Accountancy Assistant

Newcastle University; Newcastle upon Tyne; On-site; GBP 32,000 - 33,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Generous holiday package

Pension schemes

Health and wellbeing initiatives

Job summary

Newcastle University is seeking an Accountancy Assistant to join the Contract Financial Management team. The role covers financial claims, budgeting, SAP structuring, and audit coordination for multi-million-pound projects.

Ideal candidates will have recent accountancy experience, strong ledger analysis, and excellent communication. The position is full-time and located in the UK, with a focus on delivering accurate financial information on tight deadlines.

Qualifications

• Recent accountancy experience in a professional setting.
• Experience interpreting and reconciling financial ledgers.
• Ability to work accurately under pressure to deadlines.
• Strong oral and written communication across levels.
• Interpersonal skills to advise non-finance staff.
• Proficient IT skills: Excel and Word; SAP/Business Warehouse desirable.
• Experience in a complex multi-team organisation.
• Knowledge of costing, pricing, VAT and currency issues.
• Funder financial knowledge desirable.

Responsibilities

• Produce financial claims for complex projects by deadlines.
• Offer budgetary and forecast advice to researchers.
• Attend project setup meetings to advise on SAP structures.
• Coordinate with contract managers on financial matters.
• Create complex SAP projects with proper controls.
• Maintain SAP project data (structure, budget, timescale).
• Ensure timely closure and final reconciliation in SAP.
• Provide SAP training and guidance to staff.
• Prepare for and coordinate audits with auditors.
• Oversee salary budget updates in complex projects.
• Deputise for Team Leader when needed.

Skills

Accountancy experience

Ledger reconciliation

Communication skills

Interpersonal skills

IT skills (Excel/Word)

Working under pressure

Costing & pricing knowledge

VAT & currency awareness

Research funder knowledge

Education

A Level (min A-C) or equivalent

AAT qualification or equivalent

Tools

SAP

Business Warehouse

Microsoft Excel

Microsoft Word

Job description

Salary: £32,080 - £33,002 per annum with progression to £34,610

Newcastle University is a great place to work, with excellent benefits. We have a generous holiday package; plus the opportunity to buy more, great pension schemes and a number of health and wellbeing initiatives to support you.

Closing Date: 27 September 2026

The Role

Are you looking for a role that will give you exposure to a wide range of finance activity and the chance to work on projects that really make a difference?

We have an exciting opportunity for an Accountancy Assistants to join our Contract Financial Management team.

This team plays a vital role in providing expert funder advice and financial management for the University's research and non-research projects - often involving multi-million-pound budgets and collaboration with multiple domestic and international institutions.

This is a varied and rewarding role, giving you the chance to:

• Make a contribution to all aspects of finance within a large complex organisation


• Take responsibility for a diverse portfolio of projects


• Use your initiative and judgement to make decisions and resolve queries


• Support the CFM Team Leads with training and work allocation

We're looking for a confident communicator who is well‑organised, customer‑focused, and comfortable working to tight deadlines. Strong analytical and systems skills, along with attention to detail, are essential to succeed in this role.

If you're ready to build valuable experience and play a key role in supporting impactful projects, we'd love to hear from you.

The Post is full time, permanent.

Key Accountabilities

• Take responsibility for the production of financial claims for the more complex projects to strict deadlines, in accordance with funder regulations and University policies


• Provide comprehensive budgetary and forecast information and advice to researchers on the financial aspects of their funding to enable them to discharge their financial responsibilities on large complex projects


• Attend project set up meetings with Grants and Contracts, Administrators and PIs to advise on appropriate SAP structures and financial management


• Liaise with Research and Enterprise Services contract managers on specific financial matters associated with new and ongoing contracts


• Create complex projects in the SAP financial management system in order to facilitate the most effective structure to ensure appropriate controls are embedded. Projects to Include, multi funded, Research Council, collaborative, foreign funded and other complex awards


• Maintain and update data on the SAP financial management system relating to complex projects (e.g. structure, budget, and timescale)


• Ensure timely closure of completed complex projects in SAP, ensuring that the final reconciliation is complete


• Provide guidance, training and advice to staff within the team on relevant SAP and University procedures and funder regulations


• Manage the preparation of, and communicate with, auditors to arrange timely audit dates


• Oversee the calculation and checking of salary award increase and update the salary budgets in complex projects


• Deputise for the Team Leader where applicable


• Undertake any other duties of a relevant nature as required from time to time.

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

• Recent relevant accountancy experience


• Extensive experience in the reconcilliation and interpretation of financial ledgers


• Demonstrable ability to work accurately under pressure, prioritising own workload and that of the section in order to meet strict funder and University deadlines


• Strong oral and written communication skills in order to effectively disseminate financial information to staff possessing a wide range of financial literacy and to communicate confidently with staff at all levels and with external bodies


• Good interpersonal skills in order to advise and persuade non-finance staff of the possible implications of non-compliance with funders financial regulations


• Proven IT skills (Microsoft Excel and Word) are essential in order to manipulate and interpret data, and experience of SAP and Business Warehouse is desirable


• Demonstrable aptitude to work in a complex organisation consisting of multi discplinary teams


• Working knowledge of costing and pricing issues (desirable)


• Appreciation of VAT and foreign currency issues (desirable)


• Research Funder financial knowledge (desirable)

Attributes and Behaviour

• Identifies quickly what is important and prioritises accordingly whilst monitoring workload and resource within the team


• Ensures that activities are completed on time to meet deadlines


• Communicates with colleagues and stakeholders effectively choosing appropriate tools and tailoring content to the audience, changing style, tone and format appropriately


• Understands the customer / stakeholder requirements and seeks to deliver them


• Looks for ways to make improvements to the service


• Shares relevant and useful information with others and keeps other team members up to date with progress

Qualifications

• Educated to at least A Level standard (minimum of 3, grades A - C) or equivalent standard by experience


• AAT qualified or equivalent (desirable)

Newcastle University is a global University where everyone is treated with dignity and respect. As a University of Sanctuary, we aim to provide a welcoming place of safety for all, offering opportunities to people fleeing violence and persecution.

We are committed to being a fully inclusive university which actively recruits, supports and retains colleagues from all sectors of society. We value diversity as well as celebrate, support and thrive on the contributions of all of our employees and the communities they represent. We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer and encourage applications from individuals who can complement our existing teams, we believe that success is built on having teams whose backgrounds and experiences reflect the diversity of our university and student population.

At Newcastle University we hold a Gold Athena Swan award in recognition of our good employment practices for the advancement of gender equality. We also hold a Race Equality Charter Bronze award in recognition of our work towards tackling race inequality in higher education REC. We are a Disability Confident employer and will offer an interview to disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role as part of the offer and interview scheme.

In addition, we are a member of the Euraxess initiative supporting researchers in Europe.