Pillar 2 Advisory Accountants

Birmingham, West Midlands (England), B2 4AD : Bristol, South West England, BS2 0EL : Belfast, Northern Ireland, BT1 4GF : Cardiff, Wales, CF14 5YA : Croydon, London (region), CR0 2LX : London, London (region), E20 1HZ : Edinburgh, Scotland, EH12 5WN : Glasgow, Scotland, G1 1GY : Liverpool, North West England, L2 0RD : Leeds, Yorkshire and the Humber, LS1 4AP : Salford, North West England, M3 5FS : Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England, NE98 1ZZ : Nottingham, East Midlands (England), NG2 1AB : Portsmouth, South East England, PO6 3XA

Why HMRC?

Tired of 60-hour weeks, the corporate grind and only dressing down on Fridays? Are your technical accounting skills constrained by your management responsibilities, staff reviews and meetings? Would you like to lead on high-profile complex accounting issues that make a positive difference to the nation’s finances? If you’re nodding your head reading this, you’ve come to the right place. 

Things at HMRC probably don’t work the way you’d think, especially when it comes to these Advisory Accountant roles where you could effect real change through our exciting and cutting-edge Pillar 2 Programme.  The UK is taking a prominent and leading role in implementing this international tax reform making sure that multinational companies pay their share; and we would like you to join us in this challenge. 

In return for your technical accounting skills, we’ll furnish you with a competitive salary, an average employer pension contribution of 27%, (and you’re an accountant, so you know how good that is), hybrid working, actual flexitime and genuine work-life balance alongside fascinating technical work.  You’ll also be provided with regular CPD, tax training, a supportive network of technical specialists and a framework for career pathways.

This is a rare opportunity for external candidates to join HMRC’s Advisory and Forensic Accountants Profession at a senior level.  We are looking for experienced technical accountants to support the HMRC Pillar 2 Programme.  Equivalent roles in the private sector will include experienced Managers/Senior Managers in Big 4 Practice and Financial Controllers/Group Accountants in industry. 

Working at HMRC as an accountant

Our team of 150 accountants have previously worked in varied roles in practice or industry, including audit and financial accounting positions.  We use our technical and commercial knowledge in a range of interesting and exciting work – work that has real impacts on Government tax policy decisions. 

There are three Advisory Accountant roles for HMRC’s Pillar 2 Programme available – one role in each of the following three HMRC business directorates: Policy (Business, Assets and International), Large Business and Solicitor’s Office and Legal Services (SOLS). 

See what it’s like to work at HMRC: find out more about us or ask our colleagues a question. Questions relating to an individual application must be emailed as detailed later in this advert.

What is HMRC’s Pillar 2 Programme?

Firstly, you do not need to be an expert in “Pillar 2” to apply for this role, but the following may be of interest.

In October 2021, over 130 countries in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) reached a landmark agreement on a two-pillar solution to reform the international tax framework in response to the global challenges of digitalisation. “Pillar 2” is the second strand of the two-Pillar solution and is a significant investment and priority for the UK Government and HMRC. 

The policy will help tackle opportunities for profit shifting and aggressive tax planning by multinationals. It will also place a floor on tax competition between jurisdictions, ensuring the sustainability of Corporation Tax as a major source of government revenues.

The work will be high profile and you will be required to work with a wide range of stakeholders across HMRC, wider government (such as HM Treasury), external agents and our largest corporate customers.

Your role as a Pillar 2 Advisory Accountant

HMRC benefits from having Advisory Accountants embedded across the organisation and the three senior Pillar 2 Advisory Accountant roles advertised are to support the work of HMRC’s Pillar 2 Programme.   The three roles advertised will support the Programme in different capacities and the document attached below provides more details on these roles.

