Head of Financial Accounting and Reporting (ID2023-7004)

Transport Scotland is the national transport agency for Scotland and is accountable to Parliament and the public through Scottish Ministers, with a budget of around £3.5 billion per year. Transport is a vital feature of the Scottish Government’s focus on increasing sustainable economic growth, and transport investments and policies have major impacts on the economy, people, and the environment. For more information visit http://www.transport.gov.scot/.

This vacancy is for a C2 Head of Financial Accounting and Reporting.

This role sits within Transport Scotland’s Finance and Corporate Services (FCS) Directorate, which is one of nine directorates within the agency. FCS consists of three distinct functions – Corporate Services, Transport Scotland Finance and Transport, Net Zero and Just Transition (TNZJT) Portfolio Finance.

Reporting into the Head of Finance, you will lead the Financial Accounting Team. This team consists of approximately 13 members of staff who are responsible for delivering a robust system of financial controls, all financial transaction and reporting processes including the Accounts Payable Team, year end processing and annual accounts preparation and audit assurance processes. The team also provides corporate and management reporting for the agency’s Senior Management Team and Scottish Government as well as other internal and statutory outputs.

This is a key financial leadership role within Transport Scotland, with responsibility for leading a team that delivers high quality statutory, corporate and internal and external management information.

This is a challenging and diverse role with strategic oversight of the delivery of the agency’s financial statutory obligations, financial controls and management reporting provision. This is a chance to play a key role in an organisation that is essential to Scotland and the Scottish people with a wide and important remit. The post brings the opportunity to add value and deliver a high performing finance function at the core of the national transport agency for Scotland.

A suitable candidate will be an accomplished financial accountant and bring a strong track record of delivering results in financial management, accounting and reporting, in addition to excellent leadership and people management skills. Candidates will have demonstratable experience of leading a high performing finance function while balancing strategic, policy and operation priorities and objectives.

• Provide effective leadership, oversight and support to the Financial Accounting Team to produce and develop the Annual Report and Accounts in accordance with agreed timescales and appropriate regulations and guidance including SPFM, the FReM and IFRS and oversee engagement with the Audit and Risk Committee, as well as Internal and External Audit.
• Work to support robust financial management of the agency’s budgets and provide accurate, timely and appropriate financial and management information to the Transport Scotland Senior Management Team, Scottish Government Finance and Ministers.
• Pro-actively undertake corporate roles including Risk Champion and Counter Fraud Champion for the Transport Scotland Finance Team and wider agency respectively and provide active engagement with Corporate Governance, HR and Procurement colleagues in areas of cross over such as performance reporting, workforce planning reporting and control and delegated authority control.
• Support the Head of Finance and Director of Finance and Corporate Services to champion and implement strategic plans that are aligned to the agency’s corporate transformation ambitions, including in areas such as resourcing, prioritisation and workforce planning.
• Oversee and drive organisational improvement and readiness in anticipation of the new SG Shared Service systems provision, in partnership with SG Teams, FCS Teams and wider Transport Scotland Directorates and stakeholders.
• Deputise for the Head of Finance or Director of Finance and Corporate Services as appropriate in matters relating to financial accounting, audit and corporate reporting.

Competencies
Leading Others
Financial Management
Communications and Engagement
Improving Performance

The successful candidate must be fully CCAB qualified with up-to-date CPD.

Essential Criteria

1. Highly effective leadership, communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to influence, negotiate and collaborate effectively with a range of staff and stakeholders.
2. Strong technical financial accounting skills and ability to communicate complex financial and management information clearly, succinctly and to a wide range of audiences, including to non-finance colleagues.
3. Strong planning and prioritisation skills, with the ability to manage a diverse workload and team; able to adapt to changing situations and manage competing priorities.
4. The ability to think and act strategically and make links across policy and organisational boundaries to achieve positive outcomes.

Minimum Time in Post
You will be expected to remain in post for a minimum of three years unless successful at gaining promotion to a higher Band or Grade. 
 
In the event that further posts are required, a reserve list of successful candidates will be kept for up to 12 months. 

Location
This post is based in Glasgow  or Edinburgh, with hybrid working in line with current Transport Scotland policies. You will be expected to be office based twice per week, pro rata.

The post is a full time role, but staff with different working patterns are invited to apply, and we will assess proposed working patterns against the business requirements for this post.

• 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 : Mary Fitzgerald
• Email : mary.fitzgerald@transport.gov.scot

Recruitment team

• Email : scottishgovernmentrecruitment@gov.scot