Vacancies

ICAS has been educating and training Chartered Accountants (CA) for over 160 years and there are currently over 3,000 CA students across the UK studying towards the CA qualification.  The CA qualification is recognised under the UK Companies Act 2006 and ICAS is a Recognised Qualifying Body.  In 2014, ICAS was approved as a Credit Rating Body by the Scottish Credit & Qualification Framework (SCQF) Partnership and the CA qualification is recognised at SCQF Level 11 (Masters Level).

The maintenance of integrity, standing and professional standards in all aspects of the CA qualification is vital to ICAS.   The role of the TPS Exam Panel, in setting the examinations in the current four TPS subjects and ratifying the marks, plays an intrinsic part in maintaining those values and standards. Through the consistency and rigour of the examination process, the TPS Exam Panel helps ensure that the reputation of the CA Qualification is upheld both within the UK and globally.

From 2021, there will be five subjects at the TPS level and these are Assurance & Data, Financial Reporting, Business Tax, Strategic Finance & Modelling and Risk & Technology. The TPS examinations and assessments test the application of technical knowledge to real-world, professional situations. The other 4 TPS subjects have mock examinations during the course and one final examination.

Risk & Technology (R&T) is assessed differently to the other 4 TPS subjects. R&T has no mock examinations and instead uses knowledge checks throughout the course. R&T is assessed through three continuous assessments during the Risk & Technology course comprising of:

• Assessment 1 – Objective Test Questions (10% of final grade)
• Assessment 2 – Written Report (30% of final grade)
• Assessment 3 – Written Report + data dashboard (60% of final grade)

Assessment 1 will be marked automatically with assessment 2 and 3 marked at a joint marking school after each sitting. Further details can be found at https://www.icas.com/students/risk-and-technology

ICAS is looking to appoint a Risk & Technology Moderator.

Terms of Reference

The terms of reference for a TPS Moderator are as follows:

• Preparation for, and attendance and participation in TPS Exam Panel meetings for mark ratification (of all 3 assessments combined) including promoting evidence based, data driven, open and rigorous discussion over complex matters, whilst applying ICAS policies and procedures;
• Attendance and participation in TPS Marking School to ensure that the marking processes and marks awarded are in accordance with ICAS requirements and have been applied fairly;
• Ensuring that internal processes have been followed throughout and are both fair and transparent;
• Representing the best interests of the students by exercising judgement and challenge throughout your duties as R&T moderator; and
• Ensuring to act independently and impartially in your duties as R&T moderator

Skills and Experience

Ideally, applicants will be qualified accountants with at least five years’ post-qualifying experience and will have an excellent knowledge of the areas covered in Risk & Technology. The successful applicant is likely to have recent internal audit, risk, data and technological experience and have an established interest in education. The successful applicant will have strong interpersonal skills, a strong moral compass and the ability to stay objective whilst performing their role of R&T moderator.

Time Commitment and Remuneration

The time commitment for each appointment will average approximately 18 business days per year and the appointment will run for an initial period of three years.

The TPS Moderator will receive a fee of £7,650 pa plus travel expenses (if necessary) in accordance with the ICAS expenses policy. The R&T Moderator’s fee will be reviewed at the end of the first year of holding the position.

Interested applicants should submit a CV and covering letter detailing their relevant experience and outlining why you believe your skills and experience make you the ideal candidate for the role to: Iona Riddick (iriddick@icas.com).

ICAS places equality, diversity and inclusion at the heart of all that we do. With our partner organisations, we are committed to building a diverse membership and workforce that is beneficial for all, and that enables our communities to learn, grow and advance together.

IMAGINE what you could achieve if we put our minds to it

6-month FTC

Location: Edinburgh (home working at moment)

Salary: competitive

Background:

As ICAS continues its journey of continuous improvement, we wish to improve our already excellent online assessment operations and review the online assessment process for our students. This role supports our ambition to drive continual improvement in our operations to support engagement.

Who do we need?

This is a project delivery role with the Continual Improvement Programme. Therefore, we need someone with a proven track record of delivering projects from start to finish.  Ideally, as we are making improvements to existing communication, processes and delivering new software, we are looking for someone who has delivered change and managed software implementation. A background in assessments or education is a plus.

Your knowledge and expertise will enable to you to work across all ICAS business centres, gathering information, defining requirements and turning these into project priorities, and deliverables - laying out in layman’s terms the critical path to success.

Your communication style is open, honest, clear, and concise. You will be adept at taking complex or business area jargon-based processes and translating these into plain English to ensure clarity for all. You will be able to plan communications effectively.

