Senior JV Reporting Accountant

Unite Group; Bristol; On-site; GBP 55,000 - 75,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading company in the student accommodation space is looking for a Senior Reporting Manager in Bristol. The role involves managing the accounting for joint venture funds, coaching a team of accountants, and ensuring compliance with financial reporting standards. Candidates should possess strong leadership skills and be adept in technical accounting with extensive experience.

Benefits

Discretionary annual bonus

25 days paid holiday

Generous pension scheme

Health & wellbeing benefits

Enhanced family leave

Employee Life Assurance

Qualifications

• 5+ years post qualification experience required.
• Experience in financial reporting in a corporate environment.
• Self-starter with a mentality of continuous improvement.

Responsibilities

• Lead and manage a small team of qualified accountants.
• Responsible for accounting and reporting for two joint venture funds.
• Handle month-end tasks and support business queries.

Skills

Communication

Leadership

Technical accounting knowledge (UK GAAP)

Advanced MS Excel

Education

Qualified finance professional (ACA/ACCA/CIMA)

Tools

Oracle

Accounts production software

Job description

The Role

Our fantastic Finance team is looking for an experienced Senior Reporting Manager to join the team in Bristol. This role sits within the Group Reporting Team and takes responsibility for accounting and reporting for two joint venture funds, as well as managing a small team of qualified accountants. In addition, supporting the wider business regarding fund-specific queries, assisting with month-end tasks, JV management reporting, and dealing with technical requests like corporate structure changes.

What You`ll Be Doing

• The Senior JV reporting accountant reports into the Group Financial Controller, and is part of the Group Reporting leadership team, playing an active role in how the team continues to develop and grow.
• Leadership and coaching of three qualified reporting accountants, ensuring that their work is produced to a high standard, as well as wider engagement across the finance team.
• Leading on accounting for corporate transactions, changes in ownership fund ownership and internal property movements.
• The overarching responsibility of this role is accounting and reporting for two of Unite Students joint venture funds - The Unite Student UK Accommodation Fund ("USAF") and The London Student Accommodation Joint Venture (LSAV). Delivering through the team, the role is responsible for:
  • Timely completion of quarterly JV reporting tasks to external investors including the production of flash Net Asset value reports. This includes additional journals, preparing management accounts, explaining movements, and producing balance sheet reconciliations.
  • Reporting to support bank reporting / debt management
  • Managing the internal recharging / transfer of income, cost and capital expenditure from the Group`s shared service company.
  • Liaising with joint venture/ investment fund finance business partners (`FBPs) to reflect any changes to fund structures in the appropriate reporting period
  • Production of consolidated legal accounts for the top companies in USAF and LSAV.
  • Setting up and reporting on new University partnership JV`s
  • Accounting and reporting for Unite Foundation (charity)
  • Accounting for Developments and liaising with FBP`s on reporting
  • Production of ad-hoc reports as required by stakeholders across the business and cost centre budget holders
  • VAT reconciliations and posting
  • Review of IT Capex/ work-in-progress reconciliation and reporting on a monthly basis,
  • Supporting legal cladding claims as an SME
• Ad-hoc tasks, such as working through technical aspects of corporate restructures, securitised debt facilities, and equity related transactions, such as distributions and redemptions,
• Other tasks to cover for team members during periods of transformation project work.

What We`re Looking for in You

• Qualified finance professional (ACA/ACCA/CIMA) with at least 5 years post qualification experience, including experience of management accounting within a complex group structure.
• Experience in financial reporting within a corporate, time-pressured environment.
• Up-to-date technical accounting knowledge (UK GAAP) and experience applying it in reporting.
• Excellent IT skills, including advanced MS Excel (Lookups, Pivot tables).
• Self-starter demonstrating initiative, ability to work at pace, prioritise workloads, and manage multiple demands effectively while maintaining high accuracy and attention to detail.
• Ability to communicate effectively at all levels, develop good working relationships, and provide first-class service to stakeholders.
• A mentality of continuous improvement.
• Experience with Oracle and accounts production software

What You`ll Get in Return

• A discretionary annual bonus so you can share in the company`s success
• 25 days` paid holiday and an annual holiday buying scheme, with 5 additional days awarded for long service
• A generous pension scheme - employer contributions between 5% and 11% depending on how much you save
• Various benefits to support your health and wellbeing including a Healthcare Cash Plan, an Employee Assistance Programme, a Wellbeing platform and a Gym benefit that you can share with your family and friends
• Enhanced Family Leave including 18 weeks full pay for birthing parents and 4 weeks for non-birthing parents
• Lots of other great benefits including an annual ShareSave scheme, Employee Life Assurance, a discounts portal and more!

About Unite Students

Founded in 1991, Unite Students is a FTSE 100business and the UK`s leading provider of purpose-built student accommodation. You can find us in 25 leading university towns and cities, with 74,000 students calling US home! We are driven by our values, culture, and a commitment to develop diverse and inclusive teams, filled with positive energy and new ideas.

Instinctive inclusion. We know that to create and maintain a happy healthy organisation, we have to work hard to ensure inclusion isn`t just what we do but who we are.

People make Unite Students. Employees, students and neighbours all contribute to building environments where we can all thrive.

Room for Everyone

We`re proud to be an employer that embraces individuality, and we`re passionate about building inclusive teams. We focus on creating a collaborative culture where you can be you, where your voice is heard, and where you can truly belong. We take great pride in being rated Gold Investors in People and are constantly striving to provide the highest standard of learning and development opportunities and professional pathways for our people. Building a home for success, for both our employees and students, requires exceptional people with a passion for creating room for everyone, doing what`s right, keeping US safe, and raising the bar. Join us as we build better experiences for students that live with us.

We are US.