The University of Warwick is one of the UK’s great success stories. In less than 50 years since being founded we have become one of the country’s best universities, consistently in the top 10 of UK league tables and rapidly climbing the international rankings of world class universities.
With a reputation for entrepreneurial spirit and group turnover in excess of £500m the University offers exciting career opportunities for accountants.
We are looking for an ambitious and pro-active individual, possessing a recognised professional accountancy qualification and a good honours degree. You will have significant experience within a finance function or within practice and possess a sound knowledge of accounting standards and good overall technical awareness.
This role provides wide exposure to the core activities of the University in a supportive team environment (where the successful candidate will be able to draw upon the experience and knowledge of the other Finance Managers in the team as necessary). As such it is a well suited to those moving into the Higher Education sector for the first time.
This is a finance business partnering role and you will have a portfolio of Departments that you provide professional support to. You will not have line management responsibility, but will have support from the Senior Finance Assistants (qualified to a least AAT level) within the team in the production of management accounts etc. A key element of the role is working with Departments to evaluate new opportunities and developments (which are many and varied).
Job Description
To provide accurate and timely management information as part of the Departmental Services Team to senior University management, Chairs of academic departments and Heads of administrative departments, and for inclusion in reports to external government bodies, in order to aid planning, control and decision-making, especially in the deployment of University resources.
Duties and Responsibilities
Based in the Departmental Services Team in the University’s Finance Office your responsibilities will include:
1. To be responsible for the preparation of financial information for academic and administrative departments, including financial accounts if applicable, management accounts, reports to committees, budgets, five-year plans, cash flow forecasts and project assessments.
2. To assist in the preparation and review of the University group’s management and statutory accounts and five-year plans.
3. To provide financial advice and information to Heads of Departments, other academic members of staff and managers of a wide variety of departments.
4. Special projects, usually involving preparing full business plans and critically appraising such new ventures.
5. To offer constructive criticism, advice and counsel on a variety of financial matters, including possibly pricing policy, market analysis, business risk and performance indicators.
6. To service subsidiary company Boards or University committees, including the preparation of papers on issues requiring decisions.
7. Contract review and appraisal to ensure compliance with University procedures, best practice and commercial application.
8. Routine work and ad hoc assignments as required.
Person Specification
The Person Specification focuses on the knowledge, skills, experience and qualifications required to undertake the role effectively. This is measured by (a) Application Form, (b) Test/Exercise, (c) Interview, (d) Presentation.
Essential Criteria 1
Recognised accountancy qualification (a), (c)
Essential Criteria 2
Broad experience within a finance function, including preparing business plans (a), (c)
Essential Criteria 3
In depth understanding of the structure of large scale finance systems e.g. SAP
Essential Criteria 4
Excellent IT skills, including excel (a), (c)
Essential Criteria 5
Excellent communication, presentation and organisational skills (a), (c)
Essential Criteria 6
Sound knowledge of accounting standards and good overall technical awareness (a), (c)
Essential Criteria 7
Substantial experience of management accounting as well as statutory accounts preparation (a), (c)
Essential Criteria 8
Sound knowledge of VAT and corporation tax (a), (c)
Essential Criteria 9
A good honours degree or equivalent (a), (c)
Essential Criteria 10
Ability to critically evaluate new business opportunities (a), (c)
Desirable Criteria 1
Experience of using SAP (a), (c)
Desirable Criteria 2
Experience of costing (a), (c)
The role is full time (36.5 hours per week) but a part time appointment may be considered (minimum 80%).
For more information please contact Chris Boote on 02476575004 or c.boote@searchhigher.com.
To apply for this role please follow the instructions below or send a CV and Covering Letter to the above email address.