Senior Accountant

Job Title: Senior Accountant
Location: Hertford / Stevenage Hybrid Working
Starting Salary: £40,221 progressing to £44,428 pa
Hours: 37 per week
Contract: Permanent

Diversity: We are an inclusive employer and value a diverse workforce

Could you have an impact on the Finance team at Hertfordshire and help deliver a sustainable budget within this unpredictable financial environment?

You can play a part in Hertfordshire’s vision to create a cleaner, greener and healthier county. Our aim is recruit to the job roles that allow this vision to happen.

We are actively recruiting to two senior accountant roles within the following areas:

• Capital and Treasury: The role is part of a team that provides technical financial advice and support for the County Council’s capital programme. The programme totals £1.2bn over the next 4 years and will deliver a variety of schemes to provide and improve services and infrastructure for Hertfordshire’s residents.
  
  
• Corporate Finance Team: The team supports the annual financial cycle of the council, starting with the building of the budget, to the financial monitoring during the year, and completing the year with the production of the financial statements. This role will be key to managing and collating the monthly monitoring report and co-ordinating the closure of accounts process.

Projects in each area include:

• Capital and Treasury Finance Team:
• The role will provide day-to-day financial advice and guidance to working to deliver best practice and ensuring regulations and procedures are adhered to. The role will support budget setting by assessing and providing challenge to capital business cases and will work with services to ensure timely and effective budget monitoring and reporting.
• This role will support the closedown of accounts, utilising technical accounting guidance to produce capital accounting adjustments and notes to the accounts, plus support the maintenance of the fixed asset register.
• The successful applicant will be the finance lead on multidisciplinary projects and governance groups providing expert advice and support for high profile schemes. The role will also work alongside team members to ensure resilience for Treasury processes and joined up working across the capital and treasury function.
• Corporate Finance Team
• The role will work closely with all finance teams and the wider council departments to successfully understand and report on the financial health of the council. This role will give the opportunity to truly understand the overall financial workings of a complex public organisation as it delivers services and meets the needs of its residents.
• The successful applicant will be the finance lead on the co-ordination of the financial monitor, which results in reports to key stakeholders, including the Strategic Management Board and Cabinet, and will be pivotal to maintaining strong financial management and governance for the council.

Additional Information

Technical Skills & Qualifications needed for the role:

CCAB qualified or equivalent or have significant proven experience.

Ability to communicate effectively and build relationships with all levels of staff and management, creating trust and confidence and being able to persuade and negotiate as to the actions required.

Ability to interpret, apply and explain financial policies, procedures and guidance.

Ability to make to make effective use of multiple data sources and to use available tools to carry out detailed financial analysis and to present the results in a clear and concise way to support proposed courses of action.

This is a fantastic opportunity for an individual looking to develop or broaden their accountancy skills due to the role’s key involvement in all financial processes across the Council

Closing Date: 3rd December 2023
Interview Date: W/C11th December 2023

For an informal discussion and more information please contact:

Capital and Treasury Finance Team – Suzanne Swain – 01992 555677

Corporate Finance Team – Liz Farquhar – 01992 556797

Benefits of working for us:
• Flexible Working Arrangements (depending on the role)
• Excellent Career Development
• Salary Exchange for Additional Benefits
• Excellent Pension Scheme with Employer Contributions
• Shopping Discounts
• Support Groups & Wellbeing Schemes

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.

English Fluency: The ability to converse at ease with members of the public and provide advice in accurate spoken English is essential for the post (for those whose language is a signed language the provision of a sign language interpreter who speaks English to the necessary standard of fluency will be required). Further information about the legal requirement can be found here.

How to Apply

As part of the application, you will be required to upload your most recent CV ensuring gaps in employment have been addressed and asked to answer the 4 key questions which are located at the end of the advert and a template can be found in the 'Available Documents'.

1. What skills and experience will you bring to the role to enable you to be successful?

2. The ability to co-ordinate financial processes and deliver outcomes within challenging timescales is important for the role. Please describe and give examples of how you have demonstrated this ability.

3. Please provide examples of when you have manipulated and analysed financial data to inform decision making and the impact of this.

4. Please outline examples of when you have applied financial regulations and procedures, and provided recommendations and advice of these to stakeholders such as budget managers.

If you do not provide answers to the questions and upload to your application, your application will be rejected.