Senior Accountant
Salary: Band 10 £45,948 – £50,109
The role is agile based between home and Forth Banks Police Station in Newcastle City Centre
Hours/Contract: 12 month fixed term / secondment starting January 2025, full time working 37 hours per week
The role:
Here at Northumbria Police, we think our region is amazing! It takes a great deal of people from different backgrounds, with diverse skills and experience to serve our force area effectively, think you have what it takes to help us make a difference?This could be the perfect time for you to join us in our Finance Department as a Senior Accountant.
If you’re an experienced qualified accountant and you’re looking for a role where your skills can really make a difference to more than just the bottom line, this could be the job for you.
We are looking to recruit into a Senior Accountant role to cover a vacancy within the Finance Department. This is an exciting opportunity to join our existing team of finance professionals, gain knowledge and exposure to a wide range of finance and accountancy areas within a dynamic public sector organisation.
As a Senior Accountant with Northumbria Police your role will involve working and supervising the team to provide high quality, comprehensive financial service that meets customer requirements and enables the Force to achieve its strategic objectives.This exciting opportunity will allow you to play a key part in supporting our Officers and Staff across a number of business areas and you will ensure the delivery of an efficient and effective strategic accounting service to all stakeholders.
You will be involved in balance sheet reconciliation, supporting internal and external audit processes, and oversight of the Accounts Payable Accounts Receivable and Finance Systems functions. You will also be responsible for the submission of the monthly VAT returns and managing the debt position of the organisation.
A team player with excellent communication and engagement skills with colleagues and customers at all levels, you must also have experience of management accountancy attending regular meetings with budget/stakeholders to provide advice and discuss performance.
What you’ll do:
- Provide support to the Finance Lead to ensure the delivery of a responsive, effective and accurate financial management service across the Force, the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner and identified partnerships.
- Advise senior managers to support decision-making and strategic planning.
- Maintain professional knowledge and ensure compliance with Home Office and CIPFA Codes of Practice.
- Oversee VAT return processes, including compliance checks, balance sheet reconciliations, and amendments as needed.
- Manage daily operations of the Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, and Financial System Teams.
- Supervise processes for providing advances for out-of-pocket expenses, oversee online expense claims, and calculate allowances for overseas operational visits.
- Control key financial functions, including finance systems, accounts payable, and accounts receivable.
- Produce management reports relating to the organisations debt position and provide KPIs on debt reduction performance.
- Manage Finance Systems change processes, ensuring upgrades and fixes are thoroughly tested before implementation in the Live environment.
What you’ll bring:
- Hold a professional finance qualification – CCAB, CIMA or overseas equivalent with significant post qualification experience in a large complex organisation.
- Theoretical and practical knowledge of financial planning and budget management.
- Strong communication skills, both verbally and written.
- Ability to plan effectively; to manage the delivery of assigned tasks and objectives, setting appropriate deadlines.
- Experience of effectively managing a team.
- Technically competent in the use of Microsoft Office products (Word, Excel, PowerPoint).
- Experience of using finance IT systems.
We know it’s important for you to feel that you’re not only part of a great team, but part of a community. We welcome applications from suitably qualified people from all sections of the community, regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation.
Harnessing these differences creates a productive environment in which everyone feels valued, and their talents are fully utilised. Appointments are based on merit alone.
Just so you know:
The recruitment process will consist of the initial application form followed by an assessment and interview. Just so you know, you can save your application and come back to it any time prior to the closing date on the advert.
If you tell us that you have a disability, we can make adjustments to support you through the recruitment process (for example we can arrange extra time for tests or provide a sign language interpreter) You can get in touch with us via careers@northumbria.police.uk for any support regarding the application process.
Please provide us with plenty of notice so we can ensure your visit goes smoothly. If your application is successful, we’ll ask you to complete a Management Clearance (MC) and Security Clearance (SC) form, therefore you must be a resident of the UK for a minimum period of 5 years to ensure vetting checks can be successfully performed.A job offer will be dependent upon vetting clearance and medical information.
Terms of appointment:
This is a fixed term / secondment role subject to a six-month probationary period.
If you are successful in your application, you will have a 6month probation period with us where you will be unable to apply for any other post advertised internally or externally.