Inventory Accountant + £5k MPS

In DHSC, we are proud of our purpose – to enable everyone to live more independent, healthier lives for longer. To achieve this, and create a great place to work, we have four values: we are inclusive, we constantly improve, we challenge, and we are agile. If this sounds like an environment you’d like to work in, we’d love to hear from you.

The Department’s Core Financial Accounting, Inventory and Financial Consolidation Teams are at the heart of ensuring DHSC’s financial results are captured on an accurate and timely basis. This is critical to enabling decision makers to effectively manage the Department’s £150 billion annual budget.

The Group Annual Report and Account is key to the delivery of the DHSC’s objectives, allowing Parliament to scrutinise spending within the Health and Care system and contributing to the Department’s accountability requirements. The Department and the Group accounts are complex. If you can imagine an accounting scenario, then it probably happens somewhere within the Departmental Group.

We are a team of accounting experts who are relied upon for our expert advice, guidance and we are known for the quality of our outputs. The work is highly interesting and provides ample opportunity for the right individuals to grow and develop within the Departments large and diverse finance directorate.

We are recruiting a Grade 6 to lead the Department’s Inventory Accounting Team. You will work closely with the Heads of the Core Department and Consolidated Accounting Teams to ensure the accounting function produces high quality financial reporting and expert technical advice and customer service to the wider business. This role is critical in enabling the Department to record an accurate financial position, in assessing our results against our budget assigned by parliament, in producing our annual report and accounts and enabling a successful audit.

You will have a unique opportunity to be involved in the production of one of the largest and most complex accounts in Europe.

This role is stretching, requiring expert knowledge and experience of financial accounting and reporting requirements. If you are a finance leader looking for a new challenge and an opportunity to develop your skills in a high-impact area that consistently ranks as the public’s number one priority, this role is for you.

You will receive strong investment in your learning and development, opportunities to work on a variety of exciting projects and ample opportunity for career progression.

A full accounting qualification (CCAB, CIMA or equivalent) is essential for this role. An annual Market Pay Supplement of £5k applies to this role. For more information on DHSC’s Market Pay Supplement Contact Vanessa.Singleton@dhsc.gov.uk.

Role Responsibilities:

The Department has purchased over 40 billion items of inventory since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. These items are stored across a large and diverse inventory network. We are now establishing a permanent inventory accounting team to integrate the Department’s inventory accounting into its business-as-usual financial accounting processes, with this role responsible for leading that team. 

You will be a fully qualified accountant with significant post qualification experience in a statutory accounting, financial reporting and / or audit environment. The role requires a balance of strategic leadership skills combined with an expert understanding of technical accounting requirements and the ability to deliver to tight deadlines and be hands-on when required.

Significant experience of managing and reconciling very large datasets (think millions of records) would be an advantage. Inventory accounting experience is desirable, but not essential for this role. You will be skilled at drawing conclusions in the absence of perfect data and able to see the big picture without getting lost in the detail. You will have strong inter-personal skills, allowing you to build strong working relationships with operational colleagues to ensure appropriate financial controls and record keeping are maintained to facilitate effective inventory management, maximise the value of the department’s inventory and allow accurate financial reporting. 

Working to the Deputy Director for Financial Reporting and Statutory Accounts and with responsibility for a small team (two individuals) of finance professionals, you will ensure that the Department’s inventory records are reconciled and reflected in the department’s accounts in line with applicable accounting standards. 

You will work closely with operational delivery colleagues to ensure the systems, processes and controls for inventory additions, consumption and disposals provide sufficient information to enable the Department’s accounts to be produced on a robust and timely basis. You will also work to ensure that periodic and perpetual inventory checks provide assurance over the existence of inventory balances.

You will be the key single point of contact for the National Audit Office in relation to their audit of inventory and related balances. You will ensure that audit evidence provided is appropriate and provided in a timely manner, working flexibly across teams to provide support in other technical accounting /statutory reporting areas as and when required and encouraging your team to do likewise. 

You will work with the Head of the Core Department Account to continuously refine the Department’s approach to the measurement of inventory impairments and the practical implementation of this methodology to the inventory held. 

This role is vital in supporting the finance directorate and wider business on the impact of inventory accounting issues and in creating a strong management team overseeing the department’s statutory accounting function. You will work collaboratively and pro-actively with finance and business colleagues to ensure the full accounting and budgeting impact of transactions is understood by all parties.

You will receive strong investment in your learning and development, opportunities to work on a variety of exciting projects across statutory accounts / financial reporting more widely and ample opportunity for career progression.

Key Skills and Experience:

Essential

• Full accounting qualification (CCAB, CIMA or equivalent) with significant post qualification experience
• Significant hands-on experience in the management and reconciliation of large financial data sets
• Significant practical experience in one or more area of financial accounting or the preparation or audit of statutory accounts
• Experience of leading a team with excellent people management skills with the ability to promote team cohesion, adapt to changes and improvements
• Experience in leading and/or influencing organisational change
• Ability to work flexibly and adapt to changing priorities
• Strong communicator, able to communicate at all levels and excellent presentation skills
• Ability to develop collaborative relationships with a range of stakeholders and teams, e.g. NAO, Finance Business Partners and wider business colleagues
• Highly developed planning and organisational skills in a financial environment and experience of delivery and meeting tight deadlines
• Expert understanding of applicable accounting standards (International Financial Reporting Standards)
• Excellent IT skills, particularly Microsoft Excel, the management of large datasets and the ability to interrogate accounting systems and other data sources to gather appropriate information
• Ability to analyse complex financial data and draw well-reasoned conclusions
• Excellent organisational skills and a proven ability to plan and manage competing priorities
• Ability to see the bigger picture and set strategic direction for the team, driving forward an improvement agenda

Desirable

• Inventory accounting experience
• An understanding of the financial reporting and budgeting requirements applicable to central government

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

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

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

• Technical questions relevant to the role which will assess candidates technical accounting knowledge

• 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 average employer contribution of 27%

Job contact :

• Name : Vanessa Singleton
• Email : vanessa.singleton@dhsc.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : dhscrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk