Projects and Costs Accountant
£40000 - £60,000 + Bonus + Benefits (non contributory pension, subsidised restaurant, PHI)
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 with a dotted line reporting to the Financial Controller you will meet the overall objectives of the role which are:

  • Managing the control, monitoring and reporting of IT costs, acting as IT Finance Business Partner supporting the Chief Digital & Information Officer and IT management team
  • Managing the control, monitoring and reporting of project costs, acting as Change Finance Business Partner: - Project accounting - ensure the effective and efficient operation of the project accounting and reporting system and acting as the subject matter expert on project accounting matters; - Project reporting - co-ordinate the collection and reporting of project costs (actual and forecast), working with Project Managers and Project Managers Office to ensure project costs are complete and accurate, including the correct application of accounting policy. Support 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 control.

SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE REQUIRED

  • Graduate qualified accountant or similar 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.
  • MS Office and detailed knowledge of MS Excel, Q&A (Vision) and MS Outlook and good knowledge of Infor d/EPM or equivalent cube based reporting tool preferred
  • General UK banking experience preferred BUT NOT ESSENTIAL.