Your experience will enable you to build trust and credibility quickly, allowing you to work closely across all key stakeholders, developing relationships and understanding the challenges and questions each face from embedding a new process perspective.

You will work as part of a small, specialist, self-organising team that will drive successful project deliveries.  You will be passionate about communicating well and delivering continual improvement.

You will already have ideas about how we could do things differently and you’ll be keen to try new things and support our aspiration to continually improve what and how we engage with stakeholders.

Your approach to managing your team will engender a culture of openness, of ideas and creativity to see and realise the ‘art of the possible’.

The role:

This role is about leading this project to encourage and facilitate business change, delivering both a new system and updating ways of working.  You will drive incremental change and encourage digital adoption of a new system. Change will not always be welcome, and you will need to gain trust and foster buy-in and support for your project.

Within this role you will have to weigh up different options and secure resources to support a timely delivery.

You will, with the support of the Programme manager, prioritise the backlog (i.e. decide the order in which to tackle work) which in turn will help you determine the make up the squad (i.e. what skillsets you need and therefore who to bring into the squad).

There is no direct line management or budget responsibility.

Principal Accountabilities:

• Own and lead the end-to-end project delivery from requirements gathering to implementation
• Implement an integrated marking solution application
• Deliver a student communication strategy to improve the student experience
• Drive collaboration across teams to implement and embed new processes
• Ensure project processes are regularly documented and all project reporting is kept up to date
• Stakeholder management – you will be able to manage a range of stakeholders across the business and externally ensuring they contribute to all stages of the project.
• Develop a comprehensive understanding and experience of the ICAS operational landscape

Key Experience:

• Digitally ‘savvy’ with demonstrable experience of using technology to enhance the student online experience
• A proven track record of leading and delivering projects and comfortable using data to present arguments and develop priorities
• Knowledge or experience of creating and delivering communication plans.
• Ability to liaise with business stakeholders in a consultative position, gathering requirements and sharing knowledge
• Experience of working with an Agile approach to project delivery will be an advantage
• A proven track record in taking a solution/problem solving approach to creating innovative and efficient solutions

ICAS places equality, diversity, and inclusion at the heart of all that we do. With our partner organisations, we are committed to building a diverse membership and workforce that is beneficial for all, and that enables our communities to learn, grow and advance together.

IMAGINE. BELIEVE. ACHIEVE

Please send your CV and covering letter to careers@icas.com.

We very much look forward to hearing from you.

Experienced Lecturers

Permanent full time/part-time/contractual basis considered

Location – Edinburgh (flexbile)

SALARY depending on experience.

Imagine bringing your lecturing expertise to ICAS. Believe in the difference you can make to students lives. Supports students to Achieve their goals and become the best they can be.

We have a great opportunity for experienced lecturers, with an ICAS CA qualification or relevant equivalent (Level 11 Masters), to join us, as we continue our programme of transformational change within Learning.

We are looking for experienced lecturers, ideally with practice/industry experience to bring real life examples into the blended classroom environment. Although full time is desirable, we recognise this role may suit part time or those looking to join ICAS on a contractual basis.

ICAS have recently launched a syllabus with revised subject disciplines to compliment the traditional areas of Financial Reporting, Audit and Taxation.  These disciplines include Business Acumen, Risk and Technology and Strategic Finance and Modelling. The ICAS CA qualification course syllabus and structure can be found here.

Each discipline requires subject expertise and there is flexibility to teach more than one discipline, depending on teaching requirements and experience.

The right person for us is someone with fantastic interpersonal and communication skills – both verbal and written – who is adept at explaining complex material in a way that can be understood and who can teach the syllabus in a way that really resonates with their students.

Student welfare important to us at ICAS, and we are looking for lecturers who demonstrate an understanding of differing student needs and how they can relate to those differing needs and support where appropriate. This is all part of the passion for teaching.

Our desire is to find lecturers whose values, behaviours and approach resonate with those of ICAS and will drive and foster our culture of equality, diversity, and inclusivity.

The principal accountabilities of the role are detailed below:

• Deliver approximately 50-70 days (this could vary) of tuition, depending on departmental requirements, to CA students in specific areas of the CA qualification syllabus – online for now, and post COVID-19 potentially in several locations and blended.
• Contributing to the preparation and review of technical content of courses taught and becoming a subject expert in these areas (for both students and peers), working under the guidance of the Subject Controller.
• Contributing to the preparation and review and delivery of online tuition to CA students, considering the nature of the material and the most appropriate ways to deliver this. This will involve working closely with the e-learning technologists.
• Marking and feeding back to students and firms on course assessments, providing accurate marking and constructive feedback where required.
• Liaising with students and nominated firms, as required, to provide information and guidance on the routes to becoming a CA, including counselling of students on technical material and their approach to studying.
• Acting as a member of the achievement log team, reviewing approximately 60 student achievement logs per annum, and dealing with student queries in this area. This will involve working with the achievement log specialist team.
• Working with other members of the Learning division to develop and take part in Learning and cross-ICAS projects, involving research, implementation planning, project-writing, and presentation to colleagues.

