Salary - £37,300 - £40,248 + up to £5,000 accountancy allowance

The Government Property Agency’s mission is to provide great places to work for civil servants. We are using our scale and commercial expertise to do this effectively, efficiently and sustainably, helping to support growth in all parts of the UK. We are growing rapidly through acquisition of Government properties from Departments. Turnover has risen from £0.4bn in 20/21 to £1.1bn in 21/22 and it will continue to grow as more properties are transferred and run by GPA. The postholder can be based at any of the GPA locations with Finance presence outside London. GPA has offices in Birmingham, Platform 21, Leeds, The Lateral; Manchester, Piccadilly Gate; Nottingham, Apex Court. Some business travel may be needed in due course when travel restrictions allow. 

With a strong focus on improving the GPA’s customer service offering, the Client Finance Manager will be responsible for providing financial management and reporting services to a portfolio of clients, delivering excellent financial reporting and property accounting to new and existing customers alike. The postholder will have full responsibility for all aspects of financial services delivery for existing and prospective clients including budgets, forecasts and client liaison.

The responsibilities of the Client Finance Manager will include

• Being accountable for financial control over property services accounting, ensuring high levels of client satisfaction by providing accurate forecasting, explanations and billing
• Maintaining a focus on process improvement, including planning and establishing new systems and processes for quarterly financial reporting to ensure clients understand their costs and bills, delivering an ongoing service that meets and exceeds expectations
• Being the key liaison between senior finance and property staff for client meetings, involving being acutely aware of the customers’ needs and acting upon them, and being proactive in problem solving and finding solutions
• Delivering budgets and forecasts for each client, property and tenancy, using complex data from the MRI Horizon general ledger and other systems, Hyperion and Excel tools to provide accurate and meaningful financial information
• Leading the service delivery to clients alongside management accountants and other colleagues, supporting the growth of the GPA, and matching resources to client demand
• Manage due diligence exercises on estate-related financial information provided by the client and interrogate to identify material financial risks to GPA and ensure correct account treatments are applied

Key Skills & Experience

• CCAB, or equivalent, qualified/part-qualified accountant with a recognised professional body
• Be proficient in Microsoft Excel skills and able to manipulate complex data sets
• Strong attention to detail and ability to analyse and interpret significant amounts of financial data
• Have experience in client finance, including reporting to clients, managing systems and processes, working in partnership with clients to deliver results (desirable)
• Have experience with property management systems such as MRI Horizon, Yardi Voyager, or similar systems, in addition to Excel and Hyperion (or similar) for financial reporting (desirable)
• Ideally have experience in the property industry within medium to large organisations where customer service is a priority (desirable)

To apply for this opportunity, you will be required to produce a supporting statement against the four GPA core values, answering specific role focussed questions. For more information, please apply using the link, or contact Michael Swinburn or Jack White at our retained search agent, Robertson Bell.