Accountancy Assistant

The Role

Are you looking for a role that will give you exposure to a wide range of finance activity and the chance to work on projects that really make a difference? 

We have an exciting opportunity for an Accountancy Assistants to join our Contract Financial Management team.  

This team plays a vital role in providing expert funder advice and financial management for the University’s research and non-research projects — often involving multi-million-pound budgets and collaboration with multiple domestic and international institutions. 

This is a varied and rewarding role, giving you the chance to: 

• Make a contribution to all aspects of finance within a large complex organisation 

• Take responsibility for a diverse portfolio of projects 

• Use your initiative and judgement to make decisions and resolve queries 

• Support the CFM Team Leads with training and work allocation 

We’re looking for a confident communicator who is well-organised, customer-focused, and comfortable working to tight deadlines. Strong analytical and systems skills, along with attention to detail, are essential to succeed in this role. 

If you’re ready to build valuable experience and play a key role in supporting impactful projects, we’d love to hear from you. 

Informal enquiries are welcome and should be addressed to Rachel Hunter via email: Rachel.Hunter@newcastle.ac.uk  

Please ensure you upload a covering letter with your CV when applying for this role, evidencing how your skills knowledge  and experience align to the person specification as outlined within the job description.

The Post is full time, permanent.

Key Accountabilities

• Take responsibility for the production of financial claims for the more complex projects to strict deadlines, in accordance with funder regulations and University policies
• Provide comprehensive budgetary and forecast information and advice to researchers on the financial aspects of their funding to enable them to discharge their financial responsibilities on large complex projects
• Attend project set up meetings with Grants and Contracts, Administrators and PIs to advise on appropriate SAP structures and financial management
• Liaise with Research and Enterprise Services contract managers on specific financial matters associated with new and ongoing contracts
• Create complex projects in the SAP financial management system in order to facilitate the most effective structure to ensure appropriate controls are embedded. Projects to Include, multi funded, Research Council, collaborative, foreign funded and other complex awards
• Maintain and update data on the SAP financial management system relating to complex projects (e.g. structure, budget, and timescale)
• Ensure timely closure of completed complex projects in SAP, ensuring that the final reconciliation is complete
• Provide guidance, training and advice to staff within the team on relevant SAP and University procedures and funder regulations
• Manage the preparation of, and communicate with, auditors to arrange timely audit dates
• Oversee the calculation and checking of salary award increase and update the salary budgets in complex projects
• Deputise for the Team Leader where applicable
• Undertake any other duties of a relevant nature as required from time to time.

The Person (Essential)

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

• Recent relevant accountancy experience
• Extensive experience in the reconcilliation and interpretation of financial ledgers
• Demonstrable ability to work accurately under pressure, prioritising own workload and that of the section in order to meet strict funder and University deadlines
• Strong oral and written communication skills in order to effectively disseminate financial information to staff possessing a wide range of financial literacy and to communicate confidently with staff at all levels and with external bodies
• Good interpersonal skills in order to advise and persuade non-finance staff of the possible implications of non-compliance with funders financial regulations
• Proven IT skills (Microsoft Excel and Word) are essential in order to manipulate and interpret data, and experience of SAP and Business Warehouse is desirable
• Demonstrable aptitude to work in a complex organisation consisting of multi discplinary teams
• Working knowledge of costing and pricing issues (desirable)
• Appreciation of VAT and foreign currency issues (desirable)
• Research Funder financial knowledge (desirable)

Attributes and Behaviour

• Identifies quickly what is important and prioritises accordingly whilst monitoring workload and resource within the team
• Ensures that activities are completed on time to meet deadlines
• Communicates with colleagues and stakeholders effectively choosing appropriate tools and tailoring content to the audience, changing style, tone and format appropriately
• Understands the customer / stakeholder requirements and seeks to deliver them
• Looks for ways to make improvements to the service
• Shares relevant and useful information with others and keeps other team members up to date with progress

Qualifications

• Educated to at least A Level standard (minimum of 3, grades A – C) or equivalent standard by experience
• AAT qualified or equivalent (desirable)