Principal Accountant

The Role

Lancaster City Council is an award winning, ambitious and inclusive Council, serving a wide range of communities across city, coast and countryside, including the historic City of Lancaster, Morecambe, Carnforth and the surrounding area. Our Resources team has a large and diverse range of responsibilities including financial, ICT and revenues and benefits services.  The Resources team is well integrated and provides a really positive, welcoming environment with a notably professional and focussed work ethic in supporting the Council’s environmental, economic and community priorities for the district.

The Financial Services team exists to ensure the Council is able to effectively secure, deploy and manage its resources in pursuit of its ambitious goals, such as its sector-leading Carbon Zero programme.  We are currently seeking applications from enthusiastic and committed individuals who would be responsible for providing a wide range of financial and systems administration support.  You must be able to demonstrate a high degree of financial technical accounting ability, whilst also possessing excellent communication and strong financial management skills. 

As a senior manager your primary purpose will be to support the Chief Officer (Resources) and s151 Officer in leading and managing a team to help deliver Council priorities. You will be responsible for a range of financial and accountancy activities including the preparation of budgets in support of the corporate financial planning process. You will support the closure of accounts process, liaise with the auditors and ensure the statutory accounts are completed on time.

The position is challenging and will require strong financial analysis skills and input into reporting for various stakeholders, including senior managers, Heads of Service and Members. Post holders must hold full professional membership of CIPFA or equivalent (ACA, ACCA or CIMA).

This post is permanent. The hours of work for this position are 37 per week, working Monday to Friday. We are happy to consider part time and / or job share applicants for these roles. 

This post will require a hybrid approach to working, with attendance at onsite and online meetings, bookable workspaces and working from home. Meetings may be in Lancaster, Morecambe or elsewhere in the District and County. Your assumed place of work will be Lancaster City Centre (Lancaster Town Hall).

The Council currently operates an excellent Flexible Working Hours Scheme which applies to this post. Subject to the needs of the business, this may allow employees to work between the hours of 6:00am-10:30pm and take flexi days in addition to a generous annual leave allocation.

The Council has a great range of innovative programmes and opportunities, including our Zero Carbon initiatives, Eden & housing projects as well as a Housing Revenue Account with a significant portfolio of social housing. Positive attributes would, therefore, include skills in project finance and accounting, development finance and the financial management of linked organisations.

For an informal discussion about this role and the opportunities that it offers, please contact

Paul Thompson (Chief Officer (Resources) and s151 Officer) 01524 582603 or email pthompson@lancaster.gov.uk.

About You

You will identify with our organisational values of Pride, Ownership, Working Together and Ambition.

Our Benefits

Lancaster is a great place to work, as well as being part of something special you will also benefit from:

• Generous annual leave allowance
• Local Government Pension Scheme
• A range of employee benefits including discounted gym membership, cycle to work scheme, the opportunity to purchase extra time off, as well as discounts on days out, activities and retail.

Lancaster City Council has unanimously declared a climate emergency and will therefore work towards reducing carbon emissions to net-zero by 2030. As part of this role, you will be expected to participate and work towards reducing both carbon emissions and the impacts of climate change.

We are an Investor in People, Forces Friendly employer, and an Armed Forces Covenant committed organisation. We welcome applications from defence reserves and other members of our armed forces community. We are an inclusive employer and welcome applications from all parts of our community.

At Lancaster City Council we aim to have a diverse workforce that is representative of the district that we serve, and provide a working environment where each employee feels able to bring their whole self to work. We welcome applications from all sections of our community and provide several supportive and inclusive workplace networks and safe spaces for employees to feel connected. Our workplace wellbeing strategy drives our commitment to staff wellbeing initiatives and ensuring that our organisation is a great place to work for all.

We are a disability confident committed employer.

Please note that due to the volume of applications we receive we are unable to update all applicants individually. If you do not receive a response from us within 2 weeks of the closing date then your application will have unfortunately been unsuccessful in progressing to interview.