Financial Accountant

Financial Accountant

Reports to: Financial Accounting Manager

This is a full-time, permanent position on Crick terms and conditions of employment.

Job Summary

The Francis Crick Institute (the Crick) is a partnership between the Medical Research Council (MRC), Cancer Research UK (CRUK), the Wellcome Trust, University College London (UCL), Imperial College London and King’s College London. It is a registered charity whose purpose is to conduct biomedical research into all aspects of human health and disease.

The position of Financial Accountant is a key role in the Finance Operations team, involved in key processes which underpin the sound management of both the Record to Report / General Ledger function and the Order to Cash / Accounts Receivable processes, as well as supporting other control and compliance processes.

This is a role for a fully qualified accountant, or part-qualified working towards qualification, with significant experience in similar roles. The post holder must be able to work efficiently and accurately and be a ‘self-starter’ able to work without constant supervision across a number of tasks in a dynamic and time-constrained environment, managing their own workload and contributing to the success of the Finance function as a whole.

Key Responsibilities

Specific responsibilities will include, but not be limited to:

• Play a key role in the delivery of the month end process and contribute to development of the process.
• Ownership of the balance sheet reconciliation process, providing accurate and timely reconciliations as part of the month end close including liaison with other teams where necessary.
• Maintenance of the fixed asset register including regular verification and impairment reviews.
• Updating and maintaining the customer and supplier master files.
• Contribute to the annual statutory accounts production process including leading on the resolution of audit queries.
• Support the Financial Accounting Manager and the Finance Systems team in ensuring that high quality processes and controls are in place, and reflected in documented process maps. This includes assisting with the ongoing continuous improvement of the Workday system.
• Assist in the update and maintenance of Finance policy documentation.
• Maintain an awareness of the tax position of the Crick and assist in monitoring tax compliance.
• Contribute to the improvement of controls including the effective segregation of duties within the Finance team.
• Support other team processes as necessary including cash management, and management of the Crick’s credit cards.
• Participate in ad hoc finance projects.
• Customer-focused response to ad-hoc queries as they arise.

Skills & Experience

The post holder should embody and demonstrate our core Crick values: bold, imaginative, open, dynamic and collegial, in addition to the following:

Essential:

• A qualified or part-qualified accountant with significant accounting experience in a diverse and complex organisation.
• Experience of participating in delivering year end accounts and the associated processes.
• Excellent organisational skills; able to multi-task and prioritise to hit key deadlines.
• Good communication and interpersonal skills, both written and oral, and able to engage with people at all levels internally and externally.
• Able to contribute towards problem solving and process improvement in the team.
• A team worker, able to work flexibly with others and contribute effectively across a broad range of activities.
• Highly IT literate with sound MS Office skills.

Desirable:

• Experience of using Workday Financials.
• Previous experience of working with not-for-profit / charity reporting requirements and tax environment.
• Previous experience of working in an academic environment.