Assistant Finance Business Partner LCR - #1729591

Location

Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester

About The Job Job Summary

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. And 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. And 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.

Job Description

The Assistant Finance Business Partner role in the GPA is integral to ensuring that the GPA’s accounts are accurately recorded and present a high degree of integrity, producing insightful management information, forecasts and supporting the business and GPA clients to make informed decisions.

The LCR AFBP will be responsible for working with the Lifecycle Replacement and Net Zero Programme Managers and their regional project managers to ensure that the delivery of GPA funded CDEL projects is subject to a high level of financial control through monitoring project progress and tracking client invoices against supplier expenditure in the region of £60m CDEL for LCR and £20m CDEL for Net Zero. The AFBP will provide insightful management information to allow finance and operational stakeholders to understand progress against budget and be active in reforecasting and identifying any risks to GPA’s CDEL budget.

The LCR AFBP will be responsible for ensuring that the Assets Under Construction balance sheet is accurate and complete, and working with the Non-Current Assets team to ensure that completed works are capitalised as full assets in a timely fashion.

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 interpretation to key stakeholders.

Key Responsibilities

• Producing management accounts for relevant budget holders and contributing to GPA’s client budget process.
• Partnering with budget holders in the London & South Region.
• Provide advice on financial treatment of project costs to ensure that all items are correctly assessed for capitalisation, and that the treatment of abortive costs and feasibility works are appropriately treated as RDEL, while being allocated to the correct projects.
• Contributing to property reconciliations to ensure all expenditure has been fully recovered from tenants.
• Attendance at monthly stakeholder meetings to support the management of projects, supply chain and client relationships.
• Supporting any client discussions as required to ensure recovery of billed amounts, keeping accrued income minimal and controlled.
• Building a network internally with other finance teams to ensure smooth transition of data and knowledge between interlinked processes, and contributing as part of the wider finance team.
• Promote continuous improvement by developing and improving accounting processes and procedures relating to projects and other expenditure.
• 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.
• Deputise for the Finance Business Partner as required.
  
  

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

Person specification

• Build and maintain relationships with clients, budget holders and wider stakeholders.
• Use facts and evidence, while tailoring their communication style for the audience, equally comfortable with financial and non-financial stakeholders – able to “speak the language” of finance to business and vice versa.
• Strong aptitude for applying a financial control mindset to all aspects of their work.
• Capable of collaborating as part of a team to deliver efficiencies and eliminate duplication.
• Considerate of optimism bias and acting as a critical friend in the forecasting and business case planning process.
• Strong focus on delivering an excellent service to customers.
• Strong organisational skills to meet deadlines in a fast paced environment.
  
  

Essential Criteria

Experience & Technical Skills

• Good experience of management accounting, ideally in a public sector context.
• Strong attention to detail and ability to analyse and interpret significant amounts of financial data.
• Good experience of using Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems.
• Proficient using Microsoft Excel and/or Google Sheets.
• Ability to communicate complex financial information to non-finance stakeholders.
• Ability to work in a geographically dispersed team.
• Background in traditional month end accounting cycles.
• Strong attention to detail and ability to analyse and interpret significant amounts of financial data.
  
  

Desirable Criteria

• Qualified CCAB or equivalent.
• Background in Facilities Management and/or finance business partnering.
• Experience of reporting and financial systems such as PowerBI, Business Central, and CRM Salesforce.
• Have experience with property and project management systems such as MRI Horizon, Yardi Voyager, CAFM systems or similar systems.
• Experience of partnering with non-financial stakeholders.
• Ideally have experience in the property industry within medium to large organisations where customer service is a priority.
  
  

Qualifications And Accreditations

Essential criteria:

• Working towards or, willing to work towards a CCAB or equivalent professional qualification.
  
  

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Working Together
• Managing a Quality Service
• Changing and Improving
• Delivering at Pace
  
  

For more information and to apply, please visit our website via the apply button below.