Financial Accounting Projects Lead

UCL; Greater London; On-site; GBP 80,000 - 85,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

41 Days holiday

Defined benefit career average revalued earnings pension scheme (CARE)

On-site gym

Enhanced maternity, paternity and adoption pay

Employee assistance programme

Job summary

A leading UK university is seeking a qualified accountant for a fixed term role in their Financial Accounting team. This position provides specialist expertise for the upcoming year-end and statutory audit, focusing on financial compliance and delivery of complex accounting schedules. The ideal candidate will have extensive experience in audit and accounting, and a deep understanding of FRS102 or IFRS. The role offers a competitive salary of £80,000 to £85,000 plus excellent benefits, including generous leave and pension schemes.

Qualifications

• Experience in preparing complex accounting schedules and statutory financial statements.
• Work in a complex, devolved environment.
• Experience of SORP is useful.

Responsibilities

• Prepare and deliver key schedules for the year-end and statutory audit.
• Lead elements of the new accounting framework transition project.
• Ensure the external audit is delivered on time.

Skills

Qualified accountant

Deep experience in audit and accounting

Understanding of external audit methodology

Experience extracting data from Oracle or similar ERPs

Strong understanding of FRS102 or IFRS

Education

ACCA, ACA, or equivalent qualification

Tools

Oracle R12

Job description

UCL is one of the world's leading universities, with high expectations for financial reporting, governance and control across a large and complex organisation.

The Financial Accounting function is responsible for delivery of the UCL Group annual financial statements, management of the statutory audit, and compliance with accounting standards and other regulatory requirements. The team plays a central role in safeguarding the integrity of UCL's financial reporting and supporting the university's wider strategic objectives.

About the role

The Financial Accounting team has recently received significant investment to strengthen its capability and support succession planning. As the expanded team embeds and develops, additional capacity is required to manage immediate delivery risk.

This is a fixed term role for a period of twelve months. In this job you'll provide specialist expertise to support delivery of the 31 July 2026 year end and statutory audit, with responsibility to prepare and deliver key schedules and deliverables as part of the year‑end, lead key elements of the new accounting framework transition project (new FRS 102 and the move to IFRS‑based revenue and leasing rules), increase financial compliance, and address prior year audit findings. This will create the headroom needed for the Head and Deputy Head of Financial Accounting to focus on overall leadership, audit oversight and the Financial Controls Improvement Programme, while ensuring that complex schedules for the year end are prepared and delivered to the required technical standard. The role will also ensure the external audit is delivered in accordance with strict timelines.

The role provides senior technical and programme expertise within Financial Accounting, with direct accountability for delivery of complex and high‑risk elements of the UCL Group annual financial statements and statutory audit.

Salary for this role is likely to be between £80,000 and £85,000, plus excellent benefits. We may be able to pay a little more for an exceptional candidate.

A full job description is attached to this advert.

About you

We're looking for a qualified accountant with the first class technical skills and commitment to hands on delivery. You'll need to have deep experience in audit and accounting, including preparing complex accounting schedules and statutory financial statements. You'll understand external audit methodology (such as sampling approaches, materiality, extrapolation methodologies) and have experience of extracting data from Oracle or similar ERPs.

You’ll certainly have worked in a complex, devolved environment, and have strong understanding of FRS102 or IFRS. Experience of SORP, and working with Oracle R12, would be useful.

Please read our Job Description, paying particular attention to the Essential and Desirable criteria, and ensure these are covered in your application.

What we offer

As well as the exciting opportunities this role presents, we also offer some great benefits some of which are below:

• 41 Days holiday (27 days annual leave 8 bank holiday and 6 closure days)
• Additional 5 days' annual leave purchase scheme
• Defined benefit career average revalued earnings pension scheme (CARE)
• Cycle to work scheme and season ticket loan
• Relocation scheme for certain posts
• On-site gym
• Enhanced maternity, paternity and adoption pay
• Employee assistance programme: Staff Support Service
• Discounted medical insurance

Visit https://www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/rewards-and-benefits to find out more.

Our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

As London's Global University, we know diversity fosters creativity and innovation, and we want our community to represent the diversity of the world's talent. We are committed to equality of opportunity, to being fair and inclusive, and to being a place where we all belong.

We therefore particularly encourage applications from candidates who are likely to be underrepresented in UCL's workforce.

These include people from Black, Asian and ethnic minority backgrounds; disabled people; and for our Grade 9 and 10 roles, women.