Grade 7 Finance Business Partner
(Up to 4 posts)
£51,300 - £58,312 per annum*
*Plus an accountancy allowance of £4495 may be payable, new entrants to the Civil Service will be expected to start on the pay band minimum
Job Description
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) vision is an economy that works for everyone – with great places in every part of the UK for people to work and for businesses to invest, innovate and grow.
Our objectives are:
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Deliver an ambitious industrial strategy;
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Maximise investment opportunities and bolster UK interests;
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Promote competitive markets and responsible business practices;
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Ensure the UK has a reliable, low cost and clean energy system.
Our values are:
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Brilliant
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Enterprising
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Inclusive
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Skilled
Our ambition for the BEIS Corporate Services Group is to provide customer centred, professional services that focus on the needs of the end-user. Contributing to this is the Finance and Portfolio Directorate which operates as a strategic partner to BEIS, ensuring that the department uses its resources wisely at all times to deliver ministers’ strategic priorities.
These are high profile and stretching finance leadership roles. You will be responsible for providing finance business partnering to senior colleagues, covering a diverse and exciting range of policy issues and programmes.
About the Roles
BEIS Finance Business Partners play an important role supporting strategic policy development and managing the department’s finances, ensuring that a high standard of financial discipline is an integral part of the decision-making processes. Through appropriate support and challenge across business groups and partner organisations, they provide senior policy owners, budget holders, directors and Ministers with timely and accurate information on financial plans and spend; and expert business-related advice on value for money, financial management and accounting issues.
As a finance professional you will work with a number of senior stakeholders and will be posted flexibly into a range of challenging roles across the function. This is in line with our strategy to grow high potential finance professionals across the BEIS family.
About the Team
The BEIS finance function is recognised as a leader across Whitehall and offers an insightful introduction to finance in the public sector. We have a number of positive examples of finance professionals growing their career and we will actively support our talented staff to progress. For the right individuals these roles can also act as a springboard into other roles within BEIS, our partner organisations and across the wide variety of government departments in Whitehall.
Key Responsibilities
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Support and challenge budget holders and partner organisations constructively on their financial planning and activity to ensure budgets are utilised effectively;
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Provide accurate information and analysis that delivers deeper, valuable insights into the business and enables budget holders to make informed decisions;
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Inform policy development through advice on the financial implications of spending proposals and policy developments;
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Ensure the accurate representation of the group financial position within BEIS management and financial accounts through the use of BEIS systems; and
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Advise on good financial management to contribute to good governance for BEIS and the Accounting Officer.
The role holder will deliver on the following activities
Supporting sound budget management
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Budget holders and partner organisations are clear on their allocated budgets and their targets for managing them;
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Accurate budget forecasts are received and are correctly reflected on the systems;
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Ensuring a smooth monthly reporting process which provides timely and accurate data to inform Departmental reporting and awareness of emerging risks;
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Maintaining an accurate financial position through the appropriate accounting adjustments, regular journals and reporting;
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Collecting and recording accurate information to support interim and year-end financial account preparation.
Providing excellent management information to inform decision making
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Using finance systems to produce and present effective information to budget holders which enable budget holders to make informed decisions to manage their budgets;
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Understanding the cost drivers, risks and issues inherent in the budget areas and how these might inform decisions;
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Providing analysis that goes beyond the high level and highlights spending constraints and potential savings as appropriate;
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Contributing to departmental budget decision making and planning processes through quarterly financial reviews and other departmental and group exercises.
Championing financial awareness and financial management across the group
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Communicate financial performance and management information for senior decision makers and advising on associated risks, pressures and potential underspends to non-financial audiences;
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Provide support and training to budget holders, sponsors and policy teams to increase financial awareness and capacity outside of Group finance.
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Supporting resilient and robust financial management and financial governance procedures, including reviewing and updating the financial risks and risk reporting;
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Using and applying the concepts within HM Treasury’s Managing Public Money guidance; and
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Developing and applying technical accounting/finance knowledge in advice to budgets within the policy area.
Informing policy development in the group
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Contributing to the financial advice given to the Groups on new spending decisions and policy developments;
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Advising policy teams on steps needed to satisfy the finance clearance stage of papers including ministerial submissions and business cases;
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Understanding the departmental context of financial decisions and using this knowledge to inform financial reporting and advice;
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Undertaking clearance of a set of ministerial and senior official advice by identifying value for money, affordability any accounting issues within proposals; and
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Understanding fiscal event processes and contributing to the development of business case proposals.
Person Specification
Candidates should be a fully CCAB qualified accountant with previous experience of business planning or management accounting and strong Excel skills.
The successful candidate will need to demonstrate capability and success against the following essential criteria:
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Ability to build trusting relationships with stakeholders and influence them with impact and professional credibility.
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Excellent strategic awareness and an ability to influence decision making in a political context.
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Ability to provide insightful analysis on complex issues, develop solutions and communicate effectively to a variety of audiences.
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Evidence of delivering at pace under challenging circumstances.
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Ability to work well as part of a team and to motivate and inspire others.
Contact
For an informal discussion regarding this role please contact Tim Salmon.
020 3031 9634
Please click here for further Terms and Conditions regarding this role.