Accounts Assistant

Accounts Assistant - National Insurance Fund Production Team - Stratford About the job
Job summary
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As part of Finance Operations, the Tax Accounts team play a crucial role in providing both Financial and Management information across all areas of HMRC. We accounted for over £843 billion of tax revenue in 2023-24. The team has responsibility for production and assurance of all HMRC Tax Accounts. These include the Trust Statement (TS), National Insurance Fund (NIF) accounts for Great Britain (GB) and Northern Ireland (NI), the Isle of Man (IoM) accounts, the Whole of Government Accounts (WGA), monthly in-year tax management accounts, and the financial statements for the European Commission.
Job description
The role is for the National Insurance Fund Team, part of Risk, Control and Financial Accounting Directorate in Corporate Finance who are responsible for producing the National Insurance Fund Accounts (NIF) for GB and NI.
The successful candidate will be expected to work to agreed timetables and the quality expected by the National Audit Office (NAO). Working alongside key stakeholders both within HMRC and other Government Departments (OGDs) to ensure that key controls, risks and issues are properly managed, and the National Insurance Fund is governed effectively.
Person specification
The role supports the production of the annual NIF financial statements and helps to produce and maintain a strict timetable of key deliverables by:
• Working to agreed HM Treasury timetables and to the quality expected by the NAO;
• Engaging with stakeholders to ensure timely collection of data and monitoring responses for quality and accuracy;
• Maintaining good records to corroborate the financial statements produced;
• Working with others to review and improve systems, processes, and controls;
• Helping to resolve problems and covering workloads when required;
• Working with key stakeholders to ensure that any recommendations from NAO auditors are dealt with in a timely and effective manner;
• Alerting the team to potential issues and helping to resolve them;
• Helping to provide and analyse management information for decision making;
• Assisting with urgent and important ad-hoc queries.
Essential Criteria:
• Qualified or currently studying AAT, other professional accountancy qualification or willing to study AAT;
• Experience of working in an accounts production role;
• Very strong Excel skills including vlookups, pivot tables, if formulas, use of macros;
• Experience of reviewing and improving processes;
• Following detailed guidance accurately.
Desirable Criteria:
• Effective verbal and written communication skills.
Contractual Home Workers are welcome to apply, the role does require ad hoc office attendance, should applicants wish to discuss this requirement further, please do reach out to the vacancy holder listed below.
Benefits
Alongside your salary of £41,289, HM Revenue and Customs contributes £11,961 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.
HMRC operates both Flexible and Hybrid Working policies, allowing you to balance your work and personal commitments. We welcome applications from those who need to work a more flexible arrangement and will agree to requests where possible, considering our operational and customer service needs.
We offer a generous leave allowance, starting at 25 days and increasing by a day for every year of qualifying service up to a maximum of 30 days.

• Pension - We make contributions to our colleagues' Alpha pension equal to at least 28.97% of their salary.
• Family friendly policies.
• Personal support.
• Coaching and development.

To find out more about HMRC benefits and find out what it's really like to work for HMRC hear from our insiders or visit Thinking of joining the Civil Service
Things you need to know
Selection process details
How to Apply
As part of the application process, you will be asked to provide the following:
Your CV and personal statement should be aligned to the person specification within the advert.

• A name-blind CV including your job history and previous experiences. Your CV is for information only and will not be scored.
• A 750-word personal statement. Your personal statement should explain how you meet the essential criteria for the role, formatted in the STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result) layout, so that we can clearly see what you did and what the outcome was.

Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.
We acknowledge that AI can assist you in your application. Find our guidelines here.
Sift
At full sift, your Personal Statement will be assessed, with the successful candidates being invited to interview.
Please be advised, due to annual leave, the Christmas break and bank holidays, there may be a small delay with the sift of your application but rest assured we will complete this process as quickly as possible.
We may also raise the score required at any stage of the process if we receive a high number of applications.
Interview
During the panel interview, your Experience will be assessed.
Interviews will take place face to face. Sift and interview dates to be confirmed.
Eligibility
Please take extra care to tick the correct boxes in the eligibility sections of your application form. We understand mistakes sometimes happen but if you contact us later than two working days(Monday-Friday) before the vacancy closes, we will not be able to reopen your application for you. If you do make a mistake with your eligibility form, please contact us via: - Use the subject line to insert appropriate wording for example - 'Please re-open my application - (insert vacancy ref) & vacancy closing date (insert date)'.
To check that you are eligible to apply for this role, please review the eligibility information before submitting your application.
Reserve List
A reserve list may be held for up to 12 months from which further appointments may be made for the same or similar roles - if this applies to you, we'll let you know via your Civil Service Jobs account.
Merit List
After interview, a single merit list will be created, and you will only be considered for posts in locations you have expressed a preference for. Appointments will be made in strict merit order in line with the set number of roles in each location.
Criminal Record Check
Applications received from candidates with a criminal record are considered fairly in accordance with the DBS Code of Practice and the Recruitment of ex-offenders Policy.
Reasonable Adjustments
We want to make sure no one is put at a disadvantage during our recruitment process. To assist you with this, we will reduce or remove any barriers where possible and provide additional support where appropriate.
If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should:

• Contact the UBS Recruitment team via as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.

Complete the "Assistance required" section in the "Additional requirements" page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you're deaf, a Language Service Professional.
Important information for existing HMRC contractual homeworkers
This role may be suitable for existing HMRC employees who are contractual homeworkers. Occasional attendance to the office will be required where there is a business need. Please consider the advertised office locations for this role when applying and only select locations from the 'location preferences' section that you can travel to.
Terms and Conditions
Customer facing roles in HMRC require the ability to converse at ease with members of the public and provide advice in accurate spoken English and/or Welsh where required. Where this is an essential requirement, this will be tested as part of the selection process.
HMRC has a presence in every region of the UK. For more information on where you might be working, review this information on our locations.
The Civil Service values honesty and integrity and expects all candidates to abide by these principles. The evidence you provide in your application must relate to your own experiences.
Any instances of plagiarism or other forms of cheating will be investigated and, if proven, the relevant application(s) will be withdrawn from the process.
Recording of interviews is prohibited unless explicit agreement is sought in line with the UK General Data Protection Regulations.
Questions relating to an individual application must be emailed as detailed later in this advert.
Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant's details held on the IFD will be refused employment.
A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5 year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.
New entrants will join on the minimum of the pay band.
If you experience accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section.
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
Security
Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.
People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.
Nationality requirements
This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)
Working for the Civil Service
The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.
We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).
The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.
The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.
Diversity and Inclusion
The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

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