Assistant Financial Accountant

Assistant Financial Accountant
£37,264 pa plus excellent benefits
London WC1 and home-based - hybrid with expectation to work at London office 60% of the time
35 hours per week, full-time
Permanent contract

The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) is seeking a highly motivated and detail-oriented Assistant Financial Accountant to support the financial accounting and compliance functions of the College.

This is an important role within the Finance team, supporting the College's mission to improve child health by ensuring the integrity of financial information, robust financial controls, and compliance with statutory and regulatory requirements.

Working closely with the Financial Accountant and wider finance team, you will take responsibility for key accounting processes including payroll, tax, treasury management, and monthly financial reconciliations. You will play a vital role in maintaining accurate and timely financial records, supporting audit preparation, and ensuring that all financial operations run smoothly.

Key responsibilities include:

• Maintaining the integrity of financial systems and ensuring accurate, timely accounting entries and reconciliations
• Supporting the Financial Accountant in preparing key balance sheet reconciliations, including fixed assets, investments, accruals, prepayments and deferred income
• Assisting with internal and external audit processes and the preparation of group statutory accounts
• Processing monthly payroll and pension submissions, ensuring accuracy and compliance with regulatory requirements
• Supporting VAT, corporation tax and Gift Aid returns, and ensuring all submissions are completed on time
• Managing banking and treasury activities, including cash flow monitoring and reconciliation of company credit cards
• Providing administrative support for finance systems, including user access and coding updates
• Supporting continuous improvement initiatives, including system developments and process efficiency projects

Essential skills and experience:

• Part-qualified accountant (ACCA, CIMA, CCAB or equivalent)
• Minimum of 2-3 years' experience in financial accounting or operations roles, ideally within the charity, not-for-profit or public sector
• Experience supporting statutory accounting, audit preparation, payroll, pensions and VAT returns
• Strong understanding of financial controls and reconciliation processes
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills with high attention to detail
• Proficiency in financial systems and advanced Microsoft Excel skills
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to work effectively across teams and departments
• Highly organised and able to manage multiple priorities and deadlines

Desirable:

• Knowledge of charity accounting and regulatory requirements, including SORP
• Experience using Business Central or similar ERP/financial systems

This is an excellent opportunity to develop your finance career in a supportive and high-performing team.

The RCPCH has more than 25,000 members and fellows and employs around 200 staff, most of whom work in our London office in Holborn. We have a Devolved Nations team operating from Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Our College values: Include, Influence, Innovate and Inspire, are important to us. These values ensure we bring out the best in each other, strive forward together to make the College a positive and dynamic place to work.

The RCPCH champions Equality, Diversity and Inclusion. Our workplace is inclusive, offering a supportive environment where staff can thrive. The College is keen to accept applications from people with protected characteristics. We believe that our staff should represent all of the diverse communities we serve. Join us to help realise our vision of a world where every child is healthy and well.

The College operates a flexible and modern working policy, whereby our colleagues work in the office for a minimum of 40% over a 4 week cycle and the remainder from home.

The RCPCH is committed to safeguarding the children, young people and adults it has contact with in the exercise of its functions and responsibilities. The RCPCH expects all staff to share this commitment - we place a high priority on ensuring only those who do so are recruited to work for us.

All offers of employment will be subject to satisfactory references and appropriate screening checks, which can include criminal records.

Closing date: 10 November 2025

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.