Finance Assistant

Generation UK & Ireland; Manchester; Hybrid; GBP 28,000 - 34,000; Part time

Job summary

A charitable organization in Manchester seeks a Finance Assistant to ensure smooth finance operations. The role involves managing accounts payable, payroll support, bookkeeping, and financial reporting. Ideal candidates are detail-oriented and possess strong organisational skills. This part-time position offers flexible working arrangements and a salary between £28,000 and £34,000 per annum, depending on experience.

Benefits

Flexible working arrangements

Work-from-home equipment support

Professional development funding

Qualifications

• Experience managing organisational bookkeeping including accounts receivable and payable.
• Capability of managing payment runs and payroll.
• Familiarity with financial management tools.

Responsibilities

• Manage accounts receivable and payable processes.
• Support payroll uploads and ensure records align with HR data.
• Prepare documents for annual audits and maintain audit-ready records.

Skills

Organisational skills

Detail-oriented

Data analysis

Collaboration

Tools

Sage Intacct

Excel

Google Sheets

Job description

the Role

As the Finance Assistant you will play a key role in ensuring the smooth running of our day‑to‑day finance operations. This work is crucial in ensuring our bills and staff are paid on time and our financial systems accurately reflect how we have spent our funds from donors and funders. In short, this role is crucial for our overall delivery of impact and work across the UK and Ireland.

You will work closely with and be managed by our Senior Funding Manager within the Growth, Data and Operations Team. You will take ownership of accounts receivable and payable processes, manage expenses and bookkeeping, support monthly and year‑end reporting, provide first‑line responses to finance queries, and maintain clear and accurate financial records across our systems. You will also collaborate with our outsourced financial management company and participate in our annual audits. Your work will span our operations in the UK and Ireland, which operate as two separate legal entities with distinct bank accounts and payrolls but function as one team.

Generation acknowledges the duty of care to safeguard, protect, and promote the welfare of staff and learners. We carry out employment and right‑to‑work checks and request a declaration of any criminal convictions from all staff as part of our recruitment process.

Key Responsibilities

• Accounts Receivable
  • Raise, post, and chase funder and partner invoices
  • Ensure income is recorded accurately and in line with agreed funding or project allocations, for example tagged to specific costs
• Accounts Payable
  • Review and check supplier invoices for accuracy and ensure they are tagged to the correct cost types
  • Manage payment runs ensuring timely and compliant payments of our invoices
• Expenses
  • Manage the employee expense process, including use of and processing data from software tools such as Expensify and Soldo
  • Brief and support staff on expense procedures and compliance requirements
• Bookkeeping
  • Tag all transactions in our systems against the correct cost centre, budget line, and funder following and maintain a clear, consistent cost mapping document
  • Ensure accurate tagging of funders to cost centres / cohorts and programmes
• Payroll
  • Support the upload of payroll to the bank for payment to staff and tax authorities
  • Ensure payroll records are accurate and aligned with HR data
• Audit and Tax
  • Support the preparation of documents for annual audit and tax returns
  • Maintain audit‑ready records throughout the year
• Month‑End Inputs and Reviews
  • Prepare monthly inputs, such as staff lists and cost allocation percentages and assumptions (including via our virtual timesheet)
  • Conduct a first review and update of the monthly cash‑flow model for accuracy
• Analysis and Ad Hoc Support
  • Handle first‑pass responses to finance queries from teams across the organisation before escalation to external accountants or managers

Core Attributes

• Highly organised, able to manage multiple workstreams, priorities and to‑dos following clear processes
• Detail‑oriented and focused on accuracy
• Comfortable analysing and comparing data sources for precision and alignment
• Collaborative and communicative, willing to share and work through problems
• Conscientious, careful with who and when you share potentially sensitive financial information
• Passionate about the cause – interested and motivated to work for an organisation supporting people from disadvantaged backgrounds into life‑changing outcomes

Experience

Required:

• Managing organisational bookkeeping including accounts receivable and payable processes
• Managing payment runs and payroll in an organisational bank account
• Using financial management tools such as Sage Intacct (or similar)
• Using Excel / Google Sheets for analysis and data handling

Desirable (but not required):

• Experience in a charitable context with multiple restricted and unrestricted funding streams
• Exposure to month‑end processes (including cash‑flow forecasts and management accounts)
• Exposure to and use of expense management tools like Expensify or Soldo

About Generation

Generation is a charity with the vision of a meaningful career for every person. Our aim is to support people facing significant and multiple barriers to employment into life‑changing careers they otherwise could not access. We achieve this with a unique methodology of profession‑specific skills bootcamp training, focused on in‑demand careers (specifically in the tech, healthcare and green sectors), with extensive, ongoing pastoral support and matchmaking to employer partners.

Generation launched globally in 2015 and has grown quickly to become the world's largest demand‑led employment initiative. We have placed over 100,000 people into roles across 16 countries and 26 professions, with a job placement rate of around 70%.

Compensation and Benefits

Salary: £28,000‑£34,000 per annum (FTE), depending on experience and skills. Salary will be pro‑rata based on working hours.

Contract: Part‑time – 3‑4 days per week.

• Purpose and social impact in the heart of your work
• Opportunity to make your mark – you will have a lot of autonomy to bring the Generation blueprint to life in a way that makes sense for your region
• Opportunity to get involved with a range of activities and varied projects – we’re a small team, so there are lots of opportunities to contribute across the organisation
• Flexible and remote working to accommodate everyone’s preferred working pattern and unique needs
• Work‑from‑home equipment support – up to £300 to help you set up an efficient workspace
• Professional development – up to £1,000 per year towards learning & development, accompanied by up to 5 days of training days / study leave per year