Are you looking for a role with autonomy and the opportunity to work closely with government colleagues?
We are seeking a motivated finance professional to play a key role in supporting the effective financial management of Higher Education Student Support within the Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS). As an Executive Agency operating on behalf of the Scottish Government, SAAS delivers a high volume, high impact service within a complex policy and governance environment. As the Finance Business Partner, you will contribute to ensuring that public funds are managed responsibly, transparently, and in accordance with Scottish Government financial frameworks.
This role sits within the Business Partnering Team in the Finance Directorate and provides broad experience across budgeting, forecasting, financial analysis and financial accounting. You will support key planning and reporting cycles, produce high‑quality financial information, and provide clear, evidence‑based analysis to inform operational and strategic decisions. Working closely with colleagues across SAAS and the Scottish Government, the role requires strong analytical skills, effective communication, and sound professional judgement, and offers a high degree of autonomy, opportunities for professional development, and the chance to contribute to robust financial stewardship across a critical national service.
Responsibilities
- Provision of high quality monthly financial reports to required timescales, providing accurate, relevant and timely management information.
- Provide financial advice and assistance to stakeholders, and build and maintain effective working relationships with business areas including with the wider Scottish Government.
- Contribute to the completion and quality assurance of input to corporate financial exercises in accordance with corporate timetable. Ensuring working papers provide a full audit trail and are retained and easily accessible during the audit process.
- Providing assistance in updating the financial ledger for example performing monthly reconcilations and preparing and processing journal entries.
- Review budget monitoring returns, undertake the first check of forecasts, year to date actual, and budget data, and ensure that explanations make sense and support the figures, challenging areas where more explanation is required.
- Assisting in the maintenance of overall financial control, to ensure the integrity of financial data on the ledger and the accuracy of the supporting systems and records.
- Ensuring adequate financial controls and clear audit trails are in place around accounting and reporting processes.
- Working flexibly across the team and shifting direction quickly to meet changing priorities and demands.
- Management of staff across the finance function.
- Leading the annual accounts and audit processes.
Qualifications
You must be fully CCAB (or equivalent) qualified with up to date CPD and relevant finance experience. Please confirm in your CV/Personal Statement the qualification you hold. If you do not provide this information, your application will not be considered.
Success profile
Success profiles are specific to each job and they include the mix of skills, experience and behaviours candidates will be assessed on.
Technical / Professional Skills
- Budgeting, Forecasting and Costing – Practitioner
- Government finance – Working
- International Accounting Standards – Working
Experience
- Technical financial accounting skills and ability to communicate financial information clearly and succinctly to a wide range of audiences, including to non-finance colleagues.
- Strong analytical skills with the ability to use information from multiple sources to inform decision making and identify areas for improvement.
- Working collaboratively to support change and build effective relationships, trust and credibility with a range of stakeholders.
Equality Statement
We are committed to equality and inclusion and we aim to recruit a diverse workforce that reflects the population of our nation. Find out more about our commitment to diversity and how we offer and support recruitment adjustments for anyone who needs them.
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