Senior Management Accountant

Senior Management Accountant

Metropolitan Police Service

Band U

Location: London

Salary: The starting salary is £77,775, which includes allowances totalling £3,009.

The salary is broken down as £74,766 basic salary, which will increase annually until you reach the top of the scale £82,362. Plus, a location allowance of £2,009 and a non-pensionable allowance of £1,000

Contract: Permanent

The opportunity

The Metropolitan Police Service is one of the UK’s most significant public service organisations, serving millions of people across one of the most diverse and complex cities in the world. Its work has a direct impact on public safety, community confidence and the effective running of London.

Finance plays a critical role in supporting that mission. The Met needs high-quality financial information, clear reporting and meaningful insight to help leaders understand performance, manage risk and make well-informed decisions about how resources are used.

As Senior Management Accountant, you will lead the delivery of robust, transparent and timely management information across key business areas. You will oversee monthly management accounts, forecasts, dashboards and financial analysis, ensuring senior stakeholders have a clear view of the financial position, the key risks and opportunities, and the story behind the numbers.

This is an excellent opportunity for a qualified or part-qualified finance professional who enjoys turning data into insight, leading teams and improving the quality of financial decision-making in a large, high-profile public service environment.

About the Metropolitan Police

The Met is London’s police service, serving a city of exceptional scale, complexity and diversity. Its officers and staff work every day to keep people safe, respond to changing demand and build trust with the communities they serve.

Joining the Met means contributing to an organisation with a clear public service purpose. For finance professionals, this is an opportunity to apply technical expertise in a setting where strong financial management directly supports operational delivery, long-term planning and better outcomes for Londoners.

The Met is also modernising the way its corporate services operate. Within Finance, there is a strong emphasis on customer-focused support, trusted data, standardised processes and greater use of insight to help the organisation focus on its highest-priority and highest-risk challenges.

About the role

As Senior Management Accountant, you will be responsible for understanding and reporting the financial position for the business area or areas you support. You will provide clear analysis of financial performance, draw out common themes, identify risks and opportunities, and ensure reporting reflects both the detail of the business area and the wider financial position of the organisation.

Reporting into the Head of MAI, you will work closely with budget managers, Senior Finance Business Partners, Met Business Services, Financial Accounting, Commercial and Strategic Finance. This will include supporting month-end reporting, reviewing transactional data, preparing accruals, monitoring contracts, contributing to scenario planning and sharing insight to support future funding requirements and budget setting.

This is also a leadership role. You will manage a team of Management Accountants, setting standards, supporting development and ensuring the team delivers a consistent, high-quality service to the business.

Key responsibilities

You will:

• Lead the production of monthly management accounts, forecasts, dashboards and financial reporting for your business areas.

• Provide clear, intelligent analysis of complex financial information, identifying key risks, issues, opportunities and value-for-money considerations.

• Translate financial data into meaningful outputs and concise narratives for senior leaders and budget holders.

• Work with Finance Business Partners and budget managers to ensure financial information reflects an accurate view of current and future performance.

• Monitor and challenge financial and commercial performance, addressing underperformance where required.

• Work with Commercial colleagues to monitor contracts, procurement activity and purchase-to-pay compliance.

• Share historic and in-year financial analysis with Strategic Finance to support scenario planning, future funding requirements and budget setting.

• Respond to internal and external commissions, often within short timeframes, providing accurate and well-structured financial information.

• Lead, coach and develop Management Accountants, building a culture of high standards, continuous improvement and excellent service delivery.

About you

You will be a CCAB, CIMA or equivalent qualified accountant, or in exceptional circumstances working towards qualification, with strong experience in financial management, management accounting and reporting.

You will bring experience of working with large or complex budgets and providing financial insight that supports decision-making. You will be comfortable working with senior stakeholders, challenging data quality where needed and ensuring financial reporting is clear, accurate and useful.

You will also offer:

• At least three years’ financial experience in a relevant environment.

• Strong management accounting, forecasting and reporting capability.

• Experience of providing insightful management information to support business decisions.

• Effective data visualisation skills, with the ability to make reporting tell a clear story.

• Experience of leading, managing or influencing large and complex budgets.

• Line management experience, with the ability to coach and develop finance professionals.

• Strong stakeholder management skills, including the ability to build effective relationships with business areas and enabling services.

• The confidence to challenge financial data, assumptions and performance constructively.

• A continuous improvement mindset, with the ability to standardise processes and improve service delivery.

Why join the Metropolitan Police Service?

This role offers the chance to use your management accounting expertise in an organisation where financial insight supports decisions with real public impact. The information your team provides will help leaders understand performance, manage resources effectively and make better decisions for the communities London serves.

For a finance professional, the scale and complexity of the Met create a genuinely interesting environment. You will be working across large budgets, complex operational demands and multiple stakeholder groups, where the quality of reporting, forecasting and financial narrative really matters.

You will also be joining an organisation with a strong public service mission. The Met serves one of the most diverse populations in the world, and its work affects millions of people every day. By improving financial transparency, supporting value for money and strengthening management information, you will be helping the organisation make better use of public funds.

The Finance team is focused on delivering customer-centred, forward-looking services. Supported by Met Business Services, the function is moving towards more standardised processes, better data, stronger self-service and more efficient ways of working across Finance, HR and Commercial.

This is a particularly strong opportunity for someone who enjoys combining technical finance, team leadership and business-facing insight. You will have the chance to shape reporting standards, improve the quality of financial information and develop a team that plays a key role in supporting decision-making across the Met.

For a confidential discussion or to apply, please contact thomas@mlcpartners.co.uk