Senior Assistant Accountant - Finance Office - 107162 - Grade 6 at University of Birmingham

Birmingham, England, United Kingdom -

Full Time

Start Date

Immediate

Expiry Date

14 Jun, 26

Salary

35608.0

Posted On

16 Mar, 26

Experience

2 year(s) or above

Remote Job

Yes

Telecommute

Yes

Sponsor Visa

Skills

Balance Sheet Reconciliations, Intercompany Accounting, Financial Operations, Capital Projects Setup, Financial Reporting, Audit Response, Journal Creation, Purchase Order Processing, Data Integrity Checks, Process Enhancement, Stakeholder Management, Data Analysis, Technical Accounting Standards, IT Skills, Discretion

Industry

Higher Education

Description

Position Details Finance Office Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK Full time starting salary is normally in the range £33,002 to £35,608 with potential progression once in post to £39,906 Grade: 6 Full Time, Permanent Closing date: 23rd March 2026 Our offer to you People are at the heart of what we are and do. The University of Birmingham is proud to have been a part of the City of Birmingham and the wider region for over 100 years, and we are equally proud to be recognised as a leading global university. We want to attract talented people from across the city and beyond, support them to succeed, and celebrate their success. We are committed to helping the people who work here to develop through our sector-leading Birmingham Professional programme which provides all professional services staff with development opportunities and the encouragement to reach their full potential. With almost 5,000 professional services jobs in a wide-range of functions in Edgbaston and in our campus in Dubai, there are plenty of opportunities for you to be able to develop your career at the University. We believe there is no such thing as a typical member of staff and that diversity is a source of strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation, and debate. We warmly welcome people from all backgrounds and are committed to fostering an inclusive environment where diversity is at the heart of who and what we are, and how we work. Supporting our people to achieve a healthy work/life balance is important both to our employees and to the success of the University and, depending on the role, we offer a variety of flexible working arrangements. We therefore welcome discussions on all forms of flexible working. In addition, you will receive a generous package of benefits including 40 days paid holiday a year, one paid day a year for volunteering, occupational sick pay, and a pension scheme. We also have three high quality subsidised day nurseries. The University is situated in leafy Edgbaston and there are excellent transport links to our beautiful campus, including main bus routes and a train station on site. On campus we have a state-of-the-art sports centre with pool, shops, places to eat and drink, our own art gallery, museum and botanical gardens. Find out more about the benefits of working for the University of Birmingham [https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/jobs/staff-benefits] Background The Corporate Accounting team sits within the Financial Services department which also includes the Business Partnering, Finance Planning & Analysis, tax and treasury teams. The team are responsible for the financial integrity, compliance, and strategic oversight of the university’s financial control operations. This function leads the external audit process, manages financial consolidation across multiple entities, and ensures accurate and timely financial reporting in compliance with the relevant accounting standards. Role Summary As an Assistant Accountant within the Corporate Accounting team you will provide support for a broad range of basic accounting and administrative duties. You will be able to use your wide range of skills, both technical and administrative, and have the opportunity to lead on specific tasks within a team. This role focuses on balance sheet reconciliations, intercompany accounting, and financial operations for the university and its subsidiary companies. In order to flexibly use resource you may be given the opportunity to work