Head of Statutory & Tax Reporting

We support peace and prosperity by building connections, understanding and trust between people in the UK and countries worldwide. For 90 years we have shaped brighter futures through education, arts, culture, language, and creativity.

Working with people in over 200 countries and territories, we are on the ground in more than 100 countries.

We connect. We inspire.

Head of Statutory & Tax Reporting

Location: 

• Malaysia – Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
• 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 pro-active 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 communications skills and understanding of commercial finance and tax accounting/compliance.

Senior stakeholders that the role interacts with regularly include:

• Finance colleagues, Group, COE, Operations and Finance Business Partners
• The Group Tax and Status Team
• Business Leads
• Senior Finance Leaders and their global teams
• Managed Service Provider
• Strategic Business Unit partners and local delivery teams
• Global Process Owners
• Internal and External Financial Control and Compliance and Audit Leads
• Group Treasury and banking vendors

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

• Provide leadership and people management to the team, role model British Council values and EDI in day-to-day interactions with colleagues at all levels. Ensure high levels of professionalism are demonstrated by everyone and that client and customer needs are reflected in ways of working. Champion financial accounting and local tax compliance, providing a good standard of financial insight and financial discipline. Build a culture of continuous learning and improvement and promote learning from our experience across the unit and wider organisation.

Statutory, Tax Accounting & Compliance

• Monitor tax implications of the business activities and processes and develop strategies to minimize tax compliance obligations 
• Implementation of tax and statutory related matters, policies and procedures for the overseas entities
• To review statutory audit findings and track implementation with local country teams
• Keep abreast of tax-related and statutory regulation changes including e-invoicing and ensure prompt adherence to the same. Review all new/proposed tax and statutory legislative across the entities and identify potential exposure areas and ensure the identified risks are mitigated

Relationship and Stakeholder Management

• Provide stakeholder engagement and business partnering for statutory reporting and tax compliance, building strong working relationships with key stakeholders and the MSP to ensure that activities comply with professional accounting standards, technical tax accounting issues and other external reporting requirements in British Council.

Sector/subject expertise

• Provide guidance and advice on local tax and statutory compliance and reporting requirements. Liaise with other specialist finance functions such as Tax, Treasury, Finance Policy, and Global Process Owners as needed. Pro-actively identify unusual or complex transactions and recommend appropriate professional accounting and/ or tax treatments. Produce periodic reports relating to Tax accounting.

Service Improvement

• Develop, manage, and execute plans for implementation of new or updated tax, accounting and reporting requirements in line with professional accounting standards and local regulations; communicate change effectively with internal stakeholders, ensure appropriate training and compliance monitoring.

Requirements Of The Role:

Minimum/essential

• Several active years of financial controllership and related experience.
• Experience managing corporate taxation, tax compliances, 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 function 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.

A connected and trusted UK in a more connected and trusted world.

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Statement

We are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion and welcome applications from all sections of the community as we believe that a diverse workforce gives added depth to our work. The British Council is a Disability Confident Employer. The Disability Confident scheme helps challenge attitudes, increase understanding of disability and ensure staff are drawn from the widest possible pool of talent. We guarantee an interview for disabled applicants who meet the minimum role requirements. We welcome discussions about specific requirements or adjustments to enable participation and engagement in our work and activities.

Safeguarding Statement

The British Council is committed to safeguarding children, young people and adults who we work with. We believe that all children and adults everywhere in the world deserve to live in safe environments and have the right to be protected from all forms of abuse, maltreatment and exploitation as set out in article 19, UNCRC (United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child) 1989. Appointment to positions where there is direct involvement with vulnerable groups will be dependent on thorough checks being completed in line with legal requirements and with the British Council’s Safeguarding policies for Adults and Children.

If you experience any difficulties with submitting your application, please email askhr@britishcouncil.org