The Ministry of Defence employs over 50,000 Civil Servants. Within that, with responsibility for an annual budget of over 10bn, the Army is a major part of the Ministry of Defence and one of its largest operating centres who employ around 12,000 Civil Servants located at over 300 locations supporting the 110K regular and reserve soldiers across the Army. This Civil Service workforce is diverse, with many different functions and professions ranging from police officers, security guards, trainers, human resources, teachers, and psychologists to storekeepers, financiers, project and programme managers, and policy secretariat staff.
As the UKs Light and Airborne Division, the 1st (UK) Division acts on an operational level to provide agile, lethal and versatile response options globally, being ready to fight when necessary. 1 UK Div is the UKs light and airborne warfighting division. We make up the majority of the Armys high readiness Reaction Forces and will be first to the fight. Our purpose is to fight and win battles on and from the land. There are 29,000 Regular and Reserve military personnel and 670 Civil Service and permanent contractor personnel in the Division spread over more than 180 UK sites based in the Divisions headquarters, nine subordinate brigade/command headquarters or its 80+ units.
Working within the Division Headquarters (HQ), our civilian staff deliver crucial outputs and play a meaningful part of the team. When you see our service personnel being reported on in the media whilst out on operations around the world, providing support and help to others overseas and at home, or out training so they can be the best at what they do, you will have immense pride knowing you played some part in making it happen.
Please be advised that the Army is conducting a review of its current Finance and HR Operating Models. At the time of advertisement this post is deemed to have an enduring requirement and it is not anticipated that this post will be likely to change in the immediate future, however, is in scope of ongoing reviews.
This position is advertised at 37 hours per week.
We are looking for an experienced finance individual to support the management of the Financial Operations Team within HQ 1(UK) Div, ensuring that Financial Operations is effective and complementary of other finance processes. Your technical knowledge, insight, and ability to work constructively with people at all grades will make you a valued contributor to the decision-making process and a champion for change. You will need to establish and develop effective working relationships with contributing teams and individuals across the Division, Field Army, Army and Defence.
As the Finance Operations Staff Officer Level 2, you will be responsible for the co-ordination, monitoring and financial planning of all budget and finance issues directly associated with HQ 1(UK) Div.
You will be responsible for:
Managing HQ 1(UK) Divs in-year budget by ensuring the integrity and accuracy of transactions on financial systems, with effective controls and checks in place by:
- Monitoring, and where appropriate approving invoices, engaging with commercial and suppliers when required to resolve issues
- Reviewing and undertaking the input of budget profiles into corporate reporting systems
- Utilising standardised templates / forms for recurring requests, advising what information is required and enabling efficient review, ensuring this aligns to policy where applicable
- Engaging with the business where evidence for manual accruals is insufficient and flagging issues, by exception, to the HQ 1(UK) Div Finance Business Partner
- All mis-bookings are to be corrected at source, removing any need for future manual intervention. Engaging with Project and Commercial staff to resolve any issues and work towards a right first-time input
- Month end activities, ensuring that the correct accounting entries are completed in compliance with the relevant internal and wider government policy and a robust audit trail maintained
- Compile monthly forecasts for HQ 1(UK) Div Finance Business Partner to approve before submitting the final version to the Field Army, Senior Finance Business Partner
- Compile the monthly finance brief for HQ 1(UK) Div senior management
- Support the HQ 1(UK) Div Business Manager Workforce with headcount planning
- Review of HQ 1(UK) Div business cases for expenditure proposals and provide financial input regarding affordability
- Provide support for savings and costings exercises
Annual Budget Cycle (ABC) planning round submissions and costing of new expenditure proposals:
- Work with the HQ 1(UK) Div Finance Business Partner and branch heads to review proposed spend for future years
- Support HQ 1(UK) Div military planners on the production of the Annual Budget Cycle (ABC) submission in line with the HLB timetable, providing accurate data on previous Financial Year outturn and highlighting any in-year variations to the previous costed submission
- Completion of ABC Workbooks including checking of headcount figures
- Costing of new expenditure proposals to be included in the ABC submission
Contracting, Purchasing & Finance (CP&F) super user:
- Provision of advice to HQ 1(UK) Div users on CP&F issues
- Creation of new contract and contract amendment requisitions
- Raising of purchase requisitions and receipting
- New user requests
