Job description
Job: Accountant
Type: Temporary
Location: Greater Belfast
Salary:£41,020 (+£4,550 salary supplement p.a.)
Hours of work: 37 Hours Per Week (Monday – Friday)
The Job Role:
The Finance Office offers a range of financial services to our client, order to deliver these services, the Office is comprised of a number of teams.
The accountant will have responsibility for a number of key functions within the Finance Office, including the supervision of a small team of book-keeping staff and accounting staff.
The accountant has responsibility for a range of functions including the oversight of accounts payable and accounts receivable teams, the preparation of monthly journals, trial balance reconciliations, VAT returns and monthly forecasting and variance analysis.
The accountant will assist the Senior Accountant with the preparation of the Interim and Annual Report and Resource Accounts and undertake the administration and maintenance of the computerised accounting systems.
The accountant will be expected to work across a number of different functional areas.
The main duties and responsibilities of the role:
The main duties are:
· Supporting the Senior Finance Office Management Team in the effective management of the Finance Office and maintaining a positive working environment.
· Managing a team of staff to plan, organise, co-ordinate and monitor the provision of efficient and effective Financial Services to the managers, staff, Members and Parties.
· Preparing monthly prepayment and accrual journals.
· Assisting either of the Senior Accountants with producing monthly general ledger control account reconciliations. This includes but is not limited to reconciliations of the bank accounts, the net pays control accounts, pension liability control accounts and the VAT control accounts, by analysing transactions and investigating costing errors and unreconciled amounts.
· Administration of the monthly internal management accounting processes. This includes but is not limited to running the monthly budget reports and analysing expenditure and variances in advance of monthly meetings and where appropriate producing revised forecasts for inclusion in the management accounts.
· Producing high quality, reliable, accurate and timely financial information for internal and external stakeholders. This includes monthly management accounts with detailed variance analysis.
· Assisting with the preparation of the Interim and Annual Report and Resource Accounts as required. This includes but is not limited to analysing expenditure reports, reconciling balance sheet accounts and ensuring all postings and analysis are completed in a timely manner;
· Administration and maintenance of the Accounts Payable purchase ordering system, including access control, updating financial tracking information and assisting the team with resolving queries, or assisting end users with operational issues.
· Providing a quality assurance role for the work of the team, ensuring information and guidance issued is accurate and complies with policies, current legislation or HMRC best practice;
· Managing information and records in accordance with established policies and statutory requirements;
· Assisting with the preparation of FOI responses, by running reports, collating, analysing and verifying data held in the accounting system;
· Maintaining an up-to date understanding of current public sector accounting requirements under the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) regime and ensuring continual professional development is undertaken for the qualifications noted below;
· Interpreting and applying a number of key corporate policies, ensuring guidance is up to date and that the policies are correctly applied by the team and claims are compliant. Assisting with policy development;
· Complying with all of the Assembly Commission’s staff policies and procedures including Equal Opportunities and Dignity at Work policies and procedures and all mandatory training requirements; and
· You may also be required to carry out other duties that the Assembly Commission reasonably requires of you.
Essential Criteria:
Applicants must, by the closing date for applications have:
1. Successfully completed the professional examinations
and have met the practical experience for membership of one of the professional bodies detailed below and either be a full current member or be expected to attain full membership of one of these bodies within the next 12 months:
(a) The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants.
(b) The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland.
(c) The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Scotland.
(d) The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.
(e) The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants; or
(f) The Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy.
2. At least one years’ experience gained in the last five years of preparing financial or management accounts for a public, commercial or voluntary sector organisation in accordance with the IFRS regime as adopted for the UK;
3. Experience using Microsoft Office packages, to include MS Word, Excel, and Outlook.
4. At least one year’s experience gained in the last five years of monitoring budgets and reporting on the allocation of resources for a public, commercial or voluntary sector organisation.