Financial Accountant

Altum Consulting; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 65,000 - 85,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

8% Pension contribution

28 days annual leave

Job summary

Altum Consulting is seeking a Senior Financial Accountant to join its finance team and lead statutory reporting for a multi-subsidiary charity group. The role reports to the Head of Financial Control and focuses on delivering accurate statutory and management reporting across the Group.

The ideal candidate will be ACA/ACCA qualified with extensive experience in statutory accounts, year-end audits, and multi-entity consolidations within the charity sector.

Qualifications

• Qualified accountant – ACA or ACCA.
• Experience in statutory accounts preparation and year-end audits.
• Experience with monthly and annual financial reporting cycles.
• Understanding of charity accounting including fund and activity accounting.
• Comfort with multi-entity consolidations and balance-sheet control.
• Strong Excel and financial-systems skills.
• Able to work to tight reporting deadlines and independently yet collaboratively.
• Experience with Business Central or Power BI would be advantageous.

Responsibilities

• Prepare statutory accounts for key subsidiaries and support delivery of the consolidated Group accounts.
• Prepare the Group Statement of Financial Activities and cashflow statement.
• Act as key contact for external auditors and coordinate audit information.
• Maintain strong balance-sheet control environment; reconcile accounts across entities.
• Manage intercompany balances and assist monthly consolidation.
• Account for pensions and investments.
• Prepare VAT returns and respond to VAT queries.
• Prepare corporation tax computation schedules with external advisers.
• Provide financial information to investment, reserves, budget and forecast reporting.
• Support changes arising from revised SORP and FRS 102, including lease accounting and revenue recognition.
• Contribute to finance-system and process improvements.
• Provide cross-team support as priorities change.

Skills

Statutory accounts

Audit coordination

Intercompany reconciliations

Charity accounting

Excel

Financial systems

Financial reporting

Multi-entity consolidation

Education

ACA or ACCA qualification

Tools

Business Central

Power BI

Job description

We are seeking a qualified Senior Financial Accountant to join the finance team of a major national charity working to improve the lives, wellbeing and opportunities of people across the UK.

This is an excellent opportunity to join a purpose-led organisation with a complex group structure and significant reach. Reporting to the Head of Financial Control, the successful candidate will play a key role in maintaining a robust financial control environment and delivering accurate statutory and management reporting across the Group and its five subsidiaries.

A particular focus of the role will be the annual statutory accounts and audit process. This represents a significant programme of work each year, running broadly from April through to August, and the Senior Financial Accountant will work alongside another member of the financial accounting team to ensure Group and subsidiary accounts are completed accurately and to timetable.

The Senior Financial Accountant will be responsible for:

• Preparing statutory accounts for key subsidiaries and supporting delivery of the consolidated Group accounts
• Preparing the Group Statement of Financial Activities and cashflow statement
• Acting as a key point of contact for external auditors and coordinating the provision of audit information
• Maintaining a strong balance-sheet control environment, ensuring accounts across all entities are reconciled and issues resolved promptly
• Managing intercompany balances and supporting the monthly consolidation process
• Accounting for pensions and investments
• Preparing VAT returns in accordance with the Group's partial-exemption methodology and responding to VAT queries
• Preparing corporation tax computation schedules and working with external tax advisers
• Contributing financial information to investment, reserves, budget and forecast reporting
• Supporting implementation of changes arising from the revised Charities SORP and FRS 102, including lease accounting and revenue recognition
• Contributing to finance-system and wider process improvements
• Providing support across the financial-control team as issues arise and priorities change

The ideal candidate will:

• Be a qualified accountant - ACA or ACCA
• Have strong experience of statutory accounts preparation and year-end external audit
• Bring experience of monthly and annual financial reporting cycles
• Have a good understanding of charity accounting, including fund and activity accounting
• Be confident working within a multi-entity environment and dealing with consolidations and balance-sheet control
• Have strong Excel and financial-systems skills
• Be structured, methodical and comfortable working to demanding reporting deadlines
• Be proactive and able to work independently while collaborating effectively with colleagues across Finance and the wider organisation

Experience of Business Central, Power BI or similar financial and reporting systems would be advantageous but is not essential.

The organisation operates a highly flexible approach to hybrid working. The role is linked to a London office, but there is limited routine office attendance and colleagues generally work remotely, attending when there is a business requirement. Attendance at quarterly organisation-wide collaboration days and certain other key events is required.
An immediate or relatively short-notice start would be particularly welcome as the team moves through the latter stages of the current audit cycle, although candidates with longer notice periods will still be considered. The role offers an 8% pension contribution, 28 days' annual leave (plus bank holidays) as well as a range of other benefits.

This is an excellent opportunity for an experienced financial accountant to join a supportive, mission-driven organisation and take ownership of technically interesting statutory and financial-control work within a complex charity group.