Senior Officer - Financial Assessment
Location: Bristol
£57,952 - £59,691
Plus generous Civil Service defined benefit pension
About us
The Office for Students (OfS) is the independent regulator of higher education in England. We regulate higher education on behalf of all students, ensuring that every student, regardless of their background, has a fulfilling experience that enriches their lives and careers. We have high ambitions and offer great opportunities to get involved in bringing that vision to life.
This is an exciting opportunity to join our Financial Assessment team undertaking reviews of providers’ financial health.
The role
Would you like a finance role without the same monthly accounting processes again and again? Then this Senior Officer post in our Financial Assessment team might be the role for you. You will learn and apply the OfS's approach to assessing the financial viability and sustainability of higher education providers, joining a high performing team in which members help and support each other to get the work done. You will enjoy a variety of work, where each assessment is different and no month is ever the same!
The main purpose of the role is to undertake financial analysis based on complex data supplied by the regulated providers, information available about them in the public domain and the general knowledge regarding macroeconomic conditions in which the providers operate, to make judgements on their financial strength. This analysis is key in supporting the OfS’s regulatory decisions, so the postholder will write evidence-based assessments that are intelligible for non-experts, deliver crucial financial insight and recommendations to decision-makers, and lead on financial engagement with some higher education providers. The role therefore requires engagement with internal stakeholders, but it also involves interactions with external stakeholders, when necessary. In addition the role will provide an opportunity to input into improving the systems and processes that deliver services to customer teams internally and to providers.
About you
We are looking for someone with the following skills and experience:
Essential criteria:
· Qualified accountant, or part qualified accountant at final level, with significant relevant experience in a finance role
· Ability to analyse and communicate complex financial issues effectively, orally and in writing
· Ability to understand, interpret and identify risks in financial performance in diverse types of organisations
· Ability to reach and convey reliable and challenge-proof judgements to non-specialists on the basis of complex and imperfect information
· Ability to work with high levels of complexity and ambiguity
· Ability to work collaboratively and flexibly in a complex environment to deliver the team’s functions
Desirable criteria:
· Knowledge of the English higher education system and its regulatory regime; and
· Previous experience of reviewing financial statements
· Previous experience of assessing businesses’ financial health
· Previous experience of report writing on financial issues
For the purposes of recruitment to the role, we are measuring the following core competencies:
Delivering at pace
I ensure the delivery of timely, quality outcomes, through providing the right resources for tasks, reviewing and adjusting performance expectations and rewarding success.
I maintain my own level of performance in challenging circumstances and support others to do the same.
I adjust priorities and focus swiftly as the OfS’s internal and external context changes, to keep whole team efforts on the top priorities.
I consider how my work impacts other teams across the organisation.
I translate strategic priorities into clear outcome-focused objectives for managers and teams.
I regularly monitor my own and my team’s performance against milestones.
Communicating and influencing
I actively deploy different…