Senior Finance Consultant
Hours: 37 hours per week
Weeks: 52 weeks per year
Salary: £40,000+ (depending on experience)
Holiday: 22 days plus bank holidays*
Looking for candidates based in: Kent, Essex or Surrey.
Start Date: TBC
Benefits
At EduFin we pride ourselves on providing excellent benefits for our employees, they include:
· Excellent career progression prospects
· Team days out
· Regular training
· Healthcare plan
· Study package and support where relevant to individual
· Pension scheme
· Occasional remote working
· Opportunity to take part in company charity events.
About Us
We are an established consultancy company working in the education finance sector. In our 10th year of trading we are looking to grow the team once again.
We are a friendly team and have a positive, upbeat, happy culture. We pride ourselves on being flexible for our staff and provide a good work life balance, but in return we’re looking commitment and passion.
We have offices in East Malling, however this role will be based at your home address and will require regular travel to clients’ premises. Mileage will be reimbursed to you at the HMRC rate.
Person Specification
Although an Accountancy qualification and/or relevant school or charity experience is desirable, they are not essential. We are strong believers of employing for attitude and training necessary skills.
The majority of our clients use PS Financials software, therefore experience of this would be desirable, however again, not essential.
We pride ourselves on going that extra mile for our clients and want our staff to have that same can-do attitude.
We aim to ensure all client requests are fulfilled; managing all expectations to ensure that they always remain happy with the service that they receive.
As a member of the EduFin team you will be expected to always present a professional image of yourself and the company.
Some days will require home working therefore a high level of self-motivation is required.
You will need a clean driving licence and access to a vehicle. You will also need a clean enhanced DBS check which will be initiated by EduFin at the time of employment.
The Role
As an employee with EduFin, you will gain fantastic insight and experience into the education finance sector. The breadth of the support we offer our clients gives great exposure and ensures that there is never a dull day!
The senior consultant role is a vast one and can include;
Training school finance staff on the relevant finance software we use.
Absence cover for Finance Manager / Controller level roles.
Preparation of monthly management accounts.
Management of school budgets and forecasts.
Assisting clients and auditors with the financial statements and year end audit.
Reporting to Senior Management / Trustees.
Advising clients on best practice based on the Academies Financial Handbook.
We also run a Helpdesk, a hosting platform and have designed various software packages; so, if you like IT as well as finance then you will never be bored with us!
Duties
Although the majority of your working day will be on site, fulfilling a role or tasks as set by the client, there are additional responsibilities that this level of role comes with such as;
Keeping your planner up to date at all times; notifying line manager of any gaps
Ensuring client work is scheduled in the planner accordingly to ensure client deadlines / requirements are met
Ensuring client work is adequately covered when on annual leave; whether by another EduFin consultant, or rearranged to your return
Being responsible for arranging client work, i.e. equipment needed for training
Being a professional face of EduFin at all times
Taking responsibility for the level of work delivered at all times
Looking for opportunities to promote our services such as Helpdesk / Connect / Software / Consultancy (yourself and others)
Having a presence on LinkedIn on behalf of the company
Keeping on top of sector changes to provide the best service possible to clients
Keeping up an adequate level of CPD; sourcing your own training opportunities in the areas required to improve your service to clients (funding requests to line manager)
Being responsible for the training and development of junior members of the team as required
Ensuring you are always delivering added value to clients, both on site and via helpdesk / email communication
Having an input and focus on marketing needs of the company
Any other duties as required from the directors
Potential Client Duties
Some duties that may be expected of you when on site include but are not limited to the following;
General
Ensure that all transactions are actioned in line with the client’s financial policies, DfE guidance and within statutory financial regulations.
Duties possibly expected by the client;
Purchase Ledger
Posting the below documents to the clients accounting software in a timely manner with great accuracy:
Purchase Requisition
Purchase Orders
Goods Received Notes
Purchase Invoices
Create new suppliers and perform relevant checks
Create BACS/Cheque payment runs
Ensure that all expenditure is recorded against the relevant nominal code and cost centre, and that the correct VAT code is used
Receive and check statements from suppliers
Investigate and action any issues that arise with regards to creditors
Any other purchase ledger maintenance duties requested by the client
Sales ledger
Raise sales invoices as requested by the client on the system in a timely manner
Ensure that all income is recorded against the relevant nominal code and cost centre, and that the correct VAT code is used
Ensure that all requests for sales invoices are processed and sent promptly
Ensure that all invoices are monitored and chased to ensure prompt payment
Any other sales ledger maintenance duties requested by the client
Bank account
Ensure that the bank accounts are controlled and monitored
Ensure that paying in slips/ remittances are received and processed on the accounting system in a timely manner
Ensure that the bank accounts are reconciled on a weekly basis and that any outstanding items are dealt with promptly
Reconcile the bank accounts monthly ensuring that all unreconciled items on the bank statement are investigated.
Any other bank account maintenance duties requested by the client
Other balance sheet items
Ensure that petty cash returns are received and processed on the accounting system in a timely manner and that a month end reconciliation is undertaken to ensure that actual funds held balance to the ledger
Ensure that credit card returns are received and processed on the accounting system in a timely manner
Ensure that all adjustments for prepayments, accruals, accrued and deferred income are processed on a monthly basis
Ensure that all balance sheet control accounts are completed on a monthly basis as part of the month end process
Payroll
Working with the client to ensure that the monthly payroll costs are posted and reconciled against the finance system
Provide financial support and advice to assist budget holders within Academies in maintaining their budgets (produce and distribute the monthly cost centre reports for budget holders)
Income
Post all relevant grant income received
Work with the SEN coordinator for each academy to ensure that all SEN funding is received correctly from each local authority
Work with the client and the local authority finance teams to ensure that each academy receives the correct allocation of funding
Budgeting
Support clients with the preparation of 3–5-year budgets
Maintain a working budget for all changes as applicable
Ensure management accounts outturns are accurate as per the working budget
Ensure assumptions are accurate and a schedule maintained for backing info to the budget
Reporting
Prepare year end working papers for auditors
Ensure regular reporting for specific funding, i.e. PP / SEN / PSG / Covid / etc
Prepare month end management accounts packs as per DfE guidance and client expectations in an accurate and timely manner. To include;
Balance Sheet and supporting schedules
Income and Expenditure Variance Analysis and Forecast Outturn
Cashflow Forecast
Executive Summary
KPI’s
Other
Provide financial support and advice to assist budget holders within Academies in maintaining their budgets (produce and distribute the monthly cost centre reports for budget holders)
Prepare VAT returns and submit to HMRC accordingly
Deliver training, both 1:1 and group sessions
Maintain a capital reconciliation throughout the year
Maintain Fixed Asset Registers
Post Opening Balance Journals as required from the auditors and complete system roll forwards / year end close downs
Advise client and implement best practice methods
System maintenance requirements as requested by the client / needs recognised by yourself
General system support
Mentoring or managing client staff where necessary
Hold meetings with Senior Leaders / Governors / Trustees as required.
To apply for this vacancy please send your CV along with a short statement as to why you would be great for this role to info@edufin.co.uk.
*EduFin is closed between Christmas and the new year, using 5 days annual leave over this period is mandatory, however after 1 year of service you qualify for an additional 3 days leave.