Financial Analyst

Paragon Asra Housing Limited; Leicester; Hybrid; GBP 32,000 - 42,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

High street discount schemes

Health cash plans

26 days annual leave increasing to 29

Flexible bank holidays

Car leasing scheme

Hybrid working with 2–3 days in office

Job summary

PA Housing in Leicester is seeking a Finance Analyst on a six-month fixed-term contract. You will join the Resources team to analyse supplier invoices, allocate expenditure to housing schemes and tenure, and improve the accuracy of financial reporting.

You will work with large data sets, challenge inconsistencies, and present findings clearly to Finance colleagues, with hybrids to office two to three days per week.

Qualifications

• Experience as a finance analyst or in a related accounting role.
• Experience analysing large volumes of invoices and financial data.
• Advanced Excel skills with data analysis techniques.
• Experience developing or applying cost allocation methodologies.
• Attention to detail and ability to explain financial information clearly.
• Experience supporting statutory accounts or year end reporting (desirable).

Responsibilities

• Analyse high volume Repairs supplier invoices and allocate expenditure to housing schemes and tenure.
• Extend analysis to other expenditure categories and support year end reporting.
• Identify scheme/tenure information not captured through PO processes.
• Record evidence, rationale and assumptions; reconcile to the general ledger.
• Investigate anomalies and escalate significant uncertainties.
• Maintain audit trails and work with Finance, Repairs and Property teams.
• Present findings to financial and non-financial colleagues; support process improvements.

Skills

Finance analysis

Data interpretation

Attention to detail

Stakeholder communication

Problem solving

Relationship building

Education

ACA/ACCA/CIMA or equivalent

Tools

Excel

Power Query

Job description

Are you a finance professional who enjoys getting into the detail and turning complex data into clear, useful insight?

We’re looking for an analytical and detail focused Finance Analyst to join our Resources team at PA Housing on a six month fixed term contract.

This is a great opportunity to play an important role in improving the accuracy and reliability of our financial reporting. You’ll work closely with our Repairs team initially, analysing supplier invoices and using available information to allocate expenditure to the correct housing scheme and tenure.

As the role develops, you’ll broaden your focus to other areas of expenditure and support the preparation of the segmental reporting note for our year end financial statements.

You’ll need to be comfortable working with large volumes of data, questioning information that doesn’t look quite right and digging deeper to find the evidence you need. Just as importantly, you’ll be able to explain your findings clearly and work collaboratively with colleagues across Finance and the wider organisation.

This is a role where your analytical skills can make a real difference, helping us strengthen our financial reporting and reduce the need for manual assumptions in the future.

Please note: This is 6 month fixed term contract

What’s in it for you….

In addition to the salary, we offer a number of benefits, including:

• High street discount schemes
• Health cash plans
• 26 days’ annual leave, increasing to 29 after three years, with the opportunity to buy more
• Flexible bank holidays – take them when it suits you
• Car leasing scheme
• Hybrid working – offering you the flexibility to thrive in your role. You'll have the opportunity to blend the best of both worlds, spending approximately two to three days per week in the office once settled in the role. This is flexible and depends on meeting cycles and board activity. We also offer an optional nine-day fortnight scheme, allowing you to compress your hours if it suits the role.

What you’ll be doing……

• Analyse high volume Repairs supplier invoices and supporting records, allocating expenditure to the correct housing scheme and tenure wherever the available evidence allows
• Extend the analysis to other significant expenditure categories and prepare robust allocation schedules to support year end financial reporting
• Use invoice information and other data sources to identify scheme and tenure information that is not captured through the purchase order process
• Make timely initial allocations, clearly recording the evidence, rationale and any assumptions used
• Reconcile allocations to the general ledger and cross check information against housing, property, repairs, asset and supplier data
• Investigate exceptions, incomplete records and unusual trends, escalating significant uncertainties where needed
• Identify and correct data quality issues that could affect financial reporting
• Maintain a clear audit trail covering source information, methodologies, assumptions, reconciliations and changes made
• Work closely with colleagues across Finance, Repairs, Property Services, Asset Management and other teams to understand transactions and validate your analysis
• Liaise with budget holders, operational colleagues and suppliers where additional information is needed
• Produce accurate analysis and regular progress updates to support year end delivery
• Present your findings and recommendations clearly to both financial and non financial colleagues
• Identify opportunities to improve coding, data quality and financial analysis processes
• Develop repeatable templates, reconciliations and procedures that can support future reporting
• Make practical recommendations to reduce manual intervention and improve the quality of future financial reporting

We recommend you read the full job description to get a really good understanding of what the role entails, you can find this as a downloadable attachment at the bottom of the advert.

What we’re looking for:

We’d love to hear from you if you:

• Have experience in a finance analyst, project accounting, financial reporting or management accounting role
• Are qualified or part qualified through ACA, ACCA, CIMA or an equivalent qualification, or have gained equivalent experience
• Have experience analysing high volumes of invoices, transactions and complex financial datasets
• Have advanced Excel skills, including PivotTables, Power Query, lookups, reconciliations and other data analysis techniques
• Have experience developing or applying cost allocation methodologies where source information is incomplete
• Enjoy investigating anomalies, testing assumptions and checking financial information against different data sources
• Have excellent attention to detail and take pride in producing accurate and auditable work
• Are confident explaining financial information to colleagues who may not have a finance background
• Can build effective relationships across different teams and are comfortable asking questions when information is missing or unclear
• Are highly organised and able to manage phased deliverables and challenging year end deadlines
• Can work independently while also collaborating effectively with colleagues across the organisation
• Are confident using data to identify improvements and make practical recommendations
• Bring a positive, proactive and solutions focused approach to your work
• Have experience within social housing, property management or a repairs and maintenance environment (desirable)
• Have knowledge of housing tenures, schemes and financial reporting requirements for registered providers (desirable)
• Have experience supporting statutory accounts, year end audit or segmental reporting (desirable)

If specific qualifications are required, please upload them with your application to demonstrate your eligibility.

At PA Housing, we believe in respect, integrity, and accountability. Our work is about people – not just properties – and we’re always looking for ways to do better. If that sounds like your kind of place, we’d love to hear from you.