Head of Management Accounts

About the Government Legal Department

At Government Legal Department we have a vital, single-minded purpose: to help the Government govern well within the rule of law. This is complemented by our exciting vision to be an outstanding legal organisation, committed to the highest standards of service and professionalism and a brilliant place to work where we can all thrive and fulfill our potential.

Our work touches almost every aspect of public life. We are the largest provider of legal services across government, working on high profile matters.

Our respected professionals are involved in everything from regulation and litigation to advice on drafting legislation. They provide expertise to the full range of government departments. We are at the heart of delivering the governments priorities and our success depends on our people.

GLD is a non-ministerial government department headed by the Treasury Solicitor, our Permanent Secretary, and employs nearly 4000 people, including nearly 3000 legal professionals. We have offices nationwide, in Bristol, Leeds, inner and outer London and Manchester. Our lawyers can also be located within other departments and overseas.

GLD also depends on a range of cross-functional professionals to provide our corporate services. There are nearly 1000 colleagues playing an essential part in helping GLD to achieve its purpose and truly deliver much more than law.

This is an exciting time to join GLD, with cutting edge legal work on global issues and a transformation agenda which is ensuring the Department exemplifies the Modern Civil Service .

To find out more about what we do you can view our introductory film . On our website you can hear from team members, find out how to apply and learn about the benefits of working for GLD. You can also read more about the future vision for GLD in our GLD Strategy 2024 2027 .

About the Finance Division

The aim of the Finance Division is to ensure that GLD has effective business planning and sound financial and performance management processes that meet its business needs.

The Division has approximately 50 staff covering transaction processing (accounts payable, customer billing, treasury functions such as banking, expenses and travel payments), financial and management accounting, financial planning, finance policy, procurement and Bona Vacantia (BV) Finance.

The external reporting requirements placed on GLD are the same as those of larger government departments, and in addition, GLD having only limited resources, needs to have a robust internal performance and finance regime to ensure we get maximum value for money for our clients.

The variety of work offered by GLDs Finance Team is very diverse when compared to finance roles in some larger organisations.

The Accounts team, of which this role is a key part , manage the month and year-end accounting processes, budgeting and fee setting, forecasting and tax reporting, supporting senior management with decision making and the Accounting Officer in fulfilling statutory reporting responsibilities.

We also provide financial services to the Attorney Generals Office and HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate.

GLD Finance is based predominantly in Central London but also has team members based in the Croydon, and Salford offices

This is an exciting time to join the Government Legal Department. GLD plays a vital cross-government role, supporting departments on issues of national importance while ensuring our own corporate services are modern, efficient and focused on delivering value for money.

As Director of Finance, Operations and Digital, I am proud of the role our finance teams play in putting high-quality financial insight at the centre of strategic decision-making. Our ambition is to build a finance function that reflects the best of the Government Finance Function Strategy: professional, data-led, commercially aware, focused on value for money, and able to support better outcomes for GLD and the wider public sector.

The Head of Management Accounts role is central to that ambition. It offers an excellent opportunity to coordinate GLDs budgets and forecasts, lead high-quality management reporting, and work closely with senior finance colleagues, Executive Committee members and Divisional Heads to support delivery of our financial strategy and Spending Review commitments.

This is also a period of significant transformation. We are taking forward ambitious efficiency plans, strengthening our data strategy so that trusted, secure and well-governed information supports better insight and responsible use of AI, and aligning with the Governments Shared Services agenda to simplify processes, improve user experience and release capacity for higher-value work.

This role will suit someone who is motivated by public service, enjoys working with complex financial information, and wants to help shape how finance enables strategic decisions in a major government department. If you want to make a tangible contribution to GLDs future and develop your career in the Government Finance Function, I would strongly encourage you to apply.

Carmel

Carmel Thornton, Government Legal Department Director of Finance, Operations and Digital

About the Role

We are looking for a motivated and suitably experienced individual to join the Accounts Team as Head of the Management Accounting function.

The team, of one G7, and an HEO, are responsible for planning and co-ordination of the Departments annual budget and quarterly forecasting exercises alongside monthly management accounts reporting and fee setting. As GLD is almost entirely funded through the fees we charge for legal services and needs to balance its income and costs throughout the year, this is a key role in supporting senior management with financial decision making.

The post holder will be working in a fast-paced environment, working with a range of stakeholders, and significant amounts of data to challenging cyclical reporting deadlines.

This will require someone with strong communication skills to communicate complex messages in an effective way and to be able to create effective working relationships with stakeholders. The role also involves a high degree of organisational skills to be able to manage complex financial consolidation processes and strong analytical skills to review and analyse data to identify trends and anomalies.

The individual should have a broad range of finance experience to enable them to identify specific accounting and budgeting issues arising and to be able to assess the impact of these in respect of the Departments financial risks, providing advice to senior stakeholders to inform financial decision making.

This is a great opportunity for an experienced Finance professional looking to develop their career in the Strategic Finance and Management Accounting job families.

Key Responsibilities and Tasks Areas:

• Lead the commissioning, consolidation and analysis of the annual departmental budgeting process
• Lead the commissioning, consolidation and analysis of the quarterly department forecasting process
• Lead the budgetary delegation process
• Lead the preparation and issuing of monthly management account reports to budget holders
• Support the Assistant FD in the design of the budgeting and forecast processes
• Support the FD in the setting of client fees and for fixed fees, managing the change process around fees and instructing the billing team to issue quarterly fees
• Working with the rest of the accounts team to support month end processes including deep dive analysis on specific spend areas and analysis of CMS time and disbursements balances
• Provide advice, training and support to budget holders on preparation of budgets and forecasts, working together with Finance Business Partners to ensure a good quality service is provided
• Manage an HEO direct report

Behaviours

Below are details of the Success Profiles that make up this role. Demonstrating all the behaviours listed below is essential at either application or interview. You can read more about ...