Job Description

As a Project Accountant you will be responsible for providing financial support and analysis to Finance Business Partners in supporting the organisation to achieve its financial targets and deliver value for money within the available budgets.

Base salary: c44380 pa to 52212 depending on skills and experience. In addition, we offer flexible benefits fund of 15% which is paid on top base salary and is fully pensionable, as well as a range of competitive benefits - check them out in the Benefits section on our website.

HS2 Ltd endeavours to ensure everyone working for us and with us feels included, thrives and achieves their full potential. In practice, this means we are positive and inclusive about making adjustments, providing flexible working, encouraging our staff networks to flourish and providing personal and professional development opportunities.


As a Project Accountant you will be responsible for providing financial support and analysis to Finance Business Partners in supporting the organisation to achieve its financial targets and deliver value for money within the available budgets.

About the role:

Duties and responsibilities as below but not limited to:


Month End


Support the Project Finance Business Partner in undertaking monthly and quarterly reviews with Budget holders, Cost Managers and Commercial Managers to challenging variances to agreed business plan or forecast and recommending appropriate corrective actions. Work with HS2 Commercial, Cost Managers and Contractor's Finance leads to improve accuracy of Actual Cost of Work Performed (ACWP), expenditure and cash forecasts. Drive the month end process for the business area ensuring a strong control environment is maintained and that accruals are appropriately challenged and evidenced. Monitor the alignment of project and financial data systems and provides corrective action where necessary. Provide monthly and ad-hoc reporting and analysis to support project stakeholders in keeping their financial expenditure within their agreed targets. Reviews and monitors project liabilities and maintains appropriate provisions in the accounts.
Business Planning and Forecasting


Support the Project Finance Business Partners during the annual business planning and quarterly forecasting process to establish recommended phased forecasts in line with planned programme delivery.
Change and Investment business cases


Support the delivery teams in the creation of Change and Investment papers by providing robust financial information and testing the proposals are clearly articulated prior to Project Finance Business Partner review.
General


Provide advice and guidance on the application of IFRS Standards and government finance procedures to budget holders and project team members. Provide guidance to the project team on the use of the ERP system. Provide ad-hoc analysis and support the Project Finance Business Partner and wider finance team including support to the yearend audit process. Actively promote and embed Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) in all your work and support and comply with all organisational initiatives, policies and procedures on EDI.

About You:

Skills:

Ability to work as part of a project team in a matrix structure Ability to use Excel spreadsheets (or equivalent package) to analyse large and complex data sets and provide useful management information.

Knowledge:

Qualified accountant, with a recognised body. Knowledge of SAP / Oracle accounting systems or other similar ERP systems

Type of experience:

Experience in a Project environment. Experience in providing financial information to inform project decisions, recognising consequence against cost, schedule and quality. Experience in business planning, forecasting experience within a project environment. Experience of preparing financial reports.
The post-holder is expected to behave at all times in a manner consistent with the HS2 values of Safety, Leadership, Integrity and Respect


It is expected that you will actively promote and embed Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) in all your work and support and comply with all organisational initiatives, policies and procedures on EDI.

As HS2 Ltd do not hold a sponsorship license from the Home Office, we are not able to provide sponsorship to any applicant. Applicants must already have the Right to Work in the UK at the time of application and our process involves a Right to Work validation prior to the interview stage. Note, there are certain types of time-bound visas that we cannot accept.

Any offers made to applicants will be subject to satisfactory completion of pre-employment checks which include Nationality & Immigration Status, employment references, DBS, Financial and Education checks.

We ask for a variety of detail in your online application, however we perform the first assessment of suitability for a role based solely on the information in your CV. In a further development of our efforts to create a more diverse workforce, your CV will be anonymised and personal information will be removed during the first stage of the application review. This removes bias from the process and makes it even more important that you attach an updated word version of your CV for each new application ensuring you include evidence directly related to the criteria in the job advert.


Watch this video on how we remove bias in the recruitment process: Removing bias in the recruitment process (youtube.com)


Any applications received after the closing date will not be considered.