Operations Director - UK Endorsement Board

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) mission is to serve the public interest by setting high standards of corporate governance, reporting, and audit and holding to account those responsible for delivering them. We are the UK Competent Authority for audit.  We also set the UK Corporate Governance and Stewardship Codes as well as UK standards for accounting, auditing, and actuarial work, and monitor and take action to promote the quality of corporate reporting and operate independent enforcement arrangements for accountants and actuaries. Further information about our role can be found at www.frc.org.uk.

The Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and the FRC are working together to set up a UK Endorsement Board (UK EB) to take forward the work of influencing the development of international accounting standards. The UK EB will be an independent decision-making body reporting to the Secretary of State for BEIS on its technical agenda and to the FRC on its adherence to its due process and other governance oversight. The FRC will also provide operational support to the UK EB.

The UK EB will serve the UK public good by contributing to the research and development of high-quality international financial reporting standards; their endorsement and adoption for use in the UK; and participating in the international debate on developments in financial reporting.  It will do this by:

• Influencing the development of international financial reporting standards—the UK EB will contribute to debates on all the IASB’s projects, consult with UK stakeholders to obtain their views, highlight any concerns to the IASB at every stage of their project, including the development of its agenda and post-implementation reviews.
• Following the process for the endorsement and adoption of IFRS specified in legislation—The UK EB will decide on whether to adopt IFRS for application by UK entities.
• Providing thought-leadership—The UK EB will undertake research and contribute to the development of financial reporting internationally. It will also undertake to inform and educate the UK and international stakeholders on developments in financial reporting.
• The UK EB will adopt, follow, and represent the guiding principles of transparency, accountability, independence, and thought leadership in all its activities.

This role provides an exciting opportunity to be part of the senior leadership team is set up to support the work of the UK EB.  This Board is currently being established and is likely to be operational early in 2021. The Operations Director will be responsible for the operational relationship with the FRC, the UK EB internal operations, governance processes, and communications strategy.  

The Role:

The Operations Director will be responsible for the operational relationship with the FRC, the internal operations, governance processes, and communications strategy.   The Operations Director will report to the Chair of the UK EB and work closely with the Chair and Technical Director in setting-up the UK EB’s operations and governance processes.  

Key accountabilities are:

• Working with the Chair and the Technical Director to set the culture of the organisation, following the guiding principles of transparency, accountability, independence, and thought leadership, and ensuring these are effectively implemented.
• Acting as the lead contact for the UK EB’s relationship with the FRC and BEIS on operational matters. 
• Developing and maintaining the governance processes, including establishing and maintaining the independence of the UK EB from the FRC.  Responsible for governance reporting.
• Working with the Chair, the Technical Director, the oversight body, and the FRC Board, to ensure the UK EB’s adherence to due process requirements. 
• Taking the lead in developing the UK EB’s communications strategy, that takes due account of website and other publicity needs of the UK EB.
• Establishing and maintaining the profile and reputation of the UK EB by overseeing its communications via internet forums and other media platforms, networks, and opportunities, including actively promoting the UK’s views on financial reporting.
• To develop processes for establishing and maintaining key high-level relationships with external stakeholders, media, and other interested groups to help the UK EB deliver on the technical program.
• Responsible for agreeing and maintaining the UK EB’s Service Level Agreement with the FRC.
• Responsible for UK EB operations, risk management, HR issues were non-technical and Board administration.  Ensuring adherence to government guidance on procurement and other operational matters.
• Take the lead in developing the annual budget, after input from Chair and Technical Director, and agreeing on it with stakeholders, including the FRC and BEIS.

The Person:

The ideal candidates will have:

Essential:

• Educated to degree level in a relevant field of study, with preferably a professional or post-degree qualification, with at least ten years post qualification experience.
• Commercial awareness and political sensitivity on the impact of adopting accounting standards for the UK and international capital markets.
• Demonstrable experience in operations management, including oversight over communications functions.

Desirable:

• An understanding of the use of IFRS and financial reporting to enhance the transparency and accountability of entities listed on capital markets and their impact on the wider economy.
• An understanding of the due process of the international accounting standard-setting process and related organisations.

The role is based in our Central London Office. The team is working from home in the current environment. Once lockdown restrictions are lifted to allow the return to the office, there is an expectation of a minimum of 3 days per week in our central London office.

Rewards and benefits

• The FRC offers competitive remuneration packages, including 30 days annual leave plus the ability to buy extra leave
• The FRC has a strong work/ life balance ethos.

The FRC believes that equality of opportunity and diversity is important in the work that we do and we are strongly committed to being an inclusive employer. Our values of being fair and independent support this commitment. We're a signatory to the Government's Disability Confident scheme, which means that we guarantee an interview to any disabled candidates entering under the scheme, should they meet the minimum criteria for a role.

Equal opportunities monitoring is an important means of demonstrating and implementing our commitment to promoting equality of opportunity and diversity. Completing our diversity form will assist the FRC to identify any barriers that prevent access to employment and career development for certain groups of people, and to develop solutions, such as action plans, new policies, and practices. The form is completed on a voluntary basis and we strongly encourage all job applicants to complete it.

Please apply by emailing a copy of your CV and covering letter to the FRC Recruitment team at recruitment@frc.org.uk. In the covering letter, please set out, by reference to the person specification above, how you meet the required skillset:

• confirm that you have the right to work in the UK
• tell us where you heard about this job

Please note that we can only accept applicants who have the right to work in the UK.

The closing date for applications is 13 November 2020.

FRC has a commitment to building relationships directly with candidates and only engages with agencies who are on our preferred supplier list to support us in sourcing quality candidates. We do not accept speculative CV’s from agencies that are not on our preferred supplier list. Any speculative or unsolicited CVs which are submitted without FRC instruction will be deleted and will not be considered as an introduction.