Finance Manager

Position title: Finance Manager

Reports to: Chief Finance Officer (CFO)

Salary: £38,000 pa (rising to £40,000 upon successful completion of a 6-month probation period)

Hours: Full time - 35 hours per week (with a possibility to negotiate some flexibility)

Location: Hybrid working between the DSWF Shalford Office, GU4 8JU (2 days per week), home (3 days per week) and occasionally London

Annual Leave: 25 days per annum. Bank Holidays also provided, and an additional holiday entitlement will be given at DSWF’s discretion around Christmas and New Year

Other Benefits: Auto-enrolment Pension Scheme. Employee Assistance Programme provided.

The Role:

DSWF is a wildlife conservation charity operating across Africa and Asia to end the drivers of wildlife crime and protect endangered species in their natural habitat. In 2024, the Foundation is still family-run and is celebrating its 40th anniversary.

This is an exciting opportunity to join our highly motivated and passionate team as Finance Manager. DSWF is an equal opportunities employer and strives to offer a fulfilling and flexible workplace. This role is ideal for someone who wants to continue to develop their financial skills in the not-for-profit sector and offers great opportunities for personal development and ongoing growth within the organisation.

The successful candidate will be a qualified accountant and have excellent skills in financial systems and processing. They will have an analytical mindset and be an effective problem-solver and committed team player. They will manage the day-to-day income and expenditure of the charity and its subsidiary trading company, provide financial support, reports and analysis across the organisation, while working with the CFO to produce the monthly management accounts and annual budget, be instrumental in the annual audit and provide financial reports for the senior management team and trustees.

The role will report to the CFO and work closely with the Senior Management Team to support the delivery of DSWF’s broad range of objectives across our Conservation, Education and Art strategic pillars. DSWF is a small organisation with a large portfolio of activities, and as such, this is a broad role that will work across the board with all team members to ensure an organised and efficient finance function.

Main Duties and Responsibilities:

Financial Administration

· Maintain all financial records and data accurately and within agreed systems outlined in the DSWF Financial Handbook’s processes and controls

· Maintain up to date records on the finance system (Sage 50)

· Monitor and record income from all sources and ensure accurate and timely recording, including fund allocations

· With the fundraising team, ensure accurate and timely recording of income into the Raiser’s Edge CRM

· Daily reconciliation of all bank, control and intercompany accounts to Sage

· Banking of cheques and petty cash control in a timely manner

· Maintain the purchase ledger including receipt of invoices and expense claims, authorisations, cost coding and posting into the Sage system

· Process all bank payments, card payments and direct debits

· With the CFO, provide support to the Conservation team in analysing project financial reports, making grant payments and preparing financial reports for donors

· Liaise with the Art team over the production of sales invoices for the subsidiary Trading company as well as processing of e-commerce and offline sales

· Provide support to the fundraising team in the financial elements of event planning (including hardware and processes for receiving income at events) and producing full financial reconciliations and ROI reporting at the conclusion of each event

· With the CFO, provide support to the fundraising team in producing budgets for applications for funding

· Manage the negotiation of card and transaction fees with payment providers

· Complete month end accounts checklist and relevant journals to trial balance

· With the CFO, prepare monthly management accounts for SMT and staff

· Prepare and submit quarterly VAT returns for the charity (using partial exemption principles) and the trading subsidiary

· Liaise with the fundraising team to ensure gift aid is maximised for every income stream and produce and submit gift aid claims on a monthly basis

Budget Management

· Support the preparation of the annual income and expenditure budgets

· Ensure income and costs are allocated correctly per agreed budget and highlight areas of variance

Annual Audit

· Preparation of papers for annual audit in conjunction with the CFO

· During audit be the main contact for collating all documentation and samples requested by auditors

Financial control systems

· Ensure financial policies and processes are fit for purpose, developing new ones where appropriate and deriving and implementing improvements to existing ones

Person Specification:

Knowledge, Skills & Experience

Qualifications

Essential

· AAT qualified or qualified by significant experience

· Strong Microsoft Excel skills

· A good level of general education including a high standard in English and Maths

Strongly Desirable

· ACA, ACCA or CIMA qualified or part qualified

Skills and experience

Essential

· Accounts software experience

· Bookkeeping up to trial balance

· Experience of small – medium business finance

· To be able to work under pressure with high volumes of work with tight deadlines

· Ability to communicate efficiently complex financial information to non-Finance Managers and trustees

· To maintain confidentiality and the protection of data at all times

Strongly Desirable

· Sage accounts software experience

· CRM database experience

· Working knowledge of charity financial processes and controls

· Knowledge of charity finance reporting and practices (SORP)

· Preparation of financial statements

How to apply:

There is no immediate closing date for applications for this role, but we are hoping to hire by 16 September 2024 at the latest to facilitate a proper handover and will begin reviewing CVs as soon as they are received so please do not wait to apply.

Please apply online with your CV and a Covering Letter (Covering Letter to be no more than 2x A4 pages explaining why you wish to work for DSWF and why you are appropriate for the role).