London, Manchester

Job Summary

Do you thrive on leading complex statutory accounts and exercising professional judgement on high‑profile, technically challenging accounting issues?

Are you motivated by providing assurance at the highest level, influencing senior leaders, and shaping financial governance across a large and complex public sector organisation?

If so, we have an exciting opportunity for a Head of Financial Reporting to join our team at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) and we'd love to hear from you!

This role offers a significant opportunity for an experienced financial reporting professional to provide senior functional leadership for financial accounting and reporting across the department. The postholder will lead the Financial Reporting function, take strategic ownership of statutory accounts and external financial reporting, and ensure the department meets the highest standards of compliance, quality and professional judgement. The role operates at a senior level across the organisation, working closely with Directors, Senior Responsible Owners, Arm’s Length Bodies, HM Treasury and the National Audit Office. The role is central to providing assurance over complex financial reporting risks and delivering the Annual Report and Accounts, Whole of Government Accounts and other statutory and parliamentary reporting requirements. The postholder will exercise significant professional judgement on complex and novel accounting matters and will play a key role in strengthening financial governance, capability, and continuous improvement across the department. You will champion best practice, continuous improvement and build capability within your immediate team and beyond, as well as developing a network of contacts and collaborating, sharing best practice and supporting the development of the financial reporting capability across the department.

Job Description

As the Head of Financial Reporting you will be responsible for:

Functional leadership and statutory reporting

Providing senior functional leadership for Financial Accounting and Reporting across the department.
Taking end‑to‑end ownership of the production, quality assurance and delivery of the Annual Report and Accounts.
Leading delivery of external financial reporting obligations, including Whole of Government Accounts returns.
Ensuring compliance with FReM, IFRS, Managing Public Money, and Consolidated Budgeting Guidance.
Supporting ALBs where needed on technical Financial Accounting matters

Technical expertise and professional judgement

Acting as a recognised technical authority on complex and novel accounting issues.
Leading and documenting significant accounting judgements.
Providing advice to senior leaders and Audit Committee.

Audit, risk and assurance

Owning the relationship with the National Audit Office and HMRC.
Managing audit risks and issues to resolution.
Embedding strong control, assurance and audit‑ready processes.

Leadership and capability building

Leading and developing the Financial Reporting team.
Building technical and professional capability across finance.

Stakeholder engagement and influence

Engaging senior stakeholders across the department and government.
Explaining complex accounting matters clearly to non‑finance audiences.

Change and continuous improvement

Driving improvement and modernisation in reporting processes and systems.
Supporting wider finance transformation

Corporate Contribution

Contributing to the wider work of the department by supporting the SCS Deputy Director of Finance in leading the Finance Profession within the department.

As the Head of Financial Reporting you will be responsible for:

Functional leadership and statutory reporting

Providing senior functional leadership for Financial Accounting and Reporting across the department.
Taking end‑to‑end ownership of the production, quality assurance and delivery of the Annual Report and Accounts.
Leading delivery of external financial reporting obligations, including Whole of Government Accounts returns.
Ensuring compliance with FReM, IFRS, Managing Public Money, and Consolidated Budgeting Guidance.
Supporting ALBs where needed on technical Financial Accounting matters

Technical expertise and professional judgement

Acting as a recognised technical authority on complex and novel accounting issues.
Leading and documenting significant accounting judgements.
Providing advice to senior leaders and Audit Committee.

Audit, risk and assurance

Owning the relationship with the National Audit Office and HMRC.
Managing audit risks and issues to resolution.
Embedding strong control, assurance and audit‑ready processes.

Leadership and capability building

Leading and developing the Financial Reporting team.
Building technical and professional capability across finance.

Stakeholder engagement and influence

Engaging senior stakeholders across the department and government.
Explaining complex accounting matters clearly to non‑finance audiences.

Change and continuous improvement

Driving improvement and modernisation in reporting processes and systems.
Supporting wider finance transformation

Corporate Contribution

Contributing to the wider work of the department by supporting the SCS Deputy Director of Finance in leading the Finance Profession within the department.

