Overview and context

A key role supporting the organisation in delivering IPSA’s strategic plan by delivering high-quality finance business partnering services, and driving accurate, consistent and timely advice to IPSA’s customer-facing teams. The role provides comprehensive support, ensuring that issues with an MP’s funding are resolved quickly while maintaining strong financial management, planning and control.

The Finance Business Partner role supports improving customer service and delivering financial value and sits within the Finance function but has visibility across the organisation, building successful and productive relationships.

This role is responsible for building effective relationships and working collaboratively to support both the Management Accountant and Financial Control teams in pursuit of performance excellence. The role reports to the Senior Finance Business Partner.

Key responsibilities

• Collaborating with the wider Finance team and other functions to resolve finance queries, ensuring MP-facing teams are provided with appropriate and timely information and accounting advice on MP funding in accordance with international financial reporting standards and central government accounting rules.

• Acting as Finance Business Partner through dedicated matrix team working with MP Services and Payroll – responsible for a region, answering queries, turning data into insights, proactively identifying trends and managing risks, dealing with ad hoc requests, and attending internal matrix meetings, as required.

• Using available finance tools to conduct regular in-depth analysis and review MP spend versus budget, ensuring correct budgeting treatment, forecasting, and identification of overspends.

• Enhancing IPSA’s financial acumen and knowledge of finance policies, budgets, forecasts, and actual results through financial training and coaching.

• Implementing and continually improving the monitoring and reporting processes for MPs’ budgets and financial expenditure, ensuring accuracy of financial transactions (including approval of devolved journals), policy adherence, contributing to systems improvements, improvement of the year-end processes and adding value to IPSA.

• Contributing to strategic decisions which impact our customers in collaboration with the Senior Finance Business Partner.

• Undertaking autonomous projects and other ad-hoc pieces of work as well as contributing to wider IPSA projects, as required.

• Reflecting IPSA’s values of staying connected, seeing the bigger picture, being open, doing the right thing and making a difference through all that you do.

IPSA is a learning organisation. We constantly review our work against our strategic objectives, actively seek views from our stakeholders and assess the environment in which we operate so that we can continuously improve. Therefore, the list of key responsibilities may adapt and change over time within the spirit and nature of organisational change and the development of the role.

What we’re looking for

You’ll be a qualified (or part-qualified) CCAB accountant with strong financial management experience. Understanding how data-led insights drive wider organisational success will come naturally to you. Your ability to interpret complex financial information will be a key asset in this role.

You’ll work closely with your matrix region to understand their priorities, acting as a trusted partner to help them manage budgets and deliver clear, timely financial reports that tell the full story. You’ll explain financial information in a way that’s easy to understand for those with less finance knowledge and confidently offer insight, challenge, and support where it matters most. You’ll use your knowledge and experience to help build financial capability in your region and you’ll always look for smarter ways to work. You’ll be adept at offering well-informed insight and support to facilitate informed decision-making.

Your adaptable approach means you thrive in a fast-paced environment, ready to meet shifting priorities with confidence. You’ll be someone who works well with others and fostering strong, constructive partnerships will come naturally to you. Most importantly, you’ll reflect IPSA’s values in how you work each day.

The experience and technical level required for the role, along with personal qualities, skills, attributes, and qualifications (where relevant) are listed below.

Essential

• Financial management expertise: demonstrable experience in financial management, including strategic planning, cost management, forecasting and financial reporting in a complex organisational environment.

• Public sector and regulatory understanding: sound knowledge of the UK public sector financial framework (including FReM), with the ability to operate confidently within a regulatory or HM Treasury-funded setting.

• Insight and analytical capability: strong financial acumen and exceptionally strong attention to detail and committed to getting it right first time. Thoroughness in completing tasks through concern of all areas involved, with good monitoring and checking processes of work, including that of others.

• Stakeholder management and influence: demonstrable experience in a business partnership setting with a proven ability to build and maintain strong, credible relationships with internal stakeholders. Able to provide clear, evidence-based financial advice that influences strategic and operational decision making. Strong coaching and feedback skills to help develop colleague’s financial acumen and awareness.

• Prioritisation and workload management: skilled in managing competing priorities and multiple workstreams across teams and matrices. Able to work independently and collaboratively, demonstrating initiative and self-awareness. Takes initiative to respond to the needs and priorities of other teams.

• Communication and presentation skills: excellent verbal and written communication skills. Able to interpret and clearly present complex financial concepts and data into meaningful insights for others.

• Adaptability, flexibility and resilience: flexible and proactive in responding to organisational needs, changing priorities, and emerging challenges. Resilient under pressure, with a continuous improvement mindset and a constructive approach to feedback and setbacks.

• Technology: strong IT and data analysis skills, with experience using financial systems to interrogate and interpret complex datasets. Strong functional and technical finance skills.

• Qualified CCAB accountant (or part qualified and studying towards qualification) with a commitment to maintaining own professional development.

Desirable

• Proven experience in leading or contributing to finance-related continuous improvement and change projects.

Salary progression

We operate a training and competency framework which consists of three stages - learning, developing, qualified. At each stage, there is a set of criteria comprising the relevant knowledge, experience and behaviours that need to be achieved before progressing to the next stage of the framework and each of the stages are linked to pay progression. While the pace at which you may progress is specific to you, it is likely to take between 6 –12 months to move through the learning and developing stages before being signed off as qualified. This framework provides colleagues a clear set of expectations to develop competence and confidence.

‘Learning’ is the introduction to the team, processes and broader knowledge underpinning the role. ‘Developing’ is about consolidating knowledge and putting it into practice. You can then progress to the final stage as ‘Qualified’, at this stage, you will have demonstrated the necessary skills, knowledge and experience to work independently and consistently deliver high quality work.

Our commitment and values

We’re committed to creating an inclusive, vibrant community and to making IPSA a brilliant place to be.

At the heart of our people philosophy is our promise to engage, enable, and empower every team member to deliver excellence, learn, and develop every day.

Ensuring equality of opportunity is central to this.

With diversity of backgrounds, experiences, and thinking IPSA will continue to operate as a high-performing organisation with a truly diverse and inclusive culture.

That’s why we encourage applications from all backgrounds and communities, such as returning parents or carers who are returning from a career break, people who are LGBTQIA+, from Black, Asian, and other ethnic backgrounds, with a disability, impairment, learning differences or long-term condition, with caring responsibilities, from different geographic regions and people from all socio-economic backgrounds, and any other under-represented groups in our workforce.

As well as our Inclusion Panel we have several workplace networks that promote and celebrate diversity, equity, inclusion, and sustainability.

Our values guide us and we demonstrate them in all our work. These are Staying Connected, Seeing the Bigger Picture, Being Open, and Doing the Right Thing. and Making a Difference. As a values-based organisation, you can expect them throughout the recruitment process and beyond.

Interview timeline

If you're selected for interview this will be virtual and will take place on Microsoft Teams, so you’ll need access to a secure WIFI network and a private space. 

Interview

Our interviews are competency and values-based. We’ll ask you a series of questions designed to help assess your suitability for the role and for IPSA.

The closing date for this role will be 30 November 2025, so we encourage you to submit your application without delay. Shortlisting will take place in w/c 1 December 2025. Interviews will take place 8 and 9 December - please make a note of these dates in your diary as we will be operating a tight interview schedule and we will be unable to reschedule interviews.

Job description

Please find a downloadable version of the Job Description here

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