Financial Controller

St Paul’s Cathedral School are pleased to be exclusively partnering with Robertson Bell in search of a new Financial Controller to join their team on a permanent basis. St Paul’s Cathedral School is an independent, co-educational boarding and day school for boys and girls aged 5 to 13 (Reception to Year 8). 

The Financial Controller will report into the Bursar and be responsible for for the whole of the School’s day-to-day accounting function to ensure effective procedures and robust controls are in place for all aspects of the function.

The organisation:

Situated in the heart of the City of London, at the East side of the Cathdral, the School enjoys state-of-the-art facilities for academic work, music, performing arts and sport in a single-site campus. With around 275 pupils (with up to 36 Cathedral Choristers who are boarding pupils), the School is small enough to ensure that each pupil receives individual attention, yet large enough to offer an array of academic and extra-curricular opportunities that a Prep school could deliver. There are 84 members of staff, comprising teachers, teaching assistants, music instructors and a support team. 

The role:

• Assist the Bursar to seek commercial income opportunities and monitor and advise on school investments through liaison with external investment managers.
• Deputise for the Bursar in all finance matters and at governor committees, or at SLT meetings when requested by the Head. 
• Support the Bursar’s financial and audit responsibility.
• Check Income & Expenditure (I&E) variances and explain and compare findings to previous year, to budgets and to forecasts.
• Prepare weekly cashflow forecast and monthly management accounts.
• Compile and analyse the annual school budget, setting and monitoring. 
• Prepare initial input data for new arrivals, departing staff, music teachers and additional overtime payments. 
• Modernise the finance IT package and update the finance manual.
• Oversee and administer school fee collection, process supplier payments and invoices.
• Prepare and present the annual accounts for the annual statutory audit and liaise with the auditors and implement audit findings. 

The successful candidate will be:

• A fully qualified Accountant (ACA, ACCA, or CIMA) or at Finalist level.
• Experienced in budgeting, forecasting and producing management accounts.
• A fantastic communicator.
• Experienced in developing and implementing financial systems and internal controls.
• Confident assisting with annual audits and in the preparing of annual accounts.

This position will be based officially at the head office in central London next to St Pauls Cathedral and will require the postholder to work from the office with occasional hybrid working. The closing date for applications is 23rd April, with interviews taking place the week commencing 29th April.

Applications will be under constant review before the closing date, so please submit your application to our exclusive search agent, Robertson Bell. Apply now to be considered!