Assistant Accountant

VANRATH is pleased to be recruiting for an Assistant Accountant for Grammar School in the greater Belfast area. It has a national reputation for academic success and is locally renowned for sport and drama. The overall size of the school and small class size allows each individual pupil to develop in a caring and supportive environment. The successful applicant will be responsible for taking accounts to trial balance and preparing management accounts. Moreover, it is essential the successful candidate has strong communication skills and is highly organised.

The Ideal Candidate
The ideal candidate will be a part qualified accountant (ATI, ACCA or CIMA) or qualified by experience. It is essential the successful candidate has previous experience of taking accounts to a trial balance and has had some exposure to preparing management accounts. The successful candidate will report to the Bursar and support the whole finance function. The successful candidate will have the following:

1. Part qualified accountant with recognised accounting body (e.g. ACCA, CIMA) or qualified by experience.
2. At least two years' experience working in a finance office.
3. Experience in month end process, including management accounts, budgeting, month end reconciliations and journal posting.
4. Excellent IT skills, including Microsoft Excel at an advanced level.
5. Ability to work well independently and also as part of a team.
6. Having initiative and being self-motivated, and diligent, to accomplish tasks unsupervised.
7. Excellent planning and organising skills, including the ability to work to deadline.
8. Highly skilled in numeracy and focused on working efficiently, with an emphasis on attention to detail and accuracy.
9. Ability to form relationships and communicate with staff, stakeholders and the wider school community at all levels.
10. Experience of dealing with confidential and sensitive information

The Role
This role calls for an experienced finance professional, who is keen to work in a varied and busy role which can offer career progression. The successful candidate will report to the Bursar and is responsible for the following:

Finance

• Preparation of monthly management accounts and analysis
• Assist in annual budget process
• Co-ordinate and collate the annual budgets for the heads of department within the school
• Provide regular management accounting information
• Document and update the financial processes and procedures, and ensure these are reviewed on an annual basis
• Assist in the review and update of financial policies

Accounts Receivable

• Administration of the Accounts Receivable system
• Preparation of termly invoices for school fees and other receivables
• Posting the fees invoices to the Financial Management System
• Receiving income for school fees via debit/credit card, cash and cheques
• Setting up of new direct debits with banks
• Preparation of monthly direct debit collections
• Posting income received to the correct debtor accounts and reconciling debtor control accounts monthly
• Preparation of financial reports
• Credit control for all fee and other income accounts including direct contact of parents on a regular basis
• Following up on outstanding debts in line with school procedures including liaising with solicitors as necessary for referral of bad debtors
• Preparation of bank lodgements and supporting analysis as required
• Preparation of invoices for hire of school facilities and following up outstanding invoices

Accounts Payable

• Posting purchase invoices to Accounts Payable system
• Reconciliation of supplier control accounts to the Nominal Ledger
• Preparation of payment lists for direct payment of suppliers
• Allocation of funds to departments and printing monthly accounts
• Placing purchase orders for departmental heads
• Reconciliation of receipts to credit card monthly statements
• Posting of credit card expenses to General Ledger
• VAT Returns

Bank & Cash

• Receipt of cash and reconciliation of bank accounts
• Banking of cash/cheques
• Reconciliation of all methods of income including, BACs, online, cash, cheques and Parentmail
• Petty cash management

Canteen Income

• Cashless canteen system maintenance including pupil and staff revaluations
• Maintaining a record of Free School Meals Eligibility
• Recording and reporting on free school meals uptake
• Making Free School Meals Returns to Education Authority as required

Administration

• Administrative support to the Bursar in relation to personnel records, absence & recruitment
• Assisting with a system of disposal of records in line with GDPR and assisting with ensuring that the school is compliant with GDPR
• Administration linked to SIMS/Parentmail
• Such other duties as are considered commensurate with this role

The Benefits
My client has a generous remuneration package on offer to attract the best talent, in a very competitive market…

• Competitive salary up to £30,095
• 32 days holidays

For further information on this vacancy, or any other Accounting and Finance job in Belfast or wider Northern Ireland, please apply via the link below or contact Hannah MacLaren in the strictest confidence.