As Covid-19 restrictions continue and we progress through our transformation journey, we continue to evolve our online presence and creative ways to teach, to keep students engaged and driven to achieve.

Therefore, you will need to be comfortable with different mediums for teaching, marking, and providing feedback rather than solely through traditional face to face classroom learning. Being open and encouraging of the changes ahead is key to success.

This is a great time to join ICAS, if you have a passion for accountancy that you wish to share with others and if you want to be involved in educating the CAs of the future. This is a perfect step which provides opportunity to develop your career in Learning further in roles such as Subject Controller or Internal Examiner.

ICAS places equality, diversity, and inclusion at the heart of all that we do. With our partner organisations, we are committed to building a diverse membership and workforce that is beneficial for all, and that enables our communities to learn, grow and advance together.

IMAGINE. BELIEVE. ACHIEVE

Please send your CV and covering letter to careers@icas.com.

We very much look forward to hearing

IT Support - Product Engineer

Permanent

Location: Edinburgh (home working at the moment)

Salary: c.£25,000 (depending on experience)

Who do we need?

The Product Engineers are the senior members of the IT support team providing support on complex issues as well as configuring core applications to users’ needs. As a Product Engineer you will often work as an internal consultant and be part of a team who live and breathe the ICAS values and behaviors.

You will need to be highly proficient in the core ICAS software solutions, primarily the delivery and configuration of Microsoft Dynamics 365 as well as having a base understanding of coding to ensure optimal use of the products and enable you to brief the internal Dev team how to build the necessary integrations and front-end development.

The role:

The Product Engineer will help drive continual improvement across ICAS making sure that core applications are used in an optimal way. The individual will work with the business process owners and identify, prioritise and deliver process improvements for colleagues and customers.

Principal Accountabilities:

• Be the subject matter expert for Dynamics 365 and other core applications.
• Identify opportunities to improve the UX and internal business processes.
• Train colleagues across the platforms and
• Work with the Product Champions to provide all aspects of IT support.
• Work with the DevOps team to ensure delivery of integrated solutions.
• Deliver and maintain quality documentation to ensure all processes are documented from a technical point of view.
• Has a collaborative and inclusive working style and encourages knowledge sharing and learning.

Key experience:

• A good technical understanding of the Microsoft 365 suite of applications
• Customer orientated to make sure internal client needs are understood and met.
• A proven project background working with Dynamics CRM
• Ability and desire to broaden their skills.
• Experience of working with an Agile approach to project delivery.
• A proven track record of business analysis, taking a solution/problem solving approach to creating innovative and efficient solutions.

ICAS places equality, diversity, and inclusion at the heart of all that we do. With our partner organisations, we are committed to building a diverse membership and workforce that is beneficial for all, and that enables our communities to learn, grow and advance together.

IMAGINE. BELIEVE. ACHIEVE

Please send your CV and covering letter to careers@icas.com

We very much look forward to hearing from you.

Fixed Term Contract – 12 months

Location: Edinburgh (home working at moment)

Salary: c£25,000 (depending on experience)

Background:

The CA is a prestigious qualification which allows graduates to go on to work at the highest levels of accountancy, finance, and business. The Assessment & Quality team at ICAS are responsible for the management, delivery, and administration of all ICAS assessment activity ensuring that all work is delivered to the highest standards of both academic integrity and operational excellence.

The role:

The Assessment & Quality Specialist is a key member of the assessment and Quality Team.

Within this role you would be responsible for supporting the Assessment & Quality Leads in all aspects of delivering both formative and summative Assessments to all ICAS Students as they progress through the qualification.

You will work collaboratively with the Learning Centre using data reporting and experience to facilitate continual improvements suggestions with the aim of delivering a more relevant, digital focused learning experience, which meet the needs of Students and Firms whilst maintaining ICAS’s focus on high quality, exception customer experience.

This role is customer facing and involves providing support to a wide range of candidates, across a range of scenarios, as they navigate through their course.

