Assistant Management Accountant
Please Note: The application deadline for this post has now passed.
Post Introduction
The National Church Institutions comprises a wide variety of teams, professions and functions that support the mission and ministries of the Church of England in its vision to be a church, centred on Jesus Christ, for the whole nation - a church that is simpler, humbler, bolder.
We Include. You Belong.
Our Belonging and Inclusion Strategy aims for everyone in the National Church Institutions (NCIs) to feel that they belong, and are valued for who they are and what they contribute. Together, our people contribute in different ways towards our common purpose, whichever NCI they work in and whatever their background.
Living out our values in all that we do, we:
- Strive for Excellence
- Show Compassion
- Respect others
- Collaborate
- Act with Integrity
We believe our commitment to belonging and inclusion fuels our progress and drives us forward. The NCIs are a safe, inclusive workplace for people of all backgrounds and walks of life. We welcome applications from people of all faiths and of no faith. We want to encourage applications from a diverse group of people who share our values. Even if you have never thought about working for us before, if you have the skills and experience we’re looking for then we would like to hear from you.
About the Department
The Finance department is a shared services function working across the NCIs to provide a comprehensive, cost-effective finance service to each organisation, and helping to co-ordinate joint projects where appropriate. The Finance department is on a change journey, transforming the way we work and the service we provide to the NCIs. This role will sit within the Financial Planning and Analysis team, providing first-line support on management reporting, forecasting and budgeting to the NCIs, along with four other Assistant Management Accountants.
The Assistant Management Accountants (AMAs) are responsible for accurate and timely recording of financial transactions, supporting the production of standardised management accounts, and undertaking initial analysis as part of the monthly reporting processes. Working with the support of the Financial Accounting and Financial Processing teams, the AMAs support the NCIs by ensuring the integrity and reliability of financial information and enabling timely and informed financial decision-making by budget holders and other stakeholders.
What you'll be doing
The purpose of this role is to support the Finance Business Partners within the Financial Planning and Analysis Team to provide accurate and timely management information, budget monitoring, analysis and advice to budget holders and key stakeholders, fostering a culture of financial accountability and cost efficiency. You will work under the guidance of the Management Accountant, while also working collaboratively with the rest of the Finance Business Partnering team to develop a high-quality finance service to the NCIs, including best practice internal reporting and analysis and relevant challenge and insight to support decision making.
You will have a good understanding of double-entry bookkeeping and basic accounting adjustments and will be looking to develop your core accounting skills within a supportive team environment. You will be a confident Excel user and be able to quickly manipulate high volumes of data efficiently and build reports which can be quickly and easily produced. You will also have good attention to detail, be able to identify anomalies and issues, and adopt a thorough and diligent approach to resolving them.
An effective communicator, you will be able to explain financial issues to non-finance staff and to help people to use financial information well. You will deliver relevant training and support across departments to help improve financial literacy and you will work collaboratively with the Finance Business Partners to develop a high-quality finance service to the NCIs. You will always be looking to improve processes and worker smarter, collaborating with your finance colleagues to drive best practice in everything we do.
Main duties and responsibilities:
- Financial management and accountability
Compliance and engagement with monthly and yearly processes and deadlines, ensuring all necessary transactions are recorded in SAP accurately and on time, with no material errors, omissions or miscoding, including:
- Producing regular monthly journals, including intercompany recharges, accruals, prepayments, etc.
- Preparing of one-off journal corrections to resolve coding issues or other errors.
- Uploading journals into the finance system for approval in compliance with the journals policy and month end deadlines.
- Calculating, recording, monitoring and payment of grants.
- Reviewing purchase order data (goods receipted not invoiced, goods ordered not receipted) to ensure system accruals are valid and accurate.
- Supporting the delivery of information to dioceses, cathedrals and other Church bodies, including assisting in the calculation of diocesan apportionment and the maintenance pooling adjustment.
- Support to Finance Business Partners
Provide support for the Finance Business Partners in the production of monthly analysis and reports, including:
- Assisting with the production of monthly management accounts / budget holder reports for designated departments.
- Undertaking preliminary variance analysis between budgets, forecasts and actuals and drafting variance commentary.
- Investigating discrepancies and unexpected variances, making corrections if required.
- Reviewing central services cost recoveries and resolution of any under or over recoveries across the NCIs.
- Undertaking ad hoc analysis / production of one-off reports as required.
- Assisting in review and preparation of phased budgets, financial plans, and forecasts and loading budgets and forecasts into SAP.
- Supporting on producing, reviewing and circulating reports from travel management provider.
- Support to key stakeholders
Provide guidance and support to key business users to help them follow financial procedures and comply with financial control requirements, including:
- Ensuring that financial projections are supported by robust assumptions / supporting documentation and consistent with underlying trends where applicable.
- Being proactive and innovative in resolving issues and queries from departments and other stakeholders, liaising with other members of the Finance team as appropriate.
- Providing advice and guidance on compliance with Finance policies and procedures as required.
- Process and system improvements
- Work to maximise efficiency and minimise administrative duplication wherever possible, including:
- Drafting, updating and maintaining comprehensive guidance manuals for all key processes, and providing support and training where required.
- Working with users to improve quality and completeness of data in SAP including supporting documentation.
- Other
- Providing accurate information for the annual statutory audits and internal audits, in line with timetables set.
- Providing financial information, support and training to finance and non-finance colleagues to aid financial literacy, promote best practice use of finance systems and ensure compliance with financial control procedures.
- Providing cover for, and complementing the work of the Finance Business Partners and other Finance teams.
About You
The Church of England is for everyone and we want to reflect the diversity of the community the Church serves across the whole country. Therefore, while of course we welcome all applications from interested and suitably experienced people, we would particularly welcome applicants from UK Minoritised Ethnicities (UKME)/Global Majority Heritage (GMH) and other under-represented groups.
Essential
Knowledge/Experience
- Excellent IT skills, including advanced MS Excel and experience of handling and manipulating large volumes of data.
- Experience of using financial systems packages including financial reporting tools.
- Proven experience of influencing others to deliver to deadlines.
- Experience of working in the finance function of a large organisation, including in a management accounting context.
Skills & Abilities:
- Good understanding of double-entry bookkeeping and basic accounting adjustments such as accruals and prepayments; understanding of fixed assets.
- Excellent attention to detail, and the ability to identify, investigate and interpret anomalous transactions and provide solutions.
- Excellent interpersonal skills to achieve cooperation and results from others.
- Confident communicator with good written and oral skills.
- Proactive, self-motivated and enthusiastic.
- Well organised approach to work and ability to multi-task.
- Ability to prioritise, remain calm under pressure, meet deadlines and have a flexible approach to work.
- Ability to develop and maintain good working relationships with staff in other departments and at external organisations.
Qualifications & Training:
- Studying, gained, or willing to commence studies for AAT or similar equivalent accounting qualification.
Desirable
- SAP experience.
- Experience of working for a charity or not-for profit organisation.
What we offer
Our benefits include:
- A salary of £38,918 plus age-related pension contributions between 8-15% of salary. We will also match any pension contributions you make up to an additional 3% of salary.
- 25 days annual leave (increasing to 30 days within 5 years) plus three additional days
- Flexible working hours and location, with an expectation of just 1-2 days per week in our office in Westminster
- Structured induction programme and access to a range of development opportunities including apprenticeships
- Access to Occupational Health, and an Employee Assistance Programme
- Opportunity to the Civil Service Sports & Social Club, and get involved in a range of staff networks, groups and societies
We try to be as flexible as we can in your work pattern to support you with other commitments, and to give a good work-life balance.
The closing date for applications is Monday 29 April 2024