Person specification

Extensive experience in financial accounting and statutory reporting.
Strong knowledge of IFRS and FReM.
Experience leading delivery of public sector accounts.
Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills.

Qualifications

CCAB, CIMA or equivalent professional accountancy qualification.

Alongside your salary of £70,106, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government contributes £20,309 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

At MHCLG we offer many benefits that range from tailored career pathways and flexible working to MyLifestyle Staff Benefits Scheme, Childcare Vouchers, and Cycle to Work Schemes. For more information, please click here.

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

Stage 1: Sift (CV & Cover Letter)

Experience: Your covering letter should be no more than 2 pages referencing how you meet the criteria set out in the job description.

If you run into any technical problems when applying through Be Applied (for example, trouble logging in or submitting your application), their support team can help. Please contact them at hello@beapplied.com.

Stage 2: Interview

Behaviours: Delivering at Pace, Leadership, Changing and Improving, Making Effective Decisions.
Experience: Experience questions will be based around the essential skills and criteria as listed in the job description.
Technical: Technical questions will be based around the essential skills and criteria as listed in the job description.
Strengths: The strength-based questions will require natural responses from the candidates.

Candidates will be asked to prepare a 5-minute presentation, further details will be provided on invitation to interview.

Sift and Interview Dates

Sifting is envisaged to take place the week commencing 04/05.

Interviews are envisaged to take place the week commencing 18/05 and are currently being held remotely via videocall. This could be subject to change.

Allowances

Fully qualified chartered accountants accredited by the Finance Head of Profession, are eligible for a specialist allowance of £4,000 per annum.

The starting salary may be appointed anywhere within the full pay band range, depending on skills, experience, and evidence of suitability for the role.

Please note that any salary flexibility applies to candidates external to the Civil Service only and would not be available to existing Civil Servants appointed through this recruitment exercise, who will be appointed in line with Civil Service pay and reward policies.

Please note that regular travel to other MHCLG offices is a requirement of this role.

How We Recruit

Find out more about our recruitment processes here.

Applying
Sifting
Interview
Interview Results & Feedback
Reserve List
Near Miss
Civil Service Grades
We are a DCS, RIS & GPTWV employer
Reasonable Adjustments

How To Apply

Find out everything you need to know before applying here.

You must review the following information from the MHCLG Career's Site before submitting your application. This step is essential to ensure your eligibility for the role and that your application is completed correctly.

Security Clearance Requirements
Civil Service Nationality Requirements
Right to Work
Artificial Intelligence
Civil Service Code and Recruitment Principles
CV Declaration
Sponsorships
Salary and Grade
Existing Civil Servants
Conflict of Interest
Location and Flexible Working
Fixed Term Contracts
Internal Fraud Database - Internal Fraud Register
Appeals and Complaints
Conflict of Interest

Security Clearance Requirements

National Office: BPSS

London Office: BPSS + CTC

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.

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

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).

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.

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).

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.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job Contact

Name : Jill Roberts
Email : jill.roberts@communities.gov.uk

Recruitment team

Email : recruitment@communities.gov.uk

Further information

About

If you are unsure about any part of the process or require additional information about the post to enable you to progress your application, you should speak to the Resourcing team - recruitment@communities.gov.uk. Candidates can appeal at any stage of the recruitment process if they believe there has been:

a procedural irregularity

an infringement of the Civil Service equal opportunities policy

exceptional circumstances which were not notified to the interview panel which might have affected performance on the day.

It is important to note that these are appeals about the process not the decision. In the first instance, an appeal should be directed to the MHCLG Resourcing Hub at recruitment@communities.gov.uk.

If the MHCLG Resourcing Hub is unable to satisfactorily resolve your complaint, you may contact put your complaint in writing to the Civil Service Commission, Room G8,1 Horse Guards Road, London, SW1A 2HQ or by email to: info@csc.gov.uk

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

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Head of Financial Reporting