Management Accountant&Project accountant, Liverpool

About the job

Job summary

The Home Office works to build a safe, fair and prosperous UK. We achieve this through our work on counter-terrorism, policing, crime, drugs policy, immigration and passports.

The Chief Operating Officer Group works closely with the Home Office's policy and operational commands to enable us together to deliver the department's priorities. The group is comprised of different teams and professional functions, including Commercial, Finance, People, Portfolio and Project Delivery, Security, Estates and Information and Digital, Data and Technology.

The Finance Directorate ensures that financial decision making across the department is robust, evidence based and aligned to public value. We work closely with policy, operational commands and corporate partners to support strategic planning, strengthen financial governance, and enable effective delivery of departmental priorities.

The Management Accounts Unit (MAU) sits at the centre of this mission. MAU enables confident, well evidenced decision making by producing accurate, timely and transparent management information that explains the financial position, highlights risks and opportunities, and supports leaders in making informed, accountable decisions. As a core part of the Home Office's financial governance system, MAU provides monthly management accounts, dashboards, forecasts, deep dives, scenario analysis, and financial insight that directly shape how the department allocates resources, budgets, and responds to operational pressures. Working in MAU means contributing to a high performing, fast paced and purpose driven environment where your analysis supports essential public services and national priorities.

Project Accountants provide the same requirements as MAU but will be focused on an individual programme. Alongside the MAU activity, project accountants will also ensure development of whole life cost models for programmes and ensure multiyear financial positions are understood by the programme senior management team.

Job description

Key Responsibilities

Reporting Leadership&Insight

• Lead monthly management accounts, dashboards, and Board/Budget Holder reporting, ensuring accuracy, clarity, and timely delivery.
• Produce high quality narrative that explains variances, trends, risks, and forward look insights for non finance audiences.
• Develop and maintain models/trackers with reconciliations, audit trails, and standardised processes.

Insight, Deep Dives&Commissions

• Lead variance analysis, trend reviews and deep dives, ensuring risks and opportunities are understood and mitigated.
• Maintain risks and opportunities registers, escalating key issues to senior leaders.
• Produce submissions and respond to National Audit Office (NAO), Cabinet Office, Parliamentary Questions (PQs) /Freedom of Information (FOI), or audit requests with timely, defensible outputs.

Controls, Assurance&Data Integrity

• Embed strong financial controls across the reporting cycle (source to Metis checks, reconciliations, journal governance, Purchase Order (PO) hygiene).
• Provide expert advice on accounting treatment including accruals, VAT, prepayments, and balance sheet management.
• Drive corrective actions where data integrity or process issues exist.

Forecasting, Budgeting&Planning

• Lead reviews with senior budget holders, challenging assumptions and securing forecast approvals.
• Oversee forecast and budget loading, ensuring reconciliations to control totals and credible profiling.
• Manage BAT (budget allocation transfer) forms and In-Year budget adjustments.

Leadership&Ways of Working

• Line manage staff: set standards, allocate work, coach and develop capability, and support performance management.
• Work collaboratively with Finance Business Partners and operational teams to ensure a single version of the financial truth.
• Promote continuous improvement, process standardisation and reduced manual handling.

Working pattern

This role is available on a full-time basis with the option of, job-share and compressed hours working.This role is also suitable for part-time working hours, with a minimum requirement to work [4 days / 32 hours] per week due to business requirements.

Travel

Occasional travel may be required to attend meetings.

Person specification

Essential Criteria

You must demonstrate:

• Proven leadership,including managing and developing staff, coordinating delivery across month end peaks, and fostering effective working relationships within the team and across wider functions.
• Strong analytical and investigative skills, with the ability to interpret complex financial information, explain variance drivers, assess emerging risks, and produce clear, insight rich narrative for senior audiences.
• High proficiency in financial systems and Excel, with experience designing and maintaining trackers, models and assurance tools that meet audit and governance standards.
• Demonstrated experience maintaining robust financial controls, including reconciliations, system integrity checks, purchase order (PO) governance and ensuring appropriate accounting treatment.
• Experience leading forecasting and budget management, reporting, including challenging assumptions, quality assuring submissions, and securing senior leader approval
• Excellent stakeholder management skills, Strong stakeholder management skills, influencing and constructively challenging senior leaders in a multi-stakeholder environment to balance priorities and; drive robust financial discipline and high‑quality decision‑making.
• A continuous improvement mindset, with the ability to identify issues, streamline processes, improve reporting, and embed more standardised, user focused ways of working.

Desirable Criteria

• CCAB, CIMA or AAT qualified, part qualified, or currently studying.
• Significant financial experience gained over an extended period of time.

Behaviours

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

• Communicating and Influencing
• Leadership
• Working Together
• Changing and Improving

We only ask for evidence of these behaviours on your application form:

• Communicating and Influencing

Benefits

In addition to your salary, a career with the Home Office offers a range of benefits, including:

• New entrants to the Civil Service will be appointed at the pay scale minimum for that grade but an additional£4,000 allowance is applicable to SEO staff with a full CCAB qualification.
• A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%.
• In-year reward scheme for one-off or sustained exceptional personal or team achievements.
• 25 days annual leave on appointment, rising with service to 30 days.
• Eight days of public holidays, plus one additional privilege day.
• Where business needs allow, some roles may be suitable for a combination of office and home-based working. This is a non-contractual arrangement where all employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in an office.
• See more of our benefits on our careers website.

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Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Ability and Experience.

This gives us the best possible chance of finding the right person for the job, drives up performance and improves diversity and inclusivity.

We will endeavour to conduct the selection process in line with the dates indicated below, but cannot guarantee that these will not, where necessary, be revised.

As part of the application process, you will first be asked to confirm your eligibility by providing some basic personal information.

After submission of this first stage, you will be invited to complete the followingCivil ServiceNumerical andverbal reasoningtests.

1. Online Test - by11th June 2026.

If you successfully pass theNumerical and verbal reasoningtests, you will be invited to complete the full application form. Please complete the online test(s) as soon as possible (within 24-48 hours is recommended). If you fail to complete the online tests or full application before the deadline, your …