Assistant Financial Accountant

Salary: £30,000 up to £35,000 dependent upon experience

Contract Type: Permanent – Full Time

Security Level: SC

We are the UK's aviation and aerospace regulator and recognised as a world leader in its field. Our activities are diverse, enabling the aviation industry to meet the highest safety standards, and we pride ourselves on our ability to adapt to the constantly evolving aviation environment.

The Role

The Assistant Financial Accountant will support the Financial Accounting team in all Financial Accounting tasks/deliverables. The role holder will be responsible for processing direct debit payment collections, preparing monthly balance sheet reconciliations and investigating discrepancies.

The role holder will also support the Financial Accountant act as a liaison for the external audit teams and in doing so will help with the distribution, and resolution of, audit queries throughout the year end audit. This post holds responsibility for the preparation of the ASSI annual statutory accounts (training for this will be provided) as well as assisting with regular month end tasks.

This is a dynamic role within the finance team and significantly contributes towards not only the delivery of the year end statutory accounts but also the day-to-day treasury operations. As such this is a split role when the role holder is expected to contribute up to 50% of their time across the year to providing assistance/cover to the Treasury team.

The contribution to Treasury operations will be functionally managed by the Treasury Manager and the breadth of the tasks undertaken include, but are not limited to:

• Posting bank statements to accounting systems and allocating transactions as appropriate
• Journaling of daily cash transactions from a variety data sources into SAP Business By Design
• Preparation/processing of both UK and foreign payments
• Monitoring of daily cash management activities
• Updating Monthly reconciliations for Treasury owned GL accounts
• Investigating and resolving discrepancies with bank and suspense account reconciliations
• Assisting with a programme of process improvement activities and adhoc treasury projects
• Resolve and respond to queries sent into the Treasury mailbox from a wide range of internal stakeholders
• Coordination, review and processing of refund requests

Core Accountabilities

• Preparation of monthly balance sheet reconciliations across the Group.
• Assisting the Financial Accounting Manager and Financial Accountant with the preparation of the CAA Group’s Annual Report & Accounts.
• Responsible for preparing the annual Statutory Accounts for the CAA’s subsidiary ASSI (with the support of the Financial Accounting Manager and Financial Accountant)
• Help the Financial Accountant act as a liaison for the external audit teams during external audits and assist with the distribution, and resolution of, audit queries throughout the process and co-ordinate the year end timetable, ensuring that deliverables and deadlines are met.
• Helping to prepare Whole of Government Accounts to HM Treasury Dept., and the BPC submission of ASSI to the DFT
• Completion of monthly ONS business surveys and any other statutory reporting obligations as required.
• Day to day cash management; helping to review project payment requests and setting up direct debit collections
• Assisting with the month end close process and various regular month end journals
• Ad-hoc Financial Accounting & Treasury project work
• Treasury deliverables for up to 50% of the role holders daily effort, the tasks contained within which are outlined in the “Job Purpose” section above

About You

The following knowledge/experience is considered vital for the role:

• Strong analytical skills, with a good eye for detail, and comfortable in working with & processing large data sets
• An enquiring mindset and a desire develop accounting knowledge on the job in conjunction with their studies towards AAT/CIMA/ACCA
• Collaborative communication skills and an ability to offer great “customer service” when responding to internal queries from non-finance minded stakeholders
• Good organisational skills and an ability to manage and prioritise their own workload
• Intermediate Excel skills are essential

The following knowledge/experience is considered desirable for the role:

• Interested in studying towards AAT, CIMA or ACCA
• Would suit a graduate with an accounting & finance degree (or similar)
• Experience in using SAP BusinessByDesign
• Familiarity in Financial Accounting

What Can We Offer You?

The finance team at the CAA strive to create a hugely supportive environment that not only allows us as a team to collectively achieve the organisational goals but also strives to helps each individual team member realise their own personal development goals. We live and breath the CAA values and have a highly flexible approach to working patterns and our hybrid working model.

Additional Information

For many appointments within the CAA, these roles require access to operationally sensitive infrastructure and/or Nationally Protected information. For these roles the post holders must undergo National Security Vetting and achieve the appropriate level of clearance.

To be vetted we will usually expect a reasonable period of residency in the UK so that meaningful checks can be undertaken. For this role this will need to be 5 years.

If you do not meet these requirements, we may not be able to accept your application.

For more information on SC clearance please visit - Vetting explained - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

The CAA values high ethical standards and personal integrity among employees. If invited for interview you will be asked to complete a declaration of interest.

Inclusive Recruitment

We are passionate about diversity and ensuring all are included at the CAA. We are an equal opportunity employer and actively encourage applications from candidates of all backgrounds. We use fair and inclusive selection approaches to hire the best person for the job based on merit alone.

As a member of the Disability Confident scheme, applicants who meet the minimum criteria for a role with us will be guaranteed an interview. We use fair and inclusive selection approaches to hire the best person for the job based on merit alone. If you require an adjustment for any reason, please let us know.

Working With Us

We are on a journey towards being increasingly adaptable, where our colleagues collaborate as part of cross-functional teams. This approach ensures we never stop learning together. It also means that you may become involved in activities that take you out of your day-to-day role, providing you with opportunities to develop and grow your career with us.
 

We have embraced hybrid working and offer flexible working patterns, being open to having a conversation about what works for you. We know where and when we work is important in achieving a work-life balance.

We offer a range of excellent benefits such as flexible working arrangements, free onsite gym at Gatwick, discounted gym membership for London, 28 days annual leave, additional 5 days leave purchase scheme, a generous pension scheme and much more!

Our Values
 

Do The Right Thing, Never Stop Learning, Build Collaborative Relationships, Respect Everyone – For more information please Click Here
 

Closing Date: Tuesday 24th September 2024

Interview Date: W/C Monday 30th September 2024

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.

No recruitment agencies please.