Finance Officer
Reporting to: Head of Finance
Dept/Pillar: Finance
Hours: 37 (full-time)
Grade/Salary: From £40,219 (dependent on experience)
Contract Type: Permanent
Vetting Level: NPPV 3 & SC
Role overview (what can I expect why does it exist?)
The Finance Officer role forms part of the expanding BlueLight Commercial Finance team and provides key support to the Finance Business Partner and Head of Finance across a broad range of financial activities. The postholder will be responsible for managing financial transactions, supporting the production of financial reports, and ensuring compliance with relevant accounting standards and regulatory requirements.
In this role, you will provide financial support to enable the effective and efficient management of the service, working closely with both internal and external stakeholders to monitor income and expenditure against agreed targets. The role requires strong financial acumen, excellent numerical skills, and the ability to operate effectively within a fast‑paced, evolving environment.
BlueLight Commercial provides a commercial service to blue light organisations including all 43 police forces across England and Wales. Although this role is home‑based, it will be necessary to travel from time to time to other locations in order to attend team meetings and support national supplier events.
No two days will be the same, and the role offers scope for continuing professional development.
My team and the BlueLight team (what is being part of the team like?)
You will join a small, professional finance team, working closely with the Finance Business Partner and providing support across the organisation’s pillars, with a clear focus on adding value to the business.
We are committed to making the best use of technology to plan and deliver our work in a visible, collaborative, and efficient way. As a fully remote and agile team, we offer a dynamic and flexible working environment—combining the benefits of modern ways of working with the opportunity to be part of something innovative and genuinely exciting.
My responsibilities and accountabilities (what will I be doing?)
The key role responsibilities are:
* Take ownership of defined elements of the month‑end close process, including financial reporting, reconciliations, and journal postings
* Prepare and review accruals and prepayments, ensuring accurate monitoring and reconciliation
* Perform and maintain balance sheet reconciliations, investigating and resolving any discrepancies
* Maintain the integrity of the general ledger, ensuring all financial records are accurate and up to date
* Maintain and update revenue trackers, ensuring income is recorded accurately and in line with relevant revenue recognition standards
* Support the preparation and submission of VAT returns in collaboration with the Finance Business Partner
* Support the processing of financial transactions, including sales and purchase invoicing
* Assist with year‑end financial reporting and audit preparation, including provision of supporting documentation
* Support budget monitoring across key areas, working closely with budget holders to track performance against plan
* Partner with budget holders to support forecasting, financial planning, and effective budget management
* Collaborate across the organisation to understand new initiatives and projects, ensuring appropriate financial tracking, governance, and compliance
* Analyse financial data and investigate variances, identifying trends and resolving anomalies
* Ensure compliance with accounting standards, regulatory requirements, and internal financial policies and controls
* Contribute to continuous improvement of finance processes and support wider finance transformation initiatives
* Provide ad‑hoc financial analysis and respond to queries from internal teams and external stakeholders, including those of a complex nature
* Undertake any other duties commensurate with the level of the role, ensuring the effective and timely delivery of BlueLight Commercial’s financial and operational priorities
Qualifications & Accreditations
You are someone who has attained:
* Essential – Minimum of four GCSEs (or equivalent), including Maths and English, together with ongoing study towards the Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT) qualification, having achieved at least Level 3 (or an equivalent accounting qualification) or qualified by demonstrable experience.
* Desirable – Fully AAT qualified and/or working towards a CCAB‑recognised professional qualification (e.g. ACCA, CIMA, CIPFA)
* Experience & Knowledge
* Demonstrable experience in finance and accounting, with relevant experience in a similar role.
* Practical experience of month‑end processes and budget monitoring.
* Working knowledge of core accounting principles and financial controls.
* Strong technical understanding of revenue recognition and associated reporting requirements.
* Knowledge and/or experience of VAT processes and basic tax principles.
* Experience of working with Financial Information Systems (SAP, Oracle, Xero or similar).
* Proven ability to manage workloads effectively in a high‑pressure, deadline‑driven environment.
* Experience of supporting process improvements within a finance function (desirable).
Skills
* Professional IT skills across the Microsoft Office suite including.
* Strong understanding of financial accounting principles.
* Strong numerical and analytical skills.
* Strong MS Office skills, particularly Word, Excel etc.
* Excellent organisational skills, personal resilience, time management skills and ability to multi‑task, with exceptional attention to detail.
* Positive attitude to problem solving and ability to effectively investigate queries and anomalies as they arise.
* Confidence to manage proactively and delegate upwards when appropriate.
* Excellent communication / literacy and interpersonal skills to engage confidently and credibly with stakeholders at all levels
Personal Qualities
* Performance focussed taking accountability for delivering work to a high standard to time for self and others.
* Ability to adapt to changing demands and work pressures.
* Ability to work independently and collaboratively as part of a team.
* Professional in your approach, with strong integrity and the ability to maintain confidentiality.
* Ability to plan and organise a complex and varied workload.
* Enthusiastic with high‑level of self‑motivation.
* Committed to continuous professional development.
Our Values
Our values guide our behaviour. They inform how we act, the decisions we make and how we collaborate with each other and the organisations we work with. They were shaped by our team, purposefully designed to ‘inter‑connect’. They remind us of ‘how to be’ in all we do and strive to achieve as a diverse and agile company.
* Be the best
* Be responsible
* Be a team
* Be open
* Be the difference
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
We foster a work environment that is inclusive as well as diverse, where our people can be themselves. We value every idea and perspective towards helping us to evolve and innovate.
What We Offer - Total Rewards Package
* Starting salary £40,219 p.a. (DOE dependent on experience)
* Quality equipment for successful remote working, laptop, mobile phone, monitor, chair & desk and a Welcome ‘kit box’
* 12% employer pension contribution
* Support for your development for your Role and future career development (a framework to achieve this)
* Pension salary sacrifice scheme
* Life insurance 4 x salary
* 28 days annual leave (rising on service) plus paid bank holiday leave
* Birthday Leave (1 x extra day per year to be used in birthday month)
* Occupational sick pay
* Wellness – free vouchers for eye test and flu jab
* Employee Assistance Programme for health and wellbeing
* 1 x annual professional subscription
* Learning Management System – access to free training & e‑learning (more than 80,000 learning resources)
The legal bit
The successful applicant will be subject to pre‑employment checks including medical screening and vetting (carried out externally NPPV3*) due to the nature of our business this is important. As standard you will need to satisfy:
* Employment eligibility check (right to work in the UK)
* Residency qualification (meaning you must have a 5‑year ‘checkable history’ in the UK, ideally you have been and you are a resident in England or Wales for the last 5 years).
* Employment references (last 3 years or educational / personal reference where applicable)
NPPV3: Vetting process | Warwickshire Police
This level of vetting grants the applicant to have unsupervised, unrestricted access to police premises and systems and could include those working in areas where the police roles have been identified as designated posts. NPPV3 allows access to classified police material or information up to SECRET and occasional access to TOP SECRET.
Clearance at SC level, sits alongside NPPV3 allows applicants access to a higher level of secure information and systems.
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