Bookkeeper

About us

Literacy Pirates vision is for every child to have the literacy skills, confidence and perseverance to succeed at school and beyond. We provide free, after-school literacy support to children who are falling behind in class and who have fewer opportunities for additional support due to their personal circumstances than others. Founded in East London, Literacy Pirates programme now runs online and serves children anywhere in the United Kingdom.

Literacy Pirates is on an exciting journey of growth, rolling out our innovative learning programme to reach more children than ever before. An ambitious, fast-growing charity we have set ourselves a goal of reaching 3,000 children a year nationally, by 2030 compared with 650 this year.

What we're looking for

We are looking for a talented Bookkeeper to maintain our financial records and handle financial operations in the charity.

Core duties include processing all routing transactions encompassing supplier invoices, sales invoices, bank transactions, petty cash, credit cards and treasury management. You will also make payments, prepare our in-house payroll and submit pension returns.

You will work closely with our Finance Director to support the month end close while complying with and upholding the Charity s policies and procedures.

Our ideal candidate will have experience in a similar role, ideally have worked for a charity and be familiar with Xero. You will also have at least one of the following:

• A relevant qualification such as an accountancy or business degree
• Part or fully qualified with an accountancy body, such as the AAT
• Demonstrative qualification by experience.

Required skills

• Proven bookkeeping experience in a similar enviroment
• Solid understanding of financial operations in a SME environment
• Proven ability to calculate, post and manage accounting figures and financial records
• Accurate data entry skills along with an eye for numbers
• Proficiency in English and in MS Office
• Qualified to degree level, or partly or fully qualified with an accountancy body, or demonstrable QBE

Person specification

• Highly organised
• Dedicated to providing excellent service and building positive working relations
• Able to balance speed of work with a high degree of accuracy and attention to detail
• Strong verbal and written communication skills
• Able to work independently at times and use initiative

Responsibilities

Process all financial transactions in our finance IMS (Xero) accurately and promptly encompassing:

• Accounts payable
• Employee and volunteer expense claims
• Sales invoices, grants, donations and other income
• Bank transactions
• Petty cash
• Credit cards
• Download bank records into the IMS and reconcile all bank accounts
• Monitor savings and move funds between accounts ensuring that we comply with our investment policy
• Operate credit control on the sales ledger and issue payment receipts to customers and donors
• Make payments to creditors and settle expense claims
• Prepare payroll to draft status, pay staff and HMRC, report pension contributions
• Electronically store all required records in line with statutory requirements
• Update contacts and restricted fund profiles in the finance IMS
• Make Gift Aid claims
• Operate within the Charity s financial procedures and prevailing accounting standards

Support the Finance Director with any of the following:

• Operating restricted funds
• Balance sheet reconciliations
• Financial reporting (internal/external)
• Budgeting and forecasting
• Statutory reporting
• Supporting the annual audit process
• Any other reasonably requested duty