Together we are Trusted to Serve Scotland.
Financial Accountant – Group Reporting
About the role
You will play a key role in supporting Scottish Water’s group reporting requirements, ensuring robust, accurate and decision-useful reporting to our key stakeholders, in compliance with IFRS, FReM and internal governance standards. This includes contributing to the preparation and review of management information, regulatory reporting and statutory accounts, while supporting audit processes and providing technical accounting input as required.
In addition, the role will support the preparation and review of forecasts and budgets, providing clear analysis of key assumptions and variances to support decision-making. The postholder will work with stakeholders across the business to ensure consistent and robust planning processes, and will also contribute to ad hoc financial analysis, reporting, and other business requirements as required.
What You'll do
You will work collaboratively within the Group Reporting team, contributing to the consistent delivery of high-quality financial reporting and controls. You will support the review and improvement of processes, ensuring they remain effective, efficient, and aligned to current reporting requirements.
You will support the interpretation and application of new and emerging accounting standards (such as IFRS 18), helping to ensure consistent application across the organisation. This will include analysing transactions and preparing clear documentation and technical accounting papers to support decision-making and audit requirements.
Reporting to the Financial Reporting Team leader - Group Reporting, you will work closely with colleagues across Finance and the wider business to strengthen financial controls, improve processes, and enhance the quality and accuracy of financial reporting. You will be responsible for supporting defined areas such as provisions, accruals and supporting schedules, ensuring robust, audit-ready documentation is maintained.
You will build effective working relationships with internal and external stakeholders, including auditors and colleagues across the business, supporting the delivery of reporting requirements and continuous improvement initiatives within the Group Reporting function.
You will play an active role in driving continuous improvement across Group Reporting processes, leveraging Excel and automation tools to streamline activities, reduce manual effort and improve data quality. This includes identifying opportunities to simplify and standardise reporting processes, strengthen controls, and develop more efficient solutions.
What you’ll bring
The role is suited to candidates with strong technical accounting knowledge and experience in financial reporting within a complex organisation, gained through either a professional accounting qualification (ACA, ACCA or equivalent) or relevant practical experience.
You will demonstrate:
Strong knowledge of IFRS and/or FReM, with the ability to apply standards in a practical, business-focused way
Experience in preparing or supporting statutory accounts and audit processes
A high level of attention to detail, with a focus on accuracy, control and compliance
The ability to analyse complex issues and communicate clearly to both finance and non-finance stakeholders
Strong stakeholder management skills and the ability to work collaboratively across teams
A proactive approach to problem-solving and continuous improvement
Strong Excel skills, including working with large datasets and using automation techniques to improve reporting
Strong organisational and prioritisation skills, with the ability to manage competing deadlines
Why Join Us?
This is an exciting time to join Scottish Water as we continue to evolve our finance function and support the delivery of Great Value and Financial Sustainability for customers and stakeholders.
As part of the Group Reporting team, you'll play a key role in delivering Scottish Water's statutory, regulatory and corporate reporting requirements. Working in a complex, asset-intensive and highly regulated environment, you'll gain exposure to a wide range of technical accounting issues and contribute to reporting that informs the Executive Leadership Team, Board, Audit & Risk Committee, Scottish Government and economic regulator.
You'll work closely with colleagues across Finance and the wider business, supporting the preparation of financial statements, technical accounting assessments, financial controls and external audit activities. The role offers the opportunity to develop expertise in IFRS, FReM and regulatory reporting while gaining insight into the financial performance and strategic priorities of Scotland's largest public corporation.
You'll also contribute to continuous improvement initiatives, helping to enhance the quality, efficiency and robustness of financial reporting processes through better use of data, systems and automation. Most importantly, you'll be part of a collaborative and supportive team environment where professional development, technical excellence and continuous improvement are encouraged.
Looking for a New Challenge?
If you're looking to develop your technical accounting and financial reporting expertise whilst making a meaningful contribution to a nationally vital organisation, we'd love to hear from you.
We're looking for someone who is curious, analytical and committed to delivering high-quality financial information. You'll enjoy solving complex problems, improving processes, interpreting accounting standards and working with stakeholders to ensure financial reporting remains accurate, transparent and compliant.
Looking out for you
While the work we do is important, we know it’s not the only thing that matters. That’s why we make sure you have everything you need to find a good work-life balance.
You’ll get plenty of time to recharge with 38 days of holiday every year (including public holidays). And you can even buy five more if you need a little extra time. You can also take paid time off to volunteer in your community.
When it comes to major life events we have family-friendly policies around adoption, maternity, and parental leave. And for the everyday? We embrace flexible working.
For your future, there’s our pension (the ‘know-what-you’ll-get-when-you-retire’ kind), as well as life assurance.
As for some nice extras? You will participate in a company bonus scheme. Not to mention access to SW Splash – handy rewards that can save you money on holidays, bills, and shopping.
The not-so-small print
This role will be a Grade 7. If you’re new to Scottish Water, you’ll join us on a starting salary of £45,699. Performance-driven pay progression would then allow you to move through the range to a maximum of £56,669.
If you’re interested in this role – or know someone else who might be - we’ll be accepting applications until midnight on Sunday 2nd August 2026
We operate Balanced Hybrid working at Scottish Water and we encourage people to work half their time in a Scottish Water location.
Job offers at Scottish Water are conditional, and will be confirmed on completion of our pre-employment screening, e.g. referencing, criminal record checks, license checks, etc. Screening is conducted on our behalf by a third party, and must be completed before your start date. Don’t worry - we’ll only start these checks once you’ve accepted an offer.
A few final things worth knowing…
Research shows that some people avoid applying for jobs unless they can meet every single criteria. If you’re interested in this job, but don’t tick all the boxes, apply anyway! We hardly ever hire people who can do every part of a job from Day One. Everyone has a learning curve. So don’t rule yourself out!
Let us know if there are any changes we can make to our recruitment process to help you perform at your best. Lots of our people have disabilities or neurodiverse conditions (including some of our recruiters!). We're also aware that some people might be experiencing temporary challenges because of life events, like menopause. We’re very used to making adjustments, so please don’t be afraid to ask.
As part of our commitment to developing a flourishing Scotland, it’s important that all our employees are Scottish taxpayers. If you join us, your home address will need to be in Scotland. If you don’t already live here, you'll need to commit to moving here within your first three months.
Please note, Scottish Water takes the safety, health and wellbeing of our employees, colleagues and customers very seriously and as such you may be subject to Drug & Alcohol testing in line with our policy.
Finally (finally!), candidates who haven’t submitted an application in the last 12 months will have their records removed from our recruitment database. You won’t need to do anything. Your data will be automatically deleted.
We’re here to help. Ask us anything at [email protected]
