General Assistant Accountant

Derby; East Midlands; Hybrid; GBP 31,000 - 32,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Generous annual leave (38 days incl. B

Wellbeing benefits and Employee Assist

Cycle to Work and staff discounts

Job summary

The University of Derby is seeking a finance professional to support month-end, budgeting and forecasting processes. Experience with payroll costings, intercompany reconciliations and Oracle Finance Cloud will be essential.

The role combines on-site duties with a flexible hybrid framework, including remote work up to three days per week. The successful candidate will work within a modern finance team, contributing to continuous improvement, system upgrades and robust financial controls, while

Qualifications

• Experience in general accounting, including month-end and year-end processes.
• Preparation of payroll journals to the general ledger and pay forecasting models.
• Reconciliation of intercompany costings and producing month-end reports.

Responsibilities

• Prepare month-end items such as sub-ledger reconciliations and accruals.
• Post monthly payroll costing data into the nominal ledger and run forecasting models.
• Reconcile budgeted and forecasted intercompany costings and issue intercompany invoices.

Skills

General Accounting

Accounts receivable/payable

Payroll costing

Excel

Oracle Finance Cloud

Communication skills

Education

GCSE Maths and English

AAT qualification or equivalent

Tools

Oracle Finance Cloud

Job description

£30,577 to £32,455 per annum (for exceptional performers, there is scope for further progression up to £37,323.25 per annum)

Hybrid
This role will be based on site, primarily in the named location. Currently, this role offers the opportunity to work remotely, normally 3 day/s a week in line with our Adaptive Working Framework.

We have one simple promise – to make a positive impact. Through our ground-breaking research, teaching excellence and commitment to sustainable living, we are changing lives for the better.

The University of Derby is a modern university with a modern outlook. Everything we do is driven by delivering excellence and opportunities for our students, our staff and our region.

We have some of the best university facilities in the UK and achieve outstanding results for our teaching and research and have been awarded Gold in the prestigious Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) 2023 – making it one of the top universities in the country recognised for its outstanding student experience and student outcomes.

Financially strong and seriously ambitious we offer our employees an inclusive culture that centres itself around staff wellbeing, where you can be confident you will receive all the help and encouragement you need to build a rewarding career with lots of opportunities to enhance your skills.

The Finance team plays a crucial role in enabling the University to deliver on its strategic aims. This involves managing and maximising the University’s financial resources while providing expert financial advice and support to the wider University community. Our responsibilities encompass a wide range of essential functions, including providing strategic business partnering, delivering value from supplier relationships, managing effective working capital and cashflow and providing key financial support for our students. Additionally, we oversee all aspects of payroll and pensions management, and deliver comprehensive support for financial systems, tax compliance, and audit needs. Through these activities, we provide assurance to the University community around the financial health and efficiency of the University, supporting its mission and operations.

We are seeking a finance professional to support the delivery of key financial processes across the University. This role plays a vital part in the preparation of month and year-end accounts, budgeting, forecasting, reconciliations, and management accounting activities. Working closely with other areas in finance to ensure accurate and timely monthly period close, preparation of accruals, ensuring Funding Council income is properly recognized and reconciled. The role requires preparation of payroll journals to general ledger, and liaison with team members to ensure accurate reporting of monthly payroll costings used for Forecasting models.

The role requires contribution to continuous improvement by championing best practice and digital solutions. There will be involvement in scheduled testing of our cloud based Finance system upgrades, and ongoing management of system controls around Budgets, General Ledger coding and hierarchy updates, helping to ensure robust financial control and compliance. There are also reconciliations to prepare for Financial Auditors.

You will have experience in general accounting, including accounts receivable and/or payable. With an understanding of month-end and year-end accounting processes, you will have worked with a Finance system to pre-agreed deadlines. Attention to detail and accuracy in all areas, including Excel spreadsheets, to record and produce reconciliations for Management review.

You have strong communication and customer service skills, building positive relationships with colleagues and stakeholders and explaining financial information clearly to non-finance staff. A collaborative team player, you enjoy contributing to a high-performing environment, adapting to change and identifying opportunities to improve processes and efficiency.

You will have GCSE Maths and English (or equivalent experience) and either hold an AAT qualification, have equivalent experience, or be willing to work towards AAT through an apprenticeship route.