Who we need:

Ideally, we are looking for someone who has Assessment experience and who understands the challenges and the fine margins within an assessment environment.  Someone who has an understanding and appreciation of the learning requirements of students and who can support them through both positive and difficult circumstances.

You will have excellent people skills and be adept at putting customers first, you will be process driven and be able to spot areas for improvement and change.

You will be a clear, open, and honest communicator, with high levels of integrity adept and putting ideas forward in a constructive manner and supporting and environment of continual, digital change.

You must be IT literate and be able to pick up and use new IT systems quickly. As we are continuing our transformation journey, you must be a self-starter, confident and able to work efficiently and effectively with ambiguity within a changing environment.

Principal Accountabilities:

• Supporting the successful delivery of all ICAS Learning Assessments and Results
• Collaborate with the Learning Centre in the creation of Assessments.
• Supporting the provision reporting to ensure improvement and standards are met.
• Drive efficiency and consistency of the process to ensure a high-quality customer experience.
• Work effectively with the Digital Team.
• Support shaping the experience ICAS customers want and know our customers through conversations and behaviours – with particular emphasis on students and firms.
• Develop effective and scalable policies and procedures.
• Drive a culture of data driven decision making and encourage a questioning behaviour of the team.
• Drive standards of excellence in all operations.

ICAS places equality, diversity, and inclusion at the heart of all that we do. With our partner organisations, we are committed to building a diverse membership and workforce that is beneficial for all, and that enables our communities to learn, grow and advance together.

Please send your CV and covering letter to careers@icas.com.

IMAGINE. BELIEVE. ACHIEVE

Permanent, Full Time

Location: Edinburgh (home working at the moment)

Salary: c£30,000(depending on experience)

Background:

The Career Development Manager is a key role in the Professional Development team within our Member Engagement & Comms Centre. We have an exciting remit to design and pilot new career development activities and lifelong learning solutions for our members and students.  This is a great opportunity for someone to come in and really make this role their own and scope the programmes.

The role:

Reporting to the Senior Manager, Professional Development, this role is specifically responsible for delivering Career Development solutions across ICAS membership. It involves creating and delivering the provision of careers education, information, advice, guidance and development activities.

A key objective of the role will be the delivery of the ICAS Career Mentoring Programme and the two ICAS Leadership Coaching Programmes for Members.

The Career Development Manager will serve as an adviser, planner, coordinator and collaborator and will have autonomy to build and develop the ICAS provision of Career Development products and services for CAs, in accordance with the overall ICAS vision and framework for Professional Development.

Who do we need?

Ideally, we are looking for someone who has held a similar role within a related environment, not necessarily within accountancy, but someone with a breadth and depth of understanding of career development and career guidance principles.

The role would be suited to someone who has a sound knowledge of designing, creating and implementing career development initiatives and ideally experience of delivering a mentoring programme.

With your experience you will also bring your passion, enthusiasm and empathy. You are a great communicator, both verbally and with the written word, developing positive working relationships with an innate ability to relate to people’s needs and find creative learning solutions.

You are adaptable, open and honest in your approach to working, with an ability to juggle multiple requests and priorities to successful conclusions.

Your resilience will help you manage working in a business focused on continual improvement and your knowledge will help you lead on some of these changes, therefore requiring from you keen project and stakeholder management skills, collaboration and the ability to take people with you.

Principal Accountabilities:

• Create, manage and deliver the provision of careers education, information, advice, guidance and development activities for Members of ICAS.
• Lead the delivery of the ICAS Career Mentoring solution for CAs, as part of our Membership Online Community Management platform (CA Connect)
• Lead the delivery of both the ICAS Executive Coaching and Aspiring Leaders Coaching Programmes.
• Facilitate webinars, learning and workshops focused on career development and personal development.
• Provide one-to-one guidance to motivate ICAS members to engage in and take an active role in their personal, educational and career development.
• Create and report on career development activities.
• Proofread and edit career development resources, training and marketing materials, e.g., event flyers, magazine articles and ICAS website.
• Provide support for internal and external CPD meetings.

ICAS places equality, diversity, and inclusion at the heart of all that we do. With our partner organisations, we are committed to building a diverse membership and workforce that is beneficial for all, and that enables our communities to learn, grow and advance together.

IMAGINE. BELIEVE. ACHIEVE

Please send your CV and covering letter to careers@icas.com

We very much look forward to hearing from you.

Permanent, Full time, Edinburgh (homeworking at the moment)

Salary: c£22,000 (depending on experience)

The role:

We currently have an exciting opportunity for a Customer Champion to join the Customer Experience team at ICAS.

The Customer Champion will be responsible for the first line customer interaction across multiple channels including web, chat, email, telephony, social media, face to face (reception), and mail.

Answering calls on a ‘first response’ basis you will develop and maintain a system-based knowledge base to enable effective advice to be given at the first point of contact.  Our customers comprise of Members, Firms and Students and the queries they have can vary dramatically daily, making each day varied.

Within this role there is a real opportunity to influence change and drive improvement from a Customer perspective.  The role will be empowered to be the Voice of the Customer and therefore be trained and encouraged to make immediate and positive change to the Customer Experience.

Who do we need?

We need someone who has experience of working within a similar customer services/helpdesk environment, where you have thrived on being that first point resolution for any customer needs.

You will be a clear and concise communicator, across multiple channels, with an innate ability to build rapport and relationships with customers, stakeholders and colleagues alike. With a natural empathy you will try to find resolutions for customers using the knowledge you bring with you and which you build at ICAS.

You will have a strong work ethic, with an ability to juggle multiple queries and demands in a calm, positive manner, supporting both customers and colleagues across the business.

You will understand when you can support a customer or when you need to find a different resolution from within ICAS, ensuring that the customer query is still dealt with efficiently and effectively, keeping the customer always informed.

In addition to your customer services passion, you will be able to take customer feedback and analyse this, curious to find ways of doing things better and looking for opportunities to improve the customer journey.

Principal Accountabilities

• Manage all forms of customer and stakeholder communication through a variety of channels.
• Ensure all information is dealt with sensitively and highly confidential information in line with legal and regulatory obligations.
• Analyse data and key insights highlighting opportunities to improve the customer experience.
• Help to instil a culture of data driven decision making and encourage a questioning behaviour of the team.
• Manage multiple reception activities such as room bookings, car parking, greeting visitors and associated administrative duties.
• Maintain open and honest communication with other ICAS teams to drive digital improvement.
• Develop effective and scalable policies and procedures.

Key experience:

• Proven track record in a similar first point resolution customer service environment.
• Data analysis and problem-solving to always put the customer first.
• Exceptional communication skills across different channels.
• Collaborative working across different stakeholder groups.
• Excellent attention to detail and great organisational and inter-personal skills.

ICAS places equality, diversity and inclusion at the heart of all that we do. With our partner organisations, we are committed to building a diverse membership and workforce that is beneficial for all, and that enables our communities to learn, grow and advance together.

IMAGINE. BELIEVE. ACHIEVE

Please send your CV and covering letter to careers@icas.com.

We very much look forward to hearing from you.

12-month FTC maternity cover

Salary: up to £45,000 commensurate with experience

The role:

The Practice Support Specialist reports to the Director of Practice and works closely with other members of the practice team, liaising, interacting and influencing both across ICAS and with Members.

The role primarily provides support services (paid and unpaid) to the practice community, with a focus on assisting Members navigate the future of the profession, develop their practice, meet their regulatory obligations and deliver improvements to systems.

This role will also manage and develop technical content alongside providing content for any publications, e-learning and other communications. In conjunction with the Director of Practice, there is also the opportunity to develop practice support products and services to meet the needs of Members.

The practice team provides support to a community of over 900 firms and c.1700 Members who are principals in those firms.

Who do we need?

Ideally, we are looking for qualified CA (or equivalent qualification) with several years practice experience to be able to understand the challenges of our practice Members, both established and new.

We need someone who will be able to establish themselves and build credibility quickly and is able to empathise with the needs of Members.

This role is fast paced, and no two days are the same. We need someone who can juggle differing member and colleague needs, manage their own time effectively, and deliver accurate and comprehensive work on time.

A clear, open and honest communicator, both spoken and in the written word, you will be able to build and maintain lasting working relationships, working as a true trusted partner.

Principal Accountabilities:

• Serving the practice community with relevant support.
• Manage and develop practice support products.
• Produce technical and publication content – Technical bulletins to Members.
• Implement medium term strategic plans.
• Liaise with internal and external parties on future practice requirements and developments.
• Building relationships within the practice community

Key experience:

• Excellent knowledge of a wide range of general practice areas
• Good awareness of practice management issues
• Knowledge of secondary operations within accountancy practice, for example AML and data protection
• Commercial acumen

ICAS places equality, diversity and inclusion at the heart of all that we do. With our partner organisations, we are committed to building a diverse membership and workforce that is beneficial for all, and that enables our communities to learn, grow and advance together.

IMAGINE. BELIEVE. ACHIEVE

Please send your CV and covering letter to careers@icas.com.

We very much look forward to hearing from you.