Senior Technical Advisory Accountant

• Do you have experience in analysing complex financial information to achieve outcomes
• Are you interested in making a difference working for a national regulator?
• Do you like developing and building capability in others?

Job description

• Provide authoritative, expert accountancy advice by taking a senior technical role in the Commission’s highest-risk, novel and most complex cases, assessing risk, where appropriate employing creative solutions and communicating your findings and implications for the wider case to senior decision makers. This will involve providing witness evidence.
• Develop and maintain a quality review process for the Accountancy Division.
• Review, update and monitor accountancy specific guidance to include internal and external guidance assessing and engaging with developments affecting charities. This will include influencing, negotiating and commenting on relevant government consultations and policy proposals and assessing the consequences of any policy changes.
• Provide strong leadership and support to the division to ensure that the expert advice that the team delivers achieves constructive outcomes to support our regulatory objectives.
• Build capability by supporting the upskilling of the Accountancy Division and casework officers through the transfer of knowledge and training delivery and through the Quality Review process.
• Enhance our reputation as a national regulator through expertise with key external stakeholders such as other regulators, trustees, professional advisers and the accountancy profession. This will involve delivering external presentations and ensuring that relevant issues are fed into strategy considerations.
• Provide subject matter expert advice and through the Quality Review process, risk and mitigation to the senior management team and the Board as required.
• Provide subject matter expert advice to cross Directorate or cross Commission projects and initiatives maintaining important relationships and mutually acceptable solutions with senior stakeholders.
• Proactively taking responsibility for ensuring that the Commission’s regulatory approach and operational projects are informed by and developed in accordance with the UK charity accountancy framework.

Person specification

• Excellent analytical skills both generally and related to financial analysis to inform and support effective decision making.
• Ability to explain complex information, in a variety of media, including excellent written communications skills.
• In complex and sensitive cases, where the Commission may exercise its statutory power, the ability to bring sound judgement and expert handling to the situation.
• Ability to work as part of team, using accountancy knowledge and skills, supporting the work of policy, case officers and senior decision makers, taking a lead role in our more complex cases.
• Ability to apply accountancy knowledge and experience in a compliance and regulatory context.
• Ability to contribute to policy development with a financial focus.
• Ability to plan and prioritise competing demands to ensure operational performance targets and deadlines are met.
• Change management skills to deliver cultural change and embed new models and practices.
• Ambassadorial skills to represent the accountancy function internally and externally.

• Experience of managing staff and/ or successfully managing a project involving two or more people.
• Experience in developing others and building capability.
• Effectively manage a workload/task throughout its lifecycle.
• Maintaining a professional approach when presented with a challenging discussion /interview by using techniques to understand need(s); manage expectations and provide a constructive and proportionate outcome.
• Forensic or investigatory accounting experience within the accountancy profession or with a civil or criminal regulator. 

• A CCAB qualified accountant (ICAEW, ICAS, ICAI, ACCA, CIPFA) or CIMA membership or any equivalent with sound technical knowledge gained through post qualification experience.
• Application of risk management principles during the management of work and when making decisions.
• Handling data and information sensitively in accordance with the business procedures and/or law.
• Working knowledge of Microsoft Office Applications including a working knowledge of Microsoft excel and its application.
• Able to provide both focused leadership and high-level technical support to policy and operational work, identifying abuse and risk, and delivering a proportionate regulatory response.
• Sound understanding of auditing principles and methods of investigation.
• Knowledge and understanding of the principles of the Bribery Act 2010 and money laundering regulations.
• Sound understanding of charity reporting and accounting framework and practice including the charities SORP and UK-Irish GAAP.