Financial Accountant

The Division

The Financial Control Division (FCD) is a friendly, dynamic, and fast paced team working at the heart of UK Export Finance. We are responsible for ensuring that effective financial control processes are in place. We co-ordinate the Department’s estimates, budgets and forecasting processes. We produce accurate and reliable monthly management accounts, annual accounts, and other published financial information. We manage the UKEF bank accounts, purchase ledger, fixed asset registers, the general ledger (D365) and a sub-ledger (Aptitude). We advise on accounting treatments, own the UKEF accounting policies and are working with others across the organisation and beyond to implement large scale changes in our accounting policy, systems, and processes in order to operationalise IFRS 9 and IFRS 17 for 2025-26 and future reporting.

It’s an exciting time to join us as we support a business that is at the heart of delivering government export and trade policy.. We are also in a unique period of transition as we implement IFRS 9 and IFRS 17 accounting standards for the first time. These standards cover how we account for all our front-line business, providing financial guarantees, loans and insurance.

About the Role

You will be leading on the accounting, forecasting and financial reporting of the Department’s insurance, financial guarantee, and direct lending products which are accounted for under IFRS 9 and under a simplified approach IFRS 17. These are unique roles blending financial accounting, financial reporting and finance business partnering.

You will be problem solving on a day-to-day basis, identifying anomalies, and seeking out their root causes, correcting them at source and working out interim solutions. You will be working with large amounts of data and large Excel spreadsheet models. You will also be working within tight deadlines, so quality, accuracy and timeliness are key.

You will be responsible for providing accounting advice. You will be working with other experienced and qualified accountants within a supportive and collaborative financial control division. You will work with and forge good working relationships with colleagues across the Department, including underwriters, claims handlers and risk analysts, and externally with auditors.

To succeed, you will be a high-performing, fully qualified accountant with a proven ability to deliver to challenging timetables in a pressurised environment. You will be a results-driven and ambitious team player, have excellent attention to detail and the ability to build productive working relationships across divisions within the organisation and with external auditors. You will also possess strong IT skills (in particular Excel) and be able to hit the ground running in a fast-paced role as the organisation goes through a period of rapid change.

Main Activities

The responsibilities include:

1. Production of monthly accounts for the UKEF’s insurance, financial guarantee, and direct lending portfolio. Key responsibilities include:

• Reviewing and analysing monthly and quarterly information and data from internal teams and systems.
• Preparing reconciliations with upstream systems.
• Preparing models to calculate journal entries for the ledger for e.g. amortisation, ECL loss allowances, unwinding of discount, ensuring that the treatment is in line with IFRS (as adopted by UKEF) and there is a robust audit trail.
• Preparing month end commentary for monthly management accounts; and
• Working closely with the Operations Division to ensure the correct reporting of all deals.
  
  

2. Supporting the production of the UKEF’s annual report and accounts. Key tasks include:

• Obtain year-end information from internal teams (Risk, Operations, Business Group), validating and cleansing as necessary;
• Prepare year-end models, ETB adjustments and journals for insurance, financial guarantees, and direct lending products.
• Prepare of a range of disclosures within the annual report and accounts; and
• Respond to and resolve audit queries.
  
  

3. Support the production of the Supply Estimate (biannual budgets) and preparation of submissions for all aspects relating to insurance, financial guarantees, and direct lending.

4. Testing of transactions and postings through to the D365 Pre-prod general ledger as UKEF implements a new upstream operational system that records deals

5. Review and consider new products or changes to products with regards to accounting treatment. Write accounting policy to document the considerations and conclusions. Liaise with and provide advice to the business to ensure that systems can operationalise the required accounting treatment.

6. Provide analysis of UKEF’s assets and liabilities and other financial information as and when required.

7. Participate in change projects, system changes and improvements and data cleansing.

8. Continuously improve current processes and models.

9. Support colleagues across the Financial Control Division.

UK Export Finance is looking for motivated individuals with a desire to learn about the business. Successful candidates will be provided not only with functional training to enable them to do well in their role, but also with personal development to help them to achieve their career ambitions. Please note that the person specification below outlines at which stage(s) you will be assessed on how you meet the criteria for the role(s) including:-

A = assessed at application stage I = assessed at interview stage P = assessed at presentation stage

Essential

Qualifications

• CCAB* or CIMA qualified. (A)

*Consultative Committee of Accountancy Bodies

Knowledge

• A sound understanding of the monthly and annual financial reporting cycle. (A, I)
• Knowledge of IFRS including accounting for financial instruments (IFRS 9). (A, I)

Skills/Ability

• High attention to detail and able to work with large data sets. (I, A)
• A good familiarity with Microsoft Office products and highly proficient with Excel. (I, A)
• An ability to communicate confidently and successfully with stakeholders at all levels via several different means (email, MS Teams, face to face). (A, I)
• Ability to self-manage, problem-solve, and meet objectives in a demanding area with limited supervision. (A, I)
• Team player, being flexible to ensure services are delivered and willing to contribute to the wider delivery of objectives of the team. (A, I)
• Critical thinking with proven attention to detail and analytical skills to identify potential anomalies. (A, I)
• Ability to work at pace whilst under pressure and to tight deadlines. (I, A)
• Ability to build productive working relationships across divisions within the organisation and with external stakeholders. (A, I)
• Ability to maintain effective performance in difficult and challenging circumstances, encouraging others to do the same. (A, I)
• Ability to collate information from a wide variety of sources to provide a comprehensive and concise resolution to problems. (A, I)

Experience

• Post qualification experience in financial accounting and reporting. (A)
• Experience of using a large-scale financial accounting package. (A)
• Experience in applying accounting standards to develop appropriate accounting treatments. (A, I)
• Experience working with large data sets. (A, I)

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Changing and Improving
• Delivering at Pace
• Communicating and Influencing
• Working Together

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• Technical exercise - you will be assessed across your technical expertise and acumen, in relation to the essential criteria.

• 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 employer contribution of 28.97%

Job contact :

• Name : Recruitment Team
• Email : Recruitment2@ukexportfinance.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : Recruitment2@ukexportfinance.gov.uk

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