 In general, as an Advisory Accountant, you will:

• Be a visible leader within and outside HMRC, promoting the work of the directorates and HMRC, working cross directorate and actively implementing strategy.
• Provide accounting advice for complex accountancy issues. Analyse relevant customer facts, accounting frameworks and, where appropriate, challenge customers’ accounting analyses
• Support risk activities, including reviewing financial statements, commercial and accounting information, meetings with customers and working with other specialists to form a view and assess the impact for tax.
• Communicate, meet and collaborate closely with internal and external stakeholders to influence behaviour, including case teams, policy experts, accounting firms, other advisory and forensic accountants, courts and customers.
• Develop and provide quality accountancy training to accountancy and tax professionals. Tailor training materials and offer follow-up support to delegates.
• Coach and mentor colleagues and trainees, using own skills and experience to aid their development.
• Assist delivery of strategic objectives, matching resource to risk, through prioritisation, work planning and national/cross directorate work sharing.

We are looking for experienced qualified accountants with recent practitioner experience in either practice or industry dealing with multinational corporate groups. 

The ideal candidate will have deep accounting experience in the application of IFRS and UK GAAP, including consolidation practices.

It will be advantageous to have experience in US GAAP, knowledge of international tax considerations and overseas tax regimes, and experience of tax accounting.

The ideal candidate will demonstrate expertise and experience at a sufficient level and authority to appear credible to accountancy firms (Big 4), customers (multinational corporate groups), senior HMRC officers and tribunals.

Essential Criteria:

If you are interested in applying, you must address all the following essential criteria and person specification requirements in your CV to be successful at the sift stage.

Full and complete qualification from, and continuing membership of, at least one of the following professional accounting bodies:

•The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW)

•The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS)

•Chartered Accountants Ireland (CAI)

•The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA)

•The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA)

•The Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA)

You will be required to show evidence of your qualification and membership at interview  

Personal Specification requirements

1. Recent practitioner experience (within the last 2 to 3 years) of preparing or reviewing financial statements of multinational corporate groups (either in practice or industry).

   This must include the following:

   • Consolidation practices (including UK GAAP and IFRS accounting frameworks);
   • Deep understanding and practical application of UK GAAP and IFRS accounting frameworks; and
   • Sound awareness of differences between accounting frameworks (e.g. UK GAAP, IFRS and US GAAP). 
2. Commercial knowledge and an understanding of how businesses operate including accounting systems.

3. Experience of considering the appropriate accounting treatment of a variety of specific transactions.

4. Ability to communicate orally and in writing with sufficient credibility to key stakeholders (including Big 4, multinational corporate groups, senior HMRC officers and tribunals).

5. Experience of leading across internal and external boundaries and empowering others to deliver.

 Desirable Criteria:

• Clear understanding of accounting principles and the application of US GAAP.
• Knowledge of international tax considerations and overseas tax regimes.
• Experience of tax accounting.

This vacancy is only available at the specified locations, alternative locations are not available.

Your office location is contractual so if you are successful, there is an expectation that you will attend that office location as required by the business. You need to consider how you will meet this requirement before you apply and discuss any concerns with the vacancy holder before accepting any role.

We offer a hybrid working model that allows you to work between home and your office location giving you greater flexibility about where and when you work.

There may be a need to travel across the UK with occasional overnight stays being required and there may be a need for occasional travel for business purposes.

HMRC welcomes applications from those who need to work a more flexible arrangement and will agree to requests where possible, taking into account our operational and customer service needs. We can’t guarantee that we can meet all requests to work flexibly, as agreement will be subject to business ability to accommodate, and any request to work a more flexible arrangement should be made prior to your acceptance of the provisional offer.

• The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW)

• The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS)

• Chartered Accountants Ireland (CAI)

• The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA)

• The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA)

• The Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA)

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

• Leadership

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

• Assessment of your technical accounting ability against the essential criteria and person specification requirements

• 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%

Find more about HMRC benefits in ‘Your little extras and big benefits handbook’ for further information or visit Thinking of joining the Civil Service.

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.

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Job contact :

• Name : Amy Trappe
• Email : Amy.Trappe@hmrc.gov.uk

Recruitment team

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