Financial Accountant in London

What if your ability to transform tax processes could unlock thousands of pounds in savings while building best-in-class compliance systems for one of the UK's biggest charities? As a Financial Accountant within our Finance & Assurance directorate, you'll be part of a team that's transforming how we deliver financial partnership across the organisation. We're on an ambitious journey to become the Society's single point of financial truth. We aim to be trusted partners and credible experts who enable the organisation to make faster, better-informed decisions.

This is a highly technical, hands-on role where you'll own and improve our tax function. You'll be responsible for the essential technical delivery, preparing VAT returns, managing partial exemption calculations, overseeing Corporation Tax and Gift Aid, ensuring we meet every regulatory requirement. But what sets this role apart is the opportunity to transform how we deliver this work.

You'll drive continuous improvement across all tax processes, identifying inefficiencies, implementing automation, redesigning workflows, and developing robust controls that optimise our position while maintaining compliance. This is your opportunity to leave your mark on a critical area of the finance function. Your process improvement mindset and ability to explain complex matters clearly will help colleagues make tax-efficient decisions.

About you:

• You're a qualified accountant with strong process improvement experience who thrives on identifying inefficiencies and implementing better ways of working.
• You're excited by the prospect of shaping an entire area within a finance function.
• You're a problem-solver who constantly asks, "how can we do this better?" You have a genuine curiosity about how things work and a drive to continuously improve.
• Existing knowledge of VAT compliance, particularly partial exemption, would be beneficial, as would broader familiarity with Corporation Tax, Gift Aid, and other statutory obligations.
• However, what matters most is your appetite to learn and your determination to find better ways forward.

What you'll have:

• Proven experience driving process improvements in a finance environment, demonstrating where you've identified inefficiencies, redesigned workflows, or delivered measurable improvements.
• A CCAB qualification achieved through education, or demonstrable equivalent knowledge and experience that evidences your understanding of the role's requirements.
• Some experience with VAT, Corporation Tax, Gift Aid, or other UK tax regulations. You don't need to be a tax specialist, but you should have exposure to tax compliance and a genuine interest in developing deep expertise in this area.
• The ability to quickly build technical knowledge and confidence in complex tax scenarios, with a problem-solving approach to navigating regulations.
• Experience working with HMRC or other regulatory bodies, demonstrating credibility and professionalism in external relationships.
• Demonstrated experience as a Financial Accountant in a large or complex organisation.
• The ability to work effectively across departments and at all levels, translating complex financial or technical matters into practical guidance.
• Experience with cloud-based ERP systems (we use Unit4) and a mindset of continuous improvement.

What you'll focus on:

• Driving continuous improvement across the tax function.
• Developing robust tax processes and controls that optimise our position while ensuring compliance.
• Overseeing VAT compliance – preparing and reviewing accurate VAT returns, managing partial exemption calculations, and optimising our VAT position.
• Overseeing Corporation Tax and Gift Aid compliance as well as other statutory tax obligations.
• Building and maintaining strong relationships with HMRC, managing enquiries or audits with professionalism.
• Providing clear tax guidance across the Society, empowering colleagues to make tax-efficient decisions.
• Working seamlessly with colleagues across the Finance team to provide integrated financial partnership, while role-modelling our values.

Can you see yourself as the person who transforms our tax function, not just maintains it? Are you ready to shape an entire area within our finance function and make your mark?

Rolling applications

We are accepting applications on a rolling basis for this role. There is no fixed deadline. We will continue to review applications until the role is filled. We encourage you to apply as soon as possible, as we may close the vacancy once we've made a successful appointment.

About Alzheimer's Society

Dementia is the UK's biggest killer. One in three people born in the UK today will develop dementia in their lifetime. At Alzheimer's Society, we're the UK's leading dementia charity and the only one to tackle all aspects of dementia by giving help and hope to people living with dementia today and in the future. We give vital support to people facing the most frightening times of their lives, while also funding ground-breaking research and campaigning to make dementia the priority it should be.

Together with our supporters, we're working towards a world where dementia no longer devastates lives. Our values make sure that our focus is clear for the challenges and opportunities ahead and remind us of what we all stand for.

Our Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

We need to ensure the voices around our table better reflect and understand the communities we exist to serve. We strongly encourage individuals to apply who have a disability, impairment or health condition or individuals from a minority ethnic background, as these groups are currently under-represented at Alzheimer's Society. We want everyone we work with, as a colleague, volunteer, supporter, or someone we support, to feel included and that they belong at Alzheimer's Society.

Our Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy here along with our internal employee forum and Employee Lived Experience network groups help us promote inclusion and belonging, becoming an engaged and inclusive organisation for all our people.

Our hiring process

During your recruitment process we want to make sure that you bring your whole self and can be at your best. We are working hard to ensure our recruitment process is as inclusive as possible, so please do inform us of your experience and anything you think we could do better by completing our candidate survey when you apply. Please also contact Alzheimer's Society Talent Acquisition Team for application support or any adjustments you might need.

To ensure fairness and consistency to select the best candidate for this role, all our applications are anonymised up until an interview has been confirmed. We recognise the benefits of AI, but if you're considering using it to submit your application, we encourage you to reflect on the value it truly adds. AI tools often lack the personal touch and authenticity that set candidates apart. We want to hear your unique perspective, experiences, and skills, so we encourage you to showcase them in your own voice.

We try to avoid closing roles early where possible, however if we receive a high volume of applications, we may close earlier than the advertised closing date. Should this occur, we will aim to provide you with at least 48 hours' notice.

We are committed to safer recruitment and ensuring the welfare of those we work with, due to the nature of some of our roles, we might need to carry out a DBS check at the relevant level.

Giving back to you

Our employees work hard every day to make a true difference in people's lives. We are proud to support them with a range of benefits, recognition and many options for working agilely, all contributing to a strong work life balance. We also have various learning programmes to support you in your development and help you grow to realise your potential and shape a career with Alzheimer's Society.

You can also visit our Working for Us pages, which give you more information about what it's like to be an employee at the Society.