Compensation and Head Office Accountant

Hanson Wade Group; London; Hybrid; GBP 40,000 - 70,000; Full time

Job description

Hanson Wade is a private equity backed business intelligence organisation that creates niche information products in the form of conferences, databases and communities across life sciences, construction, and HR. The company was established in 2008 and has delivered exceptional consistent growth. As the finance team expands, we have a new role, focusing on payroll, compensation plans and head office accounting.

The role:

Responsible for overseeing all payroll activities across Hanson Wade and ensuring c.500 employees are paid accurately and on time. This includes correctly calculating, accruing, and paying commission and profit share plans, as well as properly accounting for head office costs.

The candidate will work alongside the Finance Manager, reporting to the Group Controller, and will help support and manage some of the transactional team over time.

Key Responsibilities:

Compensation

• Ownership of the complex excel based bonus, profit share and commissions models.
• Scope and implement software to automate the bonus, profit share and commissions models.

Head Office Accounting

• Manage costs for central functions - Tech, HR and Finance, ensuring they are appropriately classified.
• Own the employee cost and benefits budgeting and monitoring process.
• Ensure financial control is in place over other benefit programmes and any reporting requirements.

Payroll

• Administer the monthly payroll ensuring timely and accurate submission of all monthly changes.
• Liaise with relevant members of the HR team to ensure that any team member changes around pay and benefits have been effectively communicated.
• Complete and produce regular and ad-hoc reports for Finance, HR, managers and other external parties.
• Work with HR and Finance colleagues and managers to answer employee queries and resolve any payroll or benefit errors in a timely manner.
• Oversee the end of year P11d and P60 reporting process including production and distribution of documents to employees, HMRC and submission of tax and NI payments to HMRC by the relevant deadlines. Liaise with HMRC to ensure that all payments of tax and NI are submitted in line with monthly and annual deadlines and that any HMRC queries are closed as a priority.
• Carry out assessments for pensions auto enrolment in line with Pensions Regulator rules and ensure relevant paperwork is issued.
• Scope a future state payroll environment and research a variety of outsourced or insourced payroll providers.
• Benchmark several payroll software providers and own any implementation process of any new software including migration process and parallel running.

Experience & Qualifications:

• Experience in administering a substantial and/or complex payroll.
• Advanced Excel and Spreadsheet skills.
• Experience in reporting payroll and benefit data for internal budgeting and reporting purposes.
• Strong team working and interpersonal skills.
• Goal oriented, flexible and able to work in a fast-paced environment.
• Mathematical skills necessary to manage any manual checks of calculations required for payroll administration.
• Knowledge and understanding of UK payroll processes and NI and PAYE rules.

Would suit a qualified accountant with an interest in payroll and system implementation but with scope to take on more varied responsibilities as the role progresses.

We will offer you:

• Private health and life insurance.
• Hybrid working arrangement.
• 25 days annual leave with 1 extra day of annual leave each year, up to 30 days of annual leave (not including public holidays).
• Access to our Wader Hub benefits platform which includes retail, gym, hospitality, and wellness discounts.
• Sabbatical options after 2 and 5 years.
• Quarterly development conversations.
• Competitive salary + Bonus.

Department: Finance
Locations: Hanson Wade Group
Remote status: Hybrid