Finance Business Partner

IPSA is an independent body that regulates and administers the business costs and decides the pay and pensions of the 650 elected Members of Parliament and their staff in the UK.  In fact, we were the first independent regulator of its kind in any of the world’s democracies.

Our mission is simple: we want to enable MPs to do what really matters by providing an exemplary, seamless regulatory service. We’re guided by our values and our brilliant, inclusive culture ensures we’re not only a great place to work but that we can also constantly adapt, evolve and improve everything we do so that we can meet our customers’ needs.

Take a look at some of our videos to find out more about who we are, what we do and how we do it:

We’re looking for a Finance Business Partner to join our finance business partnering team, which sits within our Finance function. This team supports the organisation to deliver its strategic plan and improvement programme through the provision of high-quality and comprehensive support. Together with colleagues across the team, you’ll provide business partnering services to our customer-facing teams to ensure that MPs issues are resolved, while ensuring strong governance processes and financial controls are well maintained.

Building brilliant working relationships is key to the success of this role and through these relationships the role will enable change and improvement across teams, anticipate risks and ensure that financial data is current and accurate with an overall focus on driving value for money and improving customer service. IPSA places integrity, transparency and customer service at the heart of what we do, so these are common themes which will run through your work.

This is a brilliant opportunity for a meticulous, insightful and curious finance professional to bring their knowledge and experience to life in a unique organisational setting, working with enthusiastic colleagues and expressive customers.

This role reports to the Senior Finance Business Partner and works collaboratively with the management accounting team.  

The Finance Business Partner’s responsibilities include:

• Building open and honest relationships with all teams across IPSA.
• Ensure financial reporting is relevant, timely and accurate.
• Collaborating with the wider Finance team and other functions to resolve finance queries.
• Providing tailored support to MP facing teams
• Regular in-depth analysis and review of MP spend vs. budget, to understand trends.
• Provide the business with financial systems support.
• Working collaboratively on costings, analysis, turning data into insights and answering queries.
• Working with the organisation to assist in the preparation of business cases.
• Sharing knowledge through coaching and providing training where necessary.
• Implementing and continually improving the monitoring and reporting processes.
• Undertaking autonomous projects and other pieces of work.

You’ll need to be a qualified accountant (CCAB or equivalent), however, we would be willing to consider candidates who are part-qualified and currently studying towards qualified status. You’ll have demonstrable experience of delivering brilliant business finance partnering services in a similar organisational setting, ideally within the public sector. 

Great financial management, planning, monitoring, and reporting skills are a must, and we’ll expect candidates to approach their work with curiosity and accuracy, committing to getting it right first time, every time. Effective business partnering relies on excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to build successful and trusting relationships with all stakeholders, so this will need to come as second nature to you.

We are looking for someone who is in their element when working with complex and challenging data, candidates who can effectively communicate this to a range of different stakeholders with differing levels of finance knowledge will stand out.

As you’ll be joining a high-performing team, resilience is a key attribute we look for, and given the remit of the role, the ability to work dynamically with an unwavering commitment to meeting our own internal deadlines is important. To do this well you’ll be adept at multi-tasking and enjoy collaborating with others.  High initiative and a flexible approach to work and change are important too so you’ll be comfortable working autonomously. 

You’ll be joining a diverse and knowledgeable bunch of people, passionate about making IPSA brilliant so you’ll need to fit right in. Above all, you’ll live and breathe IPSA’s values and be able to demonstrate how your experience and ways of working align with these.  

A full job description and person specification is available on the ‘current vacancies’ section on our website.

Location 

We’re a hybrid organisation with employees working in all corners of the UK. We have an office in central London which you can work from, although we welcome applications from all across the UK, offering flexible homeworking on UK mainland locations (which includes Northern Ireland). Please note that due to the nature of our work, you will be required to travel to London and Westminster occasionally.

• A competitive salary which is regularly benchmarked against industry.
• Hybrid and flexible working, with occasional travel to our London office for team meetings.
• Generous contributions into a ‘Civil Service’ pension.
• 25 days holiday entitlement of 25 days (+ bank holidays), increasing by 1 day each year up to 30 days.
• Option to purchase additional holiday days each year.
• Access to learning and development tailored to your role with coaching opportunities.
• Working in a high-performing organisation which supports democracy with a great team ethic.
• A culture encouraging equity, diversity and inclusion.
• Time to participate in our inclusive workplace networks.
• Mental Health First Aid network and access to our EAP.
• Enhanced family leave provisions.
• Workplace awards programme for living IPSA’s values and innovative ideas.
• Season ticket/rent deposit loans.
• Cycle to work scheme.
• Volunteering days and ‘you’ time.

Our commitment and values

We’re committed to making IPSA a brilliant place to work and at the heart of our people philosophy is our promise to engage, enable and empower every member of our team to deliver excellence, learn and develop each day. Through a diversity of backgrounds, experience and thought IPSA will continue to be a high-performing organisation with a truly diverse and inclusive culture.  We’re guided by our values and live and breathe them through all the work that we do. These are Staying Connected, Seeing the Bigger Picture, Being Open, Doing the Right Thing and Making a Difference.  As a values-based organisation you can expect these to feature throughout the recruitment process and beyond.

Job contact :

• Name : The People Team
• Email : people@theipsa.org.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : people@theipsa.org.uk