School Accountant in Melksham

The School Accountant reports to the Bursar. The role includes being responsible for the preparation of management and annual statutory accounts, budgeting and forecasting and maintaining the School’s financial controls and assistance with producing payroll, school fee invoices and the rest of the sales ledger, purchase ledger including purchasing.

Main Duties

• Prepare annual budget schedules for the School, including supporting documentation and all elements of income and expenditure, including salaries, for review.
• Prepare monthly management accounts, including updates for budget-holders, variance analysis and full-year projections and other updates as agreed with the General Manager and Director.
• Monitor all financial transactions and ensure best practice.
• Identify and inform the General Manager of the causes of any significant variance and recommend prompt corrective action.
• Manage the annual closedown and preparation of financial year-end figures.
• Support with the audit process and prepare necessary working papers and audit file.
• Assist with the review of the draft statutory financial statements prepared by the external auditors prior to submission to the Proprietors, to ensure accuracy and compliance.
• Review working practices and drive forward new technologies to streamline the functions of the department, including financial access across the school.

Day-to-Day Operations Finance System

• Ensure accurate monthly recording and reporting of transactions, including posting of supplier invoices, relevant journals, including prepayments and accruals.
• Manage the month-end process and ensure that reporting is done on time and accurately, working towards given deadlines.
• Produce and update balance sheet reconciliations.
• Assist with the general day-to-day tasks of the finance function where required, including banking cheques, prepare supplier accounts for payment, reconciling debtors and creditors, maintaining petty cash, reconciling and inputting any bank transactions daily, prepare staff expenses for payment, credit card reconciliation etc.
• Provide cover for the Accounts Administrator as and when required.
• Analyse and reconcile control accounts monthly.
• Producing monthly management accounts for review and presentation to the General Manager and Director.

Payroll and Pensions

• Preparation and execution of the monthly payroll.
• Produce salary analyses and benchmarking as required, including HR snapshots and KPIs.
• Support the Marketing & Admissions, Senior Leadership Team (SLT) and other departments with ad hoc queries.

Income

• Assist with the invoicing of fees, fee concessions, Early Years Funding claims and all disbursements.
• Completing a Fee Analysis showing full breakdown of all fees and related fee concessions, agreeing to future turnover figures.
• Support with debtor management and pursue recovery of debts.
• Assist with the process of checking and recording any discounts offered.

Expenditure

• Monitor service contracts and utility costs on a monthly basis.
• Produce analysis of key areas of spend and track costs as required.
• Report actual expenditure against educational budgets when appropriate and providing detail and support to budget holders on request.
• Advise budget holders on planning and spending to ensure legitimate, cost effective and appropriate use of funds.

Assets

• Assist Bursar in managing bank accounts with reference to maintaining an appropriate level of funds in the current account and transferring surplus funds to savings/deposit accounts, ensuring the School gets the best value return on its capital.
• Maintain a Fixed Asset register and depreciate assets.

Projects

• Provide project support, including but not limited to, assistance with the tender process, payback period analysis, proposal reports and cashflows.
• Support the Principal, Director or SLT with the preparation and presentation of Business Cases for major projects.
• Assisting in the marketing and development of the school in consultation with the Marketing & Admissions team through business plans and strategic assessment.
• Oversee all capital projects on behalf of the school, particularly from a financial point of view.

Other

• Scrutinise monthly pupil numbers and pipeline figures received from the Marketing & Admissions team for the General Manager and Director.
• Prepare cash flow forecasts as required.
• Assist General Manager to manage any term deposits held with the bank to maximise interest received.
• Support the completion of various surveys for the Office of National Statistics, Bains Cutler, DfE annual statutory census and IAPS, etc.
• Liaise with the insurers and assist with claims.
• Complete tax forms, including P11Ds and PAYE settlement.
• Ensure GDPR compliance as the Asset Information Owner.
• Ensure compliance with anti-bribery and corruption legislation, money laundering regulations, and associated KYC and sanctions lists.
• Exhibit the highest standards of business ethos within the administrative function of the school and strategically ensure the most effective use of resources in support of the school’s learning objectives.
• Other duties as may reasonably be expected.

Person Specification Experience

• The successful candidate must have a proven and successful background in finance.
• Experience of working in a School is desirable.
• Excellent organisation skills with the ability to understand and manage detailed information.
• Dynamic, proactive individual able to work in a busy environment, satisfying conflicting requirements in an efficient way.
• Previous payroll experience.
• Experience in using Sage is desirable.
• Track record of working successfully with a diverse range of stakeholders.
• Experience of working with regulations.
• Computer literate and a confident user of IT for communications, financial and management purposes, advanced Excel and working knowledge of iSAMS would be an advantage.
• Understanding of the importance of Health and Safety and willingness to embrace the positive Health and Safety ethos within the School.

Qualifications & Personal Attributes

• CIMA/ ACCA/ACA/CA qualified or part-qualified.
• A strong understanding of all financial and commercial matters.
• A practical, systematic and pragmatic approach to work whilst being able to work calmly and efficiently under pressure.
• Excellent stakeholder management at all levels.
• Committed team player with a collegiate and collaborative approach together with an ability and willingness to create a working environment in which staff are empowered to take decisions.
• A high degree of personal integrity; trustworthy and reliable, being able to deal with confidential information on a routine basis in a totally discrete manner.
• Good sense of humour and the ability to create a working environment in which people work hard and enjoy being part of the team.
• Personal strength of character through transparency, integrity and fairness; has a strong sense of personal accountability.
• Strong listening and communication skills, both written and oral.
• Personal energy and enthusiasm, with a positive outlook and a customer service mentality.
• A capacity for strategic thinking but also a strong grasp for detail.

The duties and responsibilities shown above are not intended to be exhaustive and staff will be expected to be flexible and to take on new responsibilities and tasks as necessary to meet the changing needs of the school.