Projects and Costs Accountant
£40000 - £50000 + Bonus + Benefits
London

THE COMPANY

They are a well known and strongly established private banking group with a unique brand history who offer their customers a truly personalised experience. The bank has strong employee values and is a highly collegiate environment.

THE ROLE

Joining a small team and reporting to the Financial Controller the overall objectives of the role are:

  • Manage the control, monitoring and reporting of bank-wide IT costs, acting as IT Finance Business Partner supporting the Chief Digital & Information Officer and IT management team
  • Manage the control, monitoring and reporting of project costs, acting as Change Finance Business Partner:
    • Project accounting - manage the effective and efficient operation of the project reporting system; ensure correct application of accounting policy
    • Project reporting - support Project Managers and the Head of Change in reporting to various Committees, including reporting on Finance and non-Finance related project matters
  • Financial control and Finance systems - become a key member of the team, cross-training over time to ensure coverage of team activities

The above will include:

  • IT Finance Business Partner
    • Cost control - ensure the complete and accurate reporting of bank-wide IT costs, including liaising with IT to ensure all accruals and prepayments are appropriately raised and reported
    • Cost budgeting and forecasting - ensure the completeness and accuracy of all IT cost forecasts and prepare IT cost budgets and strategic financial plans (which will form part of the Bank's overall budget and strategy process)
    • Bank-wide IT costs - aggregate and report on all Bank wide IT costs
    • Management reporting - prepare reports for presentation at IT Management Committee
  • Change Finance Business Partner - Project Costs and Reporting
    • Own and maintain the Project Reporting module in InforBI, be the 'subject matter expert' providing support to project managers using the system
    • Generate and analyse reports using Infor BI - understand and challenge project cost performance, including actual and forecast spend against budget
    • Support the Head of Change with regular reporting on the project portfolio, including reporting to the Management Committee and Board. Reporting will include financial and non-financial elements and will be defined by the Head of Change
    • Act as the primary Finance contact for Project Managers on the application of Accounting Policy, e.g. analysing costs between revenue and capital expenditure
  • Financial Control and Finance Systems: Over time, develop an understanding of other roles within the team to be able to provide support and coverage when necessary, for example Accounts Payable, Fixed Assets Register and Operational Account monitoring and

This role will need the following capabilities:

  • Building effective working relationships with the key stakeholders, understanding their expectations and striving to exceed those expectations will be important success factors in this role. An ability to operate at all levels across the bank, which will include senior executives and managers.
  • Own initiative, a proactive approach and willingness to get involved and take ownership of issues.
  • Being able to respond positively to changing priorities, demonstrating a flexible approach and ability to re prioritise
  • Service oriented and a "can do" approach. Be solution focussed and able to respond to unforeseen
  • Demonstrable financial analysis and reporting skills
  • Financial accounting (FRS 102)
  • Good knowledge of Infor BI or equivalent cube based reporting tool preferred
  • Good knowledge of accounting systems (SunAccounts preferred)
  • MS Office and detailed knowledge of MS Excel, Q&A (Vision) and MS Outlook

THE SUCCESSFUL CANDIDATE
To be considered for this excellent role, you must meet the following criteria:

  • Graduate qualified accountant with strong business partnering skills to analyse costs are essential.
  • Strong financial analysis and reporting skills and used to working to tight deadlines
  • Strong working knowledge of Sun Accounts or equivalent General Ledger (GL) package preferred.
  • Developed Excel and Word
  • UK banking industry experience