Job summary

Do you thrive on leading complex statutory accounts and exercising professional judgement on high‑profile, technically challenging accounting issues?

Are you motivated by providing assurance at the highest level, influencing senior leaders, and shaping financial governance across a large and complex public sector organisation?

If so, we have an exciting opportunity for a Head of Financial Reporting to join our team at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) and we'd love to hear from you!

This role offers a significant opportunity for an experienced financial reporting professional to provide senior functional leadership for financial accounting and reporting across the department. The postholder will lead the Financial Reporting function, take strategic ownership of statutory accounts and external financial reporting, and ensure the department meets the highest standards of compliance, quality and professional judgement. The role operates at a senior level across the organisation, working closely with Directors, Senior Responsible Owners, Arm’s Length Bodies, HM Treasury and the National Audit Office. The role is central to providing assurance over complex financial reporting risks and delivering the Annual Report and Accounts, Whole of Government Accounts and other statutory and parliamentary reporting requirements. The postholder will exercise significant professional judgement on complex and novel accounting matters and will play a key role in strengthening financial governance, capability, and continuous improvement across the department. You will champion best practice, continuous improvement and build capability within your immediate team and beyond, as well as developing a network of contacts and collaborating, sharing best practice and supporting the development of the financial reporting capability across the department.

Job description

As the Head of Financial Reporting you will be responsible for:

Functional leadership and statutory reporting

Providing senior functional leadership for Financial Accounting and Reporting across the department.

Taking end‑to‑end ownership of the production, quality assurance and delivery of the Annual Report and Accounts.

Leading delivery of external financial reporting obligations, including Whole of Government Accounts returns.

Ensuring compliance with FReM, IFRS, Managing Public Money, and Consolidated Budgeting Guidance.

Supporting ALBs where needed on technical Financial Accounting matters

Technical expertise and professional judgement

Acting as a recognised technical authority on complex and novel accounting issues.

Leading and documenting significant accounting judgements.

Providing advice to senior leaders and Audit Committee.

Audit, risk and assurance

Owning the relationship with the National Audit Office and HMRC.

Managing audit risks and issues to resolution.

Embedding strong control, assurance and audit‑ready processes.

Leadership and capability building

Leading and developing the Financial Reporting team.

Building technical and professional capability across finance.

Stakeholder engagement and influence

Engaging senior stakeholders across the department and government.

Explaining complex accounting matters clearly to non‑finance audiences.

Change and continuous improvement

Driving improvement and modernisation in reporting processes and systems.

Supporting wider finance transformation

Corporate Contribution

Contributing to the wider work of the department by supporting the SCS Deputy Director of Finance in leading the Finance Profession within the department.

Person specification

• Extensive experience in financial accounting and statutory reporting.

• Strong knowledge of IFRS and FReM.

• Experience leading delivery of public sector accounts.

• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills.

Qualifications:

• CCAB, CIMA or equivalent professional accountancy qualification