Chief Accountant'

An opportunity has arisen for a Chief Accountant to join a strong and experienced finance team at Gloucestershire County Council. We are seeking an individual with strong technical skills and experience of Local Government statutory financial statements.

This is an exciting time to be joining the organisation as we embrace various positive change initiatives, including the upgrade of our Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, a focus on data and insight, and a continuous-improvement ethos of modernisation.

The successful applicant will have the technical knowledge to lead our annual closedown process and the production of our accounting statements, liaising with external auditors and continuing the organisation's strong track record for delivering statements within deadlines and positive audit reports.

As well as technical expertise, applicants should have a demonstrable track record of communicating complex financial matters to non-financial stakeholders, most notably elected members of the Audit & Governance Committee.

Reporting directly to the Head of Financial Management, the successful candidate will be a key member of the Financial Management Team, and be responsible for developing and leading professional development sessions with the Financial Management service. To ensure that our team has up to date knowledge of reporting standards, the post-holder will attend technical briefings by CIPFA and other external bodies and be the lead officer for advising the organisation on the impacts of any and all changes.

You should be a strong communicator, and someone who is committed to creating a culture of continuous improvement and service excellence.

A qualified accountant (e.g. CIPFA, ACCA etc), with significant knowledge, skills and experience of working at a senior level in a finance team within a large and complex organisation, ideally within Local Government.

Financial Management is a professional and supportive service. There is an opportunity to put your own mark on finance process improvement projects, to use your own initiative and be involved in key decisions. We are also keen for team members to achieve Continuing Professional Development (CPD) requirements, career progression and satisfaction via further training opportunities., We want to be an employer of choice, attracting and retaining excellent people to work for us, so that we can best serve all of Gloucestershire's diverse communities. Our promise to you is that we will provide an inclusive and supportive working environment that enables you to bring your whole self to work and realise your full potential.

It is a legal requirement, under the Immigration Act 2016, that anyone appointed to a 'customer facing role' must be able to demonstrate an ability to fulfil all spoken aspects of the role with confidence in fluent English.

Hybrid working arrangements are available for the majority of our roles, giving teams the opportunity to work in a way that suits them, balancing service need and individual choice, with a mix of both remote and office working.