Accountant

Location: Marischal Square, Broad Street, Aberdeen

Duration: Permanent, Full Time

Roles that require PVG Membership

Please note that with effect from 1 April 2023, where a role requires PVG membership, candidates will be required to meet the cost of the PVG membership. This applies only to roles with a full-time equivalent salary of £30,000 and above (Teaching roles and jobs at Grade 11 and above (currently £30,285 per annum / £16.64 per hour).

The Council will pay for the PVG membership cost initially, either £18 for existing PVG scheme members, or £59 for non-members, and this cost will be deducted from an employee’s first FULL month’s salary payment.

Job purpose/about the role

Responsible for the provision of financial information, advice, and customer service for a range of council services. This includes monitoring and forecasting of revenue and capital income and expenditure, supporting the development of budgets, drafting of Committee and corporate reports, interpretation of financial information, generation of best value options and solutions, review of business cases and financial modelling, and preparation of statutory returns and reports.

To support the development of allocated financial controls, processes, and systems in the Finance team.

To liaise with budget holders and project managers across the council to enable them to successfully manage their business and strengthen financial management underpinned by excellent financial controls.

To support in the leadership of the wider team.

Within the scope of the Accountant role, the post holder is responsible for ensuring that within defined areas of work that:

• Best use is made of technology to improve service quality, standardise processes, improve controls, and improve overall efficiency.
• Procedures are documented and kept up to date.
• Service Level Agreement standards are achieved and reported.
• Staff are trained and developed to perform their roles to high standards, in order to support the needs of the Council and to provide a high-quality pool of talent to develop the service.

The post holder needs to hold as a minimum:

• Accountant membership of a CCAB recognised professional body e.g., CIPFA, ACCA, CIMA, ICAS.

The postholder is able to demonstrate:

• Demonstrable accounting experience including responsibility for financial planning and monitoring, statutory returns and accounts closure processes, and providing financial advice to senior managers.
• Experience of working in a business administration/financial role.
• Proven experience of problem-solving.
• Proven experience of assessing service requirements and providing proactive solutions.
• Proven experience of prioritisation, working to deadlines, and planning of workloads.
• Proven communication skills, written and oral.
• Sound knowledge of the operation of computerised business/IT systems and Microsoft products.
• Ability to manage change.
• Ability to work on own initiative.

About Us

Please see the Job Profile for further details.

We are happy to talk flexible working and offer flexible working for most roles in the organisation, meaning that many of our employees enjoy the freedom of choosing a working pattern that suits them as much as it suits the organisation.

Disability Confident

We are a Disability Confident Employer. If you consider yourself to have a disability and think you may require a reasonable adjustment to be made for this part of the selection process, or would like further information in relation to reasonable adjustments, please contact AskHR@aberdeencity.gov.uk.

We are a forces-friendly employer, have signed the Armed Forces Covenant, and are a silver award recipient in the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme. We have a specific email address for those in the forces, those who have left the forces, as well as their partners/spouses/families: armedforces@aberdeencity.gov.uk. We are able to answer questions about jobs and our application/selection process, as well as about our employee support provisions.

We have a number of guaranteed interview schemes available to applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the role they are applying for who:

• have a disability as defined by the Equality Act 2010 (all jobs)
• looked after young people, those that are in continuing care or are a care leaver up to the age of 29 (all jobs)
• are aged 16-24 and live in Aberdeen City or have been to an Aberdeen City Council school and are applying for a Modern Apprenticeship (except Trades apprenticeships)
• have done a Foundation Apprenticeship with Aberdeen City Council and are applying for any apprenticeships relevant to the area in which they did their Foundation Apprenticeship
• are New Scots* aged 16-24 and are applying for any apprenticeships.

*"New Scots" are defined as refugees and asylum seekers who are in Scottish communities and include those who have been granted refugee status or another form of humanitarian protection, people seeking asylum, those who have been refused asylum, and those whose application has been refused but who remain in Scotland.