manager in identifying, understanding, and implementing changes to accounting standards and legislation affecting the production of financial accounts, and sharing this knowledge across the service.

About you

Essential:

• CCAB qualified, plus substantial experience.
• Up to date and authoritative knowledge of the work practices, systems, processes and procedures with the ability to apply this knowledge in new and varied circumstances.
• Ability to interpret, apply and explain financial policies, procedures, guidance, statutory requirements and legislation. Application of financial reporting best practice in different contexts; knowledge of financial markets and valuation of financial instruments.
• Ability to handle large quantities of complex financial data, making effective use of multiple data sources (including ensuring that you have complete information) to carry out detailed financial analysis (including financial risk), and present the results in a clear concise way.
• Ability to communicate effectively using appropriate channels and styles of communication.
• Ability to organise own work and plan for others, taking account of priorities and the impact on other people with the ability to work effectively within the team and partner organisations such as the Fund’s investment consultants and custodian.

Desirable:

• Experience in preparation and analysis of pension fund accounting statements. Understanding of local government finance is an advantage but not a requirement of the post.
• Ability to problem solve and provide innovative solutions/ recommendations, including challenging existing practice. Able to analyse non-financial factors, wider implications (e.g., political, managerial, or equal opportunities) and key stakeholder needs.
• Ability to build effective relationships with all staff up to Director level and partner organisations, creating trust and confidence. Ability to challenge, influence, persuade and negotiate.
• Experience of leading others, with the ability to coach and direct manage a team
• Ability to respond to feedback and make appropriate amendments

We welcome applications from candidates who currently reside in the UK with established proof of right to work documentation. We are not able to offer sponsorship at this time for this role.

This job role is within the Corporate Services, level 13 job profile. Please locate this via:

Job profiles - Corporate services

To hear more about this opportunity please contact Robert.Winterton@hertfordshire.gov.uk for an informal discussion about the role.

Interview Date: week commencing 21st July 2025

Benefits of working for us

How to apply

As part of your application, please upload your most recent CV. Ensure your CV is up to date with your employment history (including any employment gaps), and including any training/qualifications. We encourage you to include examples of where you have demonstrated the requirements/criteria in the advert / job profile to allow the panel to fully recognise your skills and abilities. You will have the opportunity to include a short covering paragraph within your application to give us a little more information about your skills, knowledge, and experiences.

Secondment
This position is open to secondments. If you work for HCC or any other Local Authority and would like to be considered as a Secondment contract, please ensure you complete the Secondment Form as part of your application. If you do not, your application will be considered as a Fixed Term Contract only.

Additional information

Disability Confident
We are proud to be a Disability Confident employer and guarantee an interview to anyone disclosing a disability whose application meets the minimum criteria for the post.