Interim Senior Associate (Financial Accounts)

Context

Ofwat is the economic regulator of the water and wastewater sectors in England and Wales. Our role is to help it build trust and confidence with customers, the environment and wider society. Our strategic priorities include:

• Delivering the reforms provided for in the Water Act 2014 and help to ensure that they deliver real benefits for water customers and society. This includes putting in place the arrangements for the opening of the non-household retail market to competition in April 2017. This also includes supporting the development of water trading and abstraction reform. This will require changes to the way we set prices in our 2019 review.

• Maintaining the confidence of investors in the water and wastewater sector and our regulation of it, though this period of change.

• Developing the means by which we monitor the sector‘s performance against our vision of trust and confidence, and receive assurance from the sector.

Purpose

This role will join an established finance team to cover maternity leave and will be responsible for the management of the transactional processing team, delivery of statutory accounts, HM Treasury returns, and integrity of the internal financial control environment.

We expect this role to work closely with our finance business partners and programme management office to strengthen financial management across the Ofwat portfolio.

Key responsibilities

The role will be responsible for:

• Management of the transaction processing team, including purchase and sales ledger and non-current asset register.

• Management of the completion of various taxation returns.

• Ensuring the operation of the internal financial control environment across all processes.

• Calculation and invoicing of annual licence fees from industry and relevant credit control procedures.

• Production of annual statutory financial statements and liaison with external auditors.

• Submission of HM Treasury returns through OSCAR as part of the annual Parlimentary approval of Ofwat’s budget and also regular monthly outturn returns.

• Providing trusted advice, training and support related to financial management to colleagues in programmes, especially the relevant Programme Director and Senior Responsible Officer. This includes providing a suitable level of challenge to, and influencing of senior staff.

• Supporting the routine monthly management accounts processing within the Finance Hub, including the creation and posting of journals and reconciliation of accounts.