Interim Year End Accountant

Higher Education organisation seeking an Interim Year End Accountant - 9-month Fixed term contract

ACA or ACCA qualified accountant required.

Client Details

Year End Accountant required for leading Surrey based Higher education organisation. The Finance Function of the organisation are currently going through an improvement review. One of the reasons this has arisen is because of an audit which had previously faced challenges and is likely to again. As a result, we have an immediate requirement for a qualified and technical individual with higher education experience who can work across finance and non-finance teams both collaboratively and autonomously when needed to ensure that the inputs and requisites for successful audit are monitored and delivered to a high standard and to deadline. This individual will also support timely delivery of financial reporting in compliance with the requirements of relevant regulatory bodies. In particular, the annual report and financial statements of the organisation and individual subsidiaries.

Description

• Responsibility for successful delivery of Group's annual financial statement audit
• Preparation of the Group Consolidation File
• Liaise and delivery of all audit deliverables requested by the audit teams
• Responding to all additional audit requests and queries
• Managing & Co-ordinating responses from Finance and non-Finance team members and the wider business.
• Co-ordination and review of all Corporation Tax Computations
• Preparation / review of the Group and Subsidiary financial statements
• Minimising the number of audit journals and management letter points
• Attending and leading audit update and close meeting
• Manage the production of subsidiary Statutory Accounts for all legal entities
• Preparation and successful audit of the Annual Reports and Accounts that is in full compliance with IFRS, OfS, and any other regulatory disclosure requirements.

• Timely preparation of top-quality annual report and accounts for subsidiary companies in the group.
• Coordinate the completion of OfS return working with FP&A, Management accounting, registry and strategy teams.
• Review of month end revenue recognition, Balance sheet reconciliation etc. to ensure technical accounting aspects are covered.
• Regular review and update of accounting policies to be fully IFRS compliant and preparing detailed accounting papers for the Audit Committee.
• Develop/update discounted cash flow model for impairment review.
• Take the lead on work for key judgements and estimates and preparing related Audit Committee papers.
• Liaise with EY for Group tax provision and related disclosure requirements in statutory financial statements (group and subsidiaries).
• Deputise for Financial Controller where needed on leading the audit and ensure all the information is provided on a timely basis including the project management of PBCs.
• Deputise for Financial Controller where needed on Liaising with internal audit manager to ensure yearly audit plan are executed as planned.
• Deputise for Financial Controller where needed as the main contact point for corporate tax with external advisors.
• Deputise for Financial Controller where needed on as In house technical expert for review of partnership agreement for Leases/revenue recognition etc legal contracts and carrying out goodwill impairment exercise, on an annual basis.
• Prepare/amend technical accounting papers including IFRS15 (for new and existing partnerships), IFRS16, IFRS 9 and any others, as required.

Profile

Qualified accountant (ACA, ACCA) Extensive audit experience in medium sized PLCs with a top audit firm. Experience of completing and managing an annual accounts preparation for a medium sized company. Expertise in IFRS accounting standards and strong technical accounting knowledge Experience in managing a team of people Experience in presenting and communicating to an Audit Committee A proven track record in delivering to targets and deadlines Ability to accomplish multiple tasks within strict time requirements whilst maintaining a high degree of accuracy and flexibility Financial modelling capabilities Explaining complex financial concepts to non-finance managers A strong understanding of strategic business goals Presenting accounting papers to Finance Teams, Auditors, Audit Committees and Boards at PLC level.

Job Offer

Hybrid working Generous pension Free parking 25 days holiday