Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Management Reporting Manager
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Birmingham, Bristol, Exeter, Leeds, London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Nottingham, Reading, Warrington, York
Job Summary
In the Defra group, we deal with a vast range of issues that profoundly impact on people’s lives. We are responsible for England’s environment, our countryside and rural economy, the food and farming sectors and have lead responsibility for protection from a wide range of natural threats and hazards.
We are looking for an experienced finance professional and leader to join our Management Reporting team within the Defra Group Finance function. You will have responsibility for providing high quality, accurate and robust financial management and insight. Through analysing data and applying value-added skills to tell the story of the financial position, you will help corporate leaders and budget managers to make well-informed business decisions.
The role also plays a key part in Defra’s finance transformation, contributing to the shift to more digital, self-service ways of working and supporting the transition to a new Finance system.
Job Description
You will be responsible for producing and presenting the monthly financial reports to the senior leaders within Environment Agency. You are responsible for providing effective leadership to your team of Senior Management Accountants to deliver a robust and influential management accounting service. You will have a good understanding of the financial position at a strategic level and the wider operating environment to provide insight and highlight the key issues, risks and opportunities to the budget holders and Finance colleagues. To do this you will need to build a good understanding of their business area and the key delivery risks, while embedding a culture of self-service and digitally enabled finance operations.
Key Responsibilities
- Provide effective leadership including the management and development of the Senior Management Accountants. This will include setting objectives, actively and effectively communicating, managing performance, and creating an inclusive environment where people feel valued, respected, safe to challenge and where contribution is recognised.
- Develop a detailed understanding of the management reports audience and commission solutions. Continually check the wider internal and external environments to ensure that the management reporting continues to meet end user needs and is presented in a medium to best convey key messages using continuous improvement philosophy/principles.
- Lead on the delivery of prompt, accurate management reports, translating data into meaningful outputs, with a breadth of reporting across internal and external environments.
- Provide incisive variance explanations and clear summaries/interpretations for senior management. Provide narrative for management reports using compelling and persuasive language to influence and challenge.
- Deliver intelligent analysis of complex financial information, drawing out common themes and understanding linkages/dependencies.
- Maintain a strong understanding of the overall financial position of Environment Agency.
- Undertake scenario modelling and provide a range of options to inform budget holder decisions.
- Oversee the management accounting aspect of the annual budgeting/forecasting cycle and any in-year changes to the budget liaising with Finance Business Partners.
- Work with Finance colleagues to oversee the month-end activities, ensuring the ledgers are ready to close and reporting deadlines are met in accordance with the agreed timetables.
- Liaise with Finance colleagues where the need for additional business support or data analysis is required.
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Person Specification
Essential Skills
- Substantial Finance Function experience with a good understanding of financial practices and processes.
- Experienced finance professional. Fully or part-qualified (CIMA, CIPFA, ACCA, ACA) or equivalent experience, with a strong background in management accounting.
- Proven experience of leading a diverse team, managing multiple responsibilities and deadlines across the team, ensuring that all team members are supported and that work is delivered accurately and on time.
- A people-focused leader with the ability to bring out the best in others. You will inspire, empower, and nurture a high-trust, positive team culture built on support and collaboration.
- Well-developed relationship management skills, working with key stakeholders across an organisation.
- Ability to communicate with and challenge stakeholders to obtain the necessary explanations for variances and movements.
- Good coaching and leadership skills with the ability to effectively manage a team.
- Excellent cross-functional collaboration skills to provide a comprehensive, high-quality finance service to budget holders.
- Confident in using Office 365, with the ability to work with large quantities of data to identify key messages.
Qualifications
- Fully or part-qualified (CIMA, CIPFA, ACCA, ACA) or equivalent experience, with a strong background in management accounting.
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Leadership
- Making Effective Decisions
- Communicating and Influencing
- Changing and Improving
We only ask for evidence of these behaviours on your application form:
- Communicating and Influencing
Technical Skills
We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:
As part of the interview process, candidates will be asked to deliver a presentation on the day. This will focus on the theme of communicating and influencing within a financial management context.
Salary
Alongside your salary of £56,375, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs contributes £16,331 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).
- 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%
- This post is eligible to be considered for an accountancy allowance up to £3,107 National and up to £4,495 London. The allowance is determined for each level of qualification (part qualified 1, part qualified 2, accountancy qualified). Line managers must see certificates from the professional body to confirm the individual has passed the relevant examinations before awarding the various stages of the allowance. To achieve fully qualified status, the individual must pass the final level examinations and complete the relevant portfolio or logbook which must be certified by the professional body.
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.
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Selection Process Details
This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.
Experience
As part of the application process, you will be asked to complete a CV, Personal Statement (previous skills and experience), and 250 words on the Behaviour "Communicating and Influencing".
Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.
Your CV needs to demonstrate you have undertaken similar roles and activities as shown in the job specification.
Your personal statement (maximum of 750 words) should highlight how you meet the essential skills required for the role, which will be used at shortlisting in conjunction with your CV.
Throughout our shortlisting process, we will make decisions about your capability to do the job, based on evidence you provide against the essential criteria.
Interview
If successful at the application stage, you will be invited to interview where you will be assessed on Behaviours and Technical Skill.
Your interview will either be conducted face-to-face or by video. You will be notified of the location if you are selected for interview.
Further Information
Location
As part of the pre-employment process for this post, successful candidate(s) will be able to agree a contractual workplace from those locations listed in this advert. The agreed contractual workplace is then the substantive and permanent place of work for the successful candidate(s). Where the location is ‘National’ the successful appointee should discuss and agree an appropriate contractual location in line with both Defra’s location policy and site capacity, prior to proceeding with pre-employment processes. The agreed amount of time spent at a workplace for this post will reflect the requirement for Civil Servants to spend at least 60% of their working time in an organisation workplace with the option to work the remaining time flexibly from home. Working time spent at a workplace may include time spent at other organisational locations including field-based operational locations, together with supplier, customer or partner locations. This is a non-contractual agreement which is consistent with common Civil Service expectations. Travel costs to non-contractual workplaces will be subject to departmental travel and subsistence policies. Travel costs to contractual workplaces are the responsibility of the employee. The successful candidate is required to carry out all their duties from a UK location, and cannot do so from an overseas location at any time. Defra includes the core department, APHA, RPA, Cefas and VMD.
Salary
New entrants are expected to start on the minimum of the pay band.
New entrants to the Civil Service are expected to start on the minimum of the pay band. The internal roles rules apply to existing Civil Servants, i.e. level transfers move on current salary or the pay range minimum, transfers on promotion move to new pay range minimum or receive 10% increase. Either case is determined by whichever is the highest.
Reserve List
A reserve list may be held for a period of 12 months from which further appointments can be made.
Childcare Vouchers
Any move to DEFRA from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare; for further information visit the Childcare Choices website.
Reasonable Adjustment
If a person with disabilities is put at a substantial
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