Head of Finance (Closedown)

Organisation: London Borough of Waltham Forest

Salary: PO10 £68,784 - £72,399

Contract Type: Full Time/Permanent

Working hours per week: 36

Application Deadline: 14/9/2026

Proposed Interview Date(s): TBC

Reference: 2278

About Us

Bursting with culture, energy, and opportunity, the London Borough of Waltham Forest is a fantastic and exciting place to work. We are a highly ambitious borough. Driven by culture and the innate creativity of our residents, we have developed new and innovative ways to build our communities. Our Council is relentlessly resident-focused, insight-led, digitally driven and commercially minded; a Council focused on meeting the needs of our existing and future residents. London Borough of Waltham Forest is one of the Mayor of London's Good Work Standard employers. This accreditation is proof of our commitment to creating a healthy, fair and inclusive workplace.

About the role

The Head of Finance (Closedown) leads on the delivery of the organisation's end-to-end closedown process. The post holder will lead:

• the closedown process; and
• the non-capital side of the Statement of Accounts.

The post holder must be a technically capable Accountant, who can take responsibility for the closedown process, including stakeholder management and coordination of the timetable. They must possess the technical skills to produce accurate accounts, produce relevant notes, undertake quality checks for consistency, and ensure that the organisation is compliant with the CIPFA Code of Practice on Local Authority Accounting in the United Kingdom.

Key Responsibilities

• Acting as lead for the organisation's closedown process, including setting the timetable, engaging with stakeholders across the organisation, implementing soft close, and coordinating working papers.
• Overseeing closedown activities, including completion of accrual forms, reserve drawdowns and provisions.
• Leading on and taking ownership of the non-capital side of the Statement of Accounts and working with the Head of Finance (Capital) to produce the Statement of Accounts.
• Coordinating the grants register.
• Ensuring integrity of financial information and compliance with audit requirements.
• Leading on engagement with the organisation's external auditors, and coordinating the progress of audit, including responses to audit queries.
• Feeding into financial reports to Committees, for example, in relation to external audit progress and the Statement of Accounts.
• Coordinating ledger control and ensuring that an effective process for cyclical review is in place.
• Coordinating balance sheet reconciliations.
• Assisting with the production and presentation of complex and diverse financial information to members and other senior stakeholders, that informs service and corporate decision-making.
• Undertaking specialist project work of a complex nature, preparing reports, representing accountancy services on working groups, including some external groups, and providing financial management and related expertise as and when required.
• Providing support to other areas of Finance, as directed by the Chief Accountant.
• Acting as deputy for the Chief Accountant as and when required.

Qualifications and Requirements

• Fully qualified accountant (CIPFA, ACA, ACCA, CIMA) or part qualified with a demonstrable plan to achieve full qualification within 9 months.
• Evidence of post-qualification continuing professional development.

Terms and conditions

• Satisfactory employment references and CIFAS identity checks;
• Satisfactory DBS check;
• Continued professional body registration;
• As a public authority, we must ensure that members of staff in public-facing roles are able to speak fluent English.

Equal Opportunity Employer

Waltham Forest is a diverse borough where diversity is valued and is integral to both service delivery and employment of its staff. The Council is proud of its rich mix of communities and as the largest employer in the area, it works hard to respond to the changing needs of its population. We use our statutory duties on race, gender and disability equality and best practice in respect of age, faith and sexual orientation to ensure equality of opportunity in the workplace.

The Council is committed to meeting its 4 equality objectives:

• Promoting equality of opportunity
• Opposing all forms of discrimination, intolerance and disadvantage
• Ensuring our workforce reflects the diverse communities of Waltham Forest at all levels.
• Providing fair, appropriate, accessible and excellent Services to all.

Respecting Diversity is a core Council value. To support the above and reduce the risk of bias in its recruitment activities, the council is operating an anonymous shortlisting process, which hides personal information that can identify individuals until their application has been considered for shortlisting. The council also operates a scheme whereby, for jobs graded up to and including scale SO2, internal candidates are considered first. This includes those candidates who self-identify as having a disability for the purposes of the Disability Confident scheme.

We are keen to support employees to balance their working life with other commitments. Therefore, wherever possible, we will consider working arrangements that suit an individual's personal circumstances whilst still meeting the needs of the Council.