Forensic Accountant

Salary: The starting salary is £71,503 which includes allowances totalling £2,841.

The salary is broken down as £68,662 basic salary, which will increase annually until you reach the top of the scale £75,638 Plus, a location allowance of £1,841 and a non-pensionable allowance of £1,000.

Location: Charing Cross Police Station

This is an exciting time to be working as a Forensic Accountant for the Metropolitan Police Service. In addition to large-scale transformation, there's the unique and ever-evolving challenge of policing London. This means that as a Forensic Accountant, there are more opportunities for you to get involved with making London the safest global city in a time of unprecedented change within the UK's largest Police Service.

This is a rare opportunity to apply your accounting and analytical expertise to criminal investigations.

The Economic Crime Command investigates serious and complex financial crime, fraud and money laundering. Financial Investigators also seize criminal cash and work to confiscate the assets of convicted criminals to compensate their victims or pay the money back to the public purse.

The role of a Metropolitan Police Forensic Accountant is to be an expert witness and to support financial investigations. While primary responsibility is to the Economic Crime Command, when required you will also support investigations from across the Metropolitan Police Service where review of financial evidence is key to the case.

This is an independent, hands on role and there are no junior or supporting staff. The candidate needs to be willing and able to perform all parts of the role from data entry to detailed analysis of financial transactions, writing witness statements and producing exhibits for court. Your evidence may be used by lawyers to reach charging decisions or by juries to reach their verdicts. You will be called upon to give evidence in court.

This is an office based position with a requirement to travel to work with Financial Investigators. The role also involves attending Case Conferences with solicitors and barristers, providing exhibits and questions for police interviews and assisting at search warrants and the serving of court orders.

Key Activities and Responsibilities

Your work will mainly involve analysis of bank, accounting and other financial records, comparing them to other evidence and presenting the results of your work in witness statement and exhibits. The aims of the analysis will vary from case to case but will in all cases be focused on addressing questions and requests agreed and approved at the outset of the assignment.

Court is the focus of all MPS Forensic Accountants’ work and giving evidence is an integral part of the role. You will act as an expert witness and give evidence in both criminal and civil hearings. Your duty is to assist the court. This includes answering questions and giving your professional opinion. You may also be directed to do further work at short notice where new evidence comes to light.

In addition to your core role, you will be required to support financial investigators by delivering training and presentations when required.

Vetting

This post requires access to the most sensitive intelligence material on a daily basis. Applicants must hold or be prepared to undergo National Security Vetting (NSV) Security Check (enhanced) (SC(e)) level before taking up the post; with a willingness to undergo Developed Vetting (DV) once in post, if required.

Additionally, this material is of particular sensitivity to the UK and its distribution must be restricted to UK nationals. In approved circumstances dual nationals (of which one element is British) may also be granted access. However, in the event that potential conflicts of interest cannot be managed the post holder will not be able to see the intelligence material and will not be able to perform their duties. For the purpose of safeguarding national security and in line with Cabinet Office Policy, supported by Section 82(2) to (4) of the Police Reform Act (2002), applicants who do not hold or acquire Security Check (enhanced) (SC(e)) OR Developed Vetting (DV) clearance and meet the nationality requirements cannot be offered the post.

Application Process

The application process will comprise two stages, an application, CV, Personal Statement and an interview. Your CV must not exceed two pages and must be accompanied by a Personal Statement of no more than one A4 page detailing your motivation for applying for the position.

The Metropolitan Police Service is committed to delivering services to the people of London by building more trust, higher standards and less crime.

Those successful at the sift stage will be invited to attend an interview. The interview be in two parts. The first part will be a brief case study and presentation, followed by a traditional interview.
 Does this sound like you? If yes, start your application now.

Completed applications must be submitted by 23:55 on 22nd April 2024.

www.metpolicecareers.co.uk

Essential Criteria

• Professional accountancy qualification such as Chartered (ACA) or Chartered Certified (ACCA) and membership of a professional UK accountancy body such as ICAEW or ACCA.
• Minimum of five years post qualification experience in practice in an accountancy firm
• Experience of preparing and auditing statutory accounts for owner-managed businesses
• Recent experience of working in general practice as an accountant or within forensic accounting
• Sound knowledge of UK GAAP accounting standards, Companies Act legislation, UK taxation and corporate financial reporting methods. 
• Must be willing to undertake vetting to MV/SC level. Candidates need to be aware there are currently significant delays to the vetting process which may delay an effective starting date.

Desired Experience

• Previous forensic accounting or court experience is beneficial but not essential
• Experience of accounting and financial records from a broad range of owner-managed businesses
• Experience of explaining accounting figures, rules or concepts to clients or other individuals who are not accountants
• Experience of preparing reports and making presentations
• Experience of tax investigations, civil or contractual disputes
• Experience in dealing with people at all levels of an organisation
• Experience of stakeholder engagement, dealing with third parties or other agencies external to the candidate’s organisation

Desired Skills

• Good analytical and problem-solving skills, able to interpret large datasets and summarise complex information into clear and concise exhibits and witness statements
• The ability to manage multiple work streams and prioritise competing demands to ensure deadlines are met on a timely basis
• The ability to adapt and respond to rapidly changing operational priorities and to work under pressure while producing high quality work
• The ability to build and maintain good working relationships with both colleagues and external contacts to progress your work and support service delivery
• Confident IT skills, competent with Excel, Word, Adobe Acrobat. Proficient with a variety of accounting software packages.
• Clear and effective written and verbal communication skills
• Able to work independently with a focus upon continuous improvement and an ability to learn new skills as required
• Discretion, an ability to handle sensitive information and maintain confidentiality
• An awareness of recent and developing finance and technologies such as digital assets.

Reports To : Detective Chief Inspector

Disability Confident Statement 

The Met is committed to being an inclusive employer with a diverse and representative workforce at all levels. We encourage applications from people from the widest possible range of backgrounds, cultures and experiences. We particularly welcome applications from ethnic minority groups and females.
As a Disability Confident employer, the Met has committed to making disability equality part of our everyday practice. We ensure that people with disabilities and those with long term health conditions have the opportunities to fulfil their potential and realise their aspirations. If you consider yourself to have access, workplace or reasonable adjustment requirements that need to be accommodated, we ask that you include this information within your application form. All matters will be treated in strict confidence and will not affect any recruitment decisions.

Read our full disability confidence statement.