Head of Statutory & Tax Reporting

Location:

• Malaysia Kuala Lumpur
• Poland - (Warsaw or Krakow)
• United Kingdom - (London, Edinburgh, Cardiff, Manchester (Home-working Contract) or Belfast)

Contract Type: Indefinite Contract

Pay Grade: 9

Closing date: 22 March 2026 at 20:59 UK Time

Requirements: You must have the legal right to work in one of the listed countries at the time of application. We are unable to support with visa sponsorship and relocation.

Role Context - About The Team:

This is a new role created as part of the Transformation of Professional Services and the Global Finance Team, moving transactional finance processes to an external MSP.

This role will oversee Statutory and Tax compliance across overseas entities in countries where operating complexity is high and local statutory reporting/tax filing is required.

This role will support organisational change in the way in which the business unit/geographical area carries out its financial accounting and Tax compliance. The post holder will support the overseas entities to ensure consistent standards of performance and accuracy across the business unit/geographical area whilst maintaining strong and efficient interaction with the MSP.

The role-holder will make an important contribution to the provision of finance services and will contribute to the strategy and development of new expertise, supporting the creation of a single Finance culture.

The post holder will be a proactive self-starter with the ability to think strategically while keeping an eye on the detail. They will be a skilful and flexible finance professional with good communication skills and an understanding of commercial finance and tax accounting/compliance.

Role Purpose - The Job:

• This role will be responsible for Overseas country entities local statutory reporting, tax review/filing, and will be responsible for ensuring the local financial statements and all local accounting and tax compliance requirements are completed correctly and in a timely manner, and numbers are reported accurately to the local authorities and its auditors
• This role will be responsible for providing guidance on overseas entities tax audits and assessments. Ensuring that teams are aware of the rulings in place. Overseeing the implementation of corrective actions from assessments/rulings imposed to ensure compliance. Monitoring all renewal dates for rulings to ensure that there is no gap in coverage. Working with our advisors to submit renewals as required.
• The role will be responsible for reviewing and managing tax risks in relation to the Overseas operations and for monitoring developments in the regulatory environment. The post holder will provide recommendations to business leads to minimise risk exposure and will work proactively to ensure risks are identified early to enable solutions to be sought in a timely manner and to ensure opportunities are identified.
• This role will be responsible for liaising with our external auditors and tax advisors, government officials as necessary and British Council Group experts, including the tax, group accounting and treasury teams as well as other experts as required.
• This role supports the financial accounting activities for the British Council and works closely with the Managed Service Provider (MSP) to ensure the financial accounts are completed correctly and in a timely manner, and numbers are reported accurately to the UK Group and its auditors. The post holder must be comfortable challenging senior stakeholders to ensure Statutory and Tax compliance whilst complying with financial reporting standards, respective country regulations/Tax laws and corporate policies.

Main Accountabilities

• Leadership
• Statutory, Tax Accounting & Compliance
• Relationship and Stakeholder Management
• Sector/subject expertise
• Service Improvement

Requirements Of The Role:

Minimum/essential

• Several active years of financial controllership and related experience.
• Experience managing corporate taxation, tax compliance, VAT management and statutory reporting across several countries in a global or regional organisation.
• Good understanding of financial control processes and Professional Accounting Standards for Commercial and/or Charitable organisations.
• Track record of managing key finance functions and leading an efficient, innovative and result-oriented team.
• Strong influencing and negotiating experience.
• ERP experience.
• Qualified accountant with at least 5 years of post-qualification experience.

Desirable:

• Shared Services Operations.
• Experience of working in international and multi-cultural organisations.
• Leadership of change projects/initiatives.
• SAP experience.