Service Charge Accountant (12 Month FTC) in London

Purpose of Role

At The Crown Estate, our purpose is to create lasting and shared value for the country.

As a Service Charge Accountant, you will support the transformation and cleansing of service charge data via actual verses budget reconciliations helping to ensure accurate and reliable actual versus budget reporting and the timely reconciliation of service charges in accordance with RICS guidance.

This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced service charge accounting professional to apply their technical knowledge and analytical skills across a diverse commercial and residential property portfolio, improving the accuracy and integrity of service charge data and financial reporting.

Context of Opportunity / Main Accountabilities

Reporting to the Service Charge Manager, you will support the review, cleansing and reconciliation of service charge data to ensure accurate reporting and appropriate allocation of costs by actioning actual verses budget reconciliations either quarterly or at half year.

Key responsibilities include

• Reviewing transactional data and reconciling it against budget to ensure the correct apportionment across general ledger accounts and service charge schedules.
• Reviewing the apportionment of major supplier invoices to ensure costs have been allocated to the correct general ledger accounts and are in line with agreed budgets and contract allocations.
• Ensuring utility invoices are apportioned correctly between landlord and service charge costs.
• Ensuring purchase orders relating to historical periods or invoices have been closed correctly.
• Assisting with the cleardown of synthetic property structures and associated general ledger journals.
• Running actual versus budget reports for selected properties, ensuring these are completed promptly and in accordance with business requirements.
• Clearing down Horizon property balances for properties that are no longer in use or are under development, and transferring the relevant balances to the landlord.
• Investigating queries and discrepancies independently, driving issues through to an appropriate resolution.
• Understanding the links between underlying data fields, reporting requirements and financial outputs to support accurate service charge reporting.
• Reading and interpreting lease provisions relating to services and making reasoned recommendations to surveyors.
• Most Important Skills Based Requirements

We are looking for a proactive and detail-focused service charge accounting professional who can work at pace, manage multiple priorities and take ownership of resolving complex data and accounting queries.

Essential experience and skills include

• A minimum of three years' experience in a service charge accounting or advisory position.
• Experience working with both commercial and residential property types.
• Knowledge of Horizon and Voyager property management databases.
• Strong knowledge of the RICS Service Charge Code and Professional Statement requirements, relevant case law and established precedent.
• A demonstrable track record of delivering service charge analysis and reporting.
• The ability to work at pace and drive queries and issues through to resolution.
• The ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously and effectively track and report progress.
• Excellent attention to detail and a consistently accurate approach to financial data.
• The initiative and confidence to investigate and resolve queries independently.
• The ability to understand the relationships between data fields, reporting requirements and financial outputs.
• The ability to read and understand lease provisions relating to services and make well-reasoned recommendations to surveyors.

Join The Crown Estate and play an important role in strengthening the accuracy, reliability and transparency of our service charge data and reporting.