Assistant Accountant - Assets & Investments - Preston

At Places for People, we hire People, not numbers! So, if you like the sound of one of our jobs, please apply - you could be just who we're looking for! Of course, experience and track record are important, but we're more interested in hiring someone that embodies our People Promises. That's someone that does the right thing, is enthusiastic and motivated to grow, believes in Community spirit, is respectful and enjoys their work. As the UK's leading Social Enterprise we're dedicated to creating inclusive and thriving Communities for both our Customers and Employees.

So, what are you waiting for? Join a community that cares about you!

More about your role

• You’ll support the Assets & Investments finance team by helping to deliver accurate and timely management accounting.
• You’ll produce monthly reporting packs including commentary and maintaining financial data across systems.
• You’ll analyse financial performance, investigate variances and support cost centre reporting, helping to ensure accuracy and insight across the business.
• You will attend monthly managing agent meetings and present the monthly financial results, discussing areas of risk and opportunity.
• You’ll also prepare monthly balance sheet reconciliations providing supporting information and resolve any unknown balances, assist with forecasts and business planning, and process journals such as accruals, prepayments and managing agent statements.
• Working closely with both finance and non-finance stakeholders, you’ll support the accuracy of financial information, contribute to improving processes and efficiencies, and ensure all transactions are recorded in line with accounting standards.

This is an initial fixed term contract until October 2027 working out of Preston 2-3 days a week.

Essential criteria

• Working towards a finance qualification (e.g. AAT or equivalent) or relevant practical experience
• Experience supporting budgeting, forecasting or management reporting
• Experience preparing management accounts, including journal postings, balance sheet reconciliations and variance analysis
• Proficiency in Microsoft Excel and financial systems
• Knowledge of accounting standards and finance processes (policies and procedures)

More about you

• You’re building your career in finance and enjoy working with numbers, systems and data to support business decisions.
• You’re comfortable working across a variety of tasks, from reconciliations to reporting, and take pride in producing accurate and reliable work.
• You work well with others and are confident collaborating with both finance and non-finance colleagues to ensure information is correct and meaningful.
• You’re proactive in identifying issues, spotting opportunities for improvement and helping streamline processes.
• You’re organised, detail-focused and keen to continue developing your technical accounting skills.

At Places for People we are committed to a safe working environment so a basic DBS check is mandatory.

Benefits

• We are a large diverse and ambitious business, which will give you all the challenge you could wish for
• We know that there's always more we can do to make you smile, that’s why we offer a comprehensive benefits package with each role, yours will include:
• Competitive salary with regular annual review
• Pension with matched contributions up to 7%
• Bonus scheme for colleagues at 2%
• 35 days holiday (including bank holidays)