Assistant Finance Business Partner - Shared Services

The Government Property Agency is the largest property holder in government, with more than £2.1 billion in property assets and over 55% of the government’s office estate. We are transforming the way the Civil Service works by creating great places to work, leading the largest commercial office programme in the UK, working towards halving carbon emissions from government offices, and achieving greater value for taxpayers. We are looking for innovative, solutions-focused people to join our team.

Representing the best covenant in the UK – His Majesty’s Government – we are leading transformational programmes such as the Government Hubs Programme, Whitehall Campus Programme and Net Zero Programme, as well as delivering modern, cost-effective real estate service solutions. Innovation and progress are at the heart of our behaviours. We foster a culture of lifelong learning, where curiosity and self-improvement are encouraged. We’re dedicated to becoming a leading, inclusive employer both in the external market and throughout the Civil Service. Our strong emphasis on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) is not just about driving inclusion across our organisation, it is also about ensuring our services meet the needs of government departments and the civil servants who use our spaces.

Join our dynamic and diverse team that leads with purpose, improving sustainability, nurturing social value, driving inclusivity and flexibility, and kickstarting economic growth. We are driven by purpose, and you can be part of it too: where you make a meaningful impact; where you influence; where your voice really matters; where you help to shape our future direction. The GPA is committed to representing the communities we serve by making Diversity, Equality and Inclusion part of everything we do.

To ensure that we are always recruiting and retaining a diverse mix of talent, we are particularly inviting applications from candidates who are disabled, ethnically or gender diverse, and people who identify as being part of the LGBTQ+ community.

The Assistant Finance Business Partner role in the GPA is integral to ensuring that the GPA’s accounts are accurately recorded, producing insightful management information, forecasts and supporting the business and GPA clients to make informed decisions. The Shared Services AFBP will be responsible for working with suppliers and clients to ensure an accurate and robust month end process is followed, presenting financial information to COO, Client Solutions and Finance management teams providing suitable challenge and support to their decision making, contributing to the annual building budget process, contributing to process improvements within the team and working across GPA to resolve any client related issues.

Working across a diverse portfolio of projects and related overheads, the post holder will need to build key relationships across the business, ensuring accurate management accounting and providing analysis and analysis interpretation to key stakeholders. This includes leading monthly business reviews and presenting at the monthly SLT meetings.

Key Responsibilities:

• Producing management accounts for relevant budget holders.
• Supporting contract management for Business Support, Digital, Technology, Finance and Client Solutions.
• Support the Corporate Directorates with Purchase Orders & Invoices.
• Review and analysis of payroll and staff costs.
• Preparing balance sheet reconciliations including accruals and prepayments.
• Analysing financial performance to identify variances and ensuring transactions are accounted for correctly.
• Preparing and processing journals.
• Supporting internal and external audits.
• Facilitating forecasting and reporting.
• Identifying trends, risks and opportunities in the financial data.
• Ensuring Record to Report principles are embedded within the GPA.
• Producing financial reports for corporate stakeholders.

The post holder may be required to undertake additional responsibilities as expected in relation to the role and grade.

Essential Criteria:

Experience and Technical Skills:

• Be proficient in Microsoft Excel skills and able to manipulate complex data sets.
• Strong attention to detail and ability to analyse and interpret significant amounts of financial data.

Desirable Criteria:

• Good experience of management accounting, ideally in a public sector context.
• Desirable background in Digital, Commercial, Financial industries as either a supplier or a client.
• Desirable experience in project accounting which includes P&L and Capital budgets (RDEL & CDEL).
• Good experience of using Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, ideally including MRI Horizon and/or Microsoft Business Central.
• Proficient using Microsoft Excel and/or Google Sheets, Anaplan (SK2) and Microsoft PowerBI.
• Ability to communicate complex financial information to non-finance stakeholders.
• Ability to work in a geographically dispersed team.

Qualifications And Accreditations:

• Desirable criteria: Qualified accountant (CCAB or equivalent).

Behaviours:

• Managing a Quality Service
• Changing and Improving
• Communicating and Influencing
• Leadership

Technical skills:

• Customer Perspective
• Commercial Acumen
• Property Market Knowledge
• Innovation

Alongside your salary of £41,055, Government Property Agency contributes £11,893 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides. Learning and development tailored to your role. An environment with flexible working options. A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity. A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%. Generous annual leave. GPA is also committed to recognising and rewarding where our staff hold the “Gold Standard’ accreditation relevant to their Specialism and offer a £5000 non-pensionable allowance to staff who have achieved this.

This vacancy is using Success Profiles, and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths, Experience and Technical skills. We encourage applications from people from all backgrounds and aim to have a workforce that represents the communities and wider society that we serve. We pride ourselves on being an employer of choice. We champion diversity, inclusion and well-being and aim to create a sense of belonging in a workplace where everyone feels valued.

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 and the Civil Service D&I Strategy.

The Civil Service Code 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. The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities.

This role is full time only. Applicants who wish to work an alternative pattern are welcome to apply however your preferred working pattern may not be available and you should discuss this with the vacancy holder before applying.