• To prepare month-end accounting items such as sub-ledger reconciliations (liaising with other Finance teams), recharges and departmental transfers, GRNI and other Accounts Payable accruals.
• To prepare and post monthly payroll costing data in a timely basis into the nominal ledger and produce pay forecasting models, ensuring confidentiality at all times.
• To reconcile budgeted and forecasted intercompany costings. To produce monthly intercompany invoices in the Oracle Finance cloud based system.
• To support the production of monthly Funding Council income reconciliations, in preparation for Year End and audit.
• To assist in the management of the month end timetable; ensuring that deadlines are adhered to both within Core Team and by other contributors.
• To contribute to the creation of systems, reports and procedures that drive accuracy, quality and continuous improvement, with a particular emphasis on digitization.
• To assist in the year end preparation including all reconciliations, coding reviews and ledger close downs.
• On a monthly basis, by providing corrective advice and information, ensure reconciliation of internal income and cost, and of intercompany balances.
• To maintain commitment control and other hierarchical coding structures in the Oracle Finance cloud based system.
• To provide training on ORACLE functionality out to the Business as required i.e. dashboards, how to etc.
• To produce and distribute system and ad hoc reports to the Business, using appropriate tools/format.
• To carry out any other duties or projects, consistent with the role and level of the post, as may be required from time to time.
• To ensure all duties are carried out in a manner consistent with University Core Values and with due regard to Health & Safety and Equality & Diversity legislation.
• GCSE Maths and English Language at Grade C or above or equivalent experience
• AAT or equivalent relevant work experience, or willingness to achieve this qualification through the apprenticeship route within an agreed timeframe

Experience

• General Accounting experience including accounts receivables or payables

Skills, knowledge & abilities

• A good knowledge of the key financial and business systems in an organisation
• Ability to use on-line Finance tools to generate detailed costings reports, or creating and running ad hoc reports, or use of varied digital solutions in a Finance environment
• Strong communication skills, ability to build positive relationships
• Reconciliation and financial reporting skills
• Ability to consistently achieve deadlines and timetables to a high-quality standard
• Ability to teamwork within and beyond the immediate team, adopt a quality service ethos and contribute collegiately to the achievement of team goals
• The desire to be part of a high performing team
• Ability to adapt positively to change
• Accuracy and attention to detail
• Strong customer focus, including responding to email and MS Teams queries and issues.
• Ability to identify improvements in systems and processes to maximize efficiency and effectiveness of the University
• Ability to communicate finance issues to non finance staff

Business requirements

• Willingness to provide support at University events from time to time e.g., Graduation, Clearing and Open Days, (some of these events occur outside of normal working hours, such as evenings and weekends)
• Able to recognise the need and be willing to work outside of normal hours at times as relevant to achieving service delivery, targets and deadlines, including evenings and weekends when occasion demands

Experience

• Experience of working within the Higher Education Sector
• Generous annual leave entitlement of 38 days inclusive of bank holidays and concessionary days (pro rata)
• Suite of holistic wellbeing benefits and support including family-friendly policies, generous sick pay provision and comprehensive Employee Assistance Programme
• Access to a variety of staff discounts at high street retailers
• Discounted onsite gym
• Cycle to Work scheme
• A flexible working environment
• A commitment to personal and professional development

For further information and informal enquiries regarding the role, please contact Laura Mahal, Core Team Leader via [e-mail]

For enquiries regarding your application and for sponsorship eligibility, please contact the recruitment team via [e-mail] .

The University is unable to sponsor the employment of international workers under the Skilled Worker route for this role; however, applications are welcome from candidates who are able to demonstrate an alternative right to work in the UK.

Equity, diversity and inclusion

The University of Derby is committed to fostering an open, inclusive and diverse community where everyone is treated with dignity, fairness and respect. We are committed to advancing equity, diversity and inclusion regardless of age, disability, gender identity, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief (or none), sex or sexual orientation.

As a Disability Confident employer, we are committed to inclusive recruitment and welcome requests for adjustments throughout the recruitment process. Applicants may choose their preferred title, including 'Mx', and may share preferred pronouns if they wish. We also use anonymised shortlisting to help reduce the impact of unconscious bias. For more information on equity,diversityand inclusion at the University of Derby, pleasevisitour website .

We are also committed to promoting academic freedom and freedom of speech and expression within the law, in line with our Code of Practice , and value diversity of thought alongside diversity of backgrounds and experiences.

However you identify, we welcome applications from people whose experiences, perspectives and talents will contribute to our inclusive, supportive and intellectually vibrant community.

Environmental Sustainability

At the University of Derby, we are passionate about embedding sustainability into everything that we do. We aim to bring environmental sustainability into all aspects of the University, including teaching, research and operational activities. In line with the University's strategic framework, we expect all our staff to embed sustainability into their working practices and support the University's objective to reach net zero carbon by 2050.