Finance Manager

The post reports directly into our Director of Finance and the team comprises of a Finance & Funding Officer and a Finance Assistant & Purchase Ledger Clerk. The postholder will have broad experience in a Finance team, ideally in an education setting. The main focus of the post will be on management reporting and payroll as the post carries the responsibility of overseeing the organisation's payroll each month.

Client Details

I am pleased to be partnering with a leading organisation within the Education sector in recruiting for an experienced ACCA/CIMA qualified Accountant with payroll experience to take on a thoroughgoing role as part of a small, friendly Finance team of 4.

Description

Departmental income and expenditure accounts and consolidating them into the Institutional-wide monthly management accounts available for the SLT.

To manage month-end procedures according to the timetable including (i) the sign off of balance sheet reconciliations, (ii) the calculation and posting of prepayments and accruals, and (iii) the processing and posting of card payments.

Providing monthly analysis of key variances identified within each School/Business Support income and expenditure, and active involvement in any resulting action plans. This will require an excellent understanding of multiple processes spanning different Schools and Business Support functions, as well as coordinating and prioritizing workload across their team.

Facilitating the budget-setting and planning process. This requires the provision of detailed budgetary performance and staffing requirement levels for each School/Department in advance of strategic financial planning meetings held each year. Outputs from these discussions underpin the organisations financial plan.

Providing periodic re-forecasts for School and Business Support units and staff costs.

Preparing the annual staffing complement budget.

Developing a process regular updating of the staffing complement budget.

Preparing capital appraisals in relation to projects

Maintaining budget changes in Sage 200, ensuring appropriate documentation is retained.

Maintaining the fixed-asset register.

Maintaining an overview of spend within Schools and Business Support units and being proactive in identifying any issues. Issues should be resolved through early communication with the relevant School/Business Support unit and appropriate, agreed actions.

• Preparing the relevant tax returns including corporation tax and VAT and calculating relevant reliefs including theatre tax relief.

Providing active input into completion the organisation's annual accounts including the supporting narrative and statistics. Liaising with external auditors as required.

Providing input into other external statutory reporting as required.

• Leading on all aspects of the payroll including collation/provision of the payroll data to the outsourced payroll company for processing and dealing with staff payroll queries.

Profile

A successful Finance Manager should have:

CCAB qualified (ACCA, CA, CIPFA, CIMA)

Highly numerate and very comfortable working with large amounts of data.

Knowledge of payroll processes and procedures.

Demonstrably proactive in seeking solutions.

Good interpersonal skills and the ability to build positive working relationships both within a small close-knit Finance team and across the organization.

The ability to communicate and convey information to non-financial people.

The ability to work under pressure in order to meet strict deadlines.

The ability to work on own initiative as well as under direction.

Excellent IT skills and knowledge of Excel/applications in the Microsoft Office365 suite and the ability to and aptitude to be self-sufficient/to work with minimal IT support.

Knowledge of Sage200 and Sage Payroll and other financial software packages.

Personal integrity and high standards for self and others.

Experience of working in a Finance role in an educational or performing arts setting.

Proven, relevant experience in a similar accounting role.

Experience in providing Finance Business Partnering

Experience of project or product costing

Experience of budget preparation.

Experience of analysing variances and communicating these to non-financial people.

• Experience of running an in-house payroll.

Job Offer

• Competitive salary ranging from £50,000 to £60,000 per annum.
• Attractive benefits package tailored to support employee well-being.
• Generous holiday allowance to ensure a healthy work-life balance.
• Opportunity to work in the rewarding Education sector in Woking.
• Supportive and collaborative work environment with professional growth opportunities.

If you are ready to take on this exciting Finance Manager role in Woking, we encourage you to apply today and contribute to this impactful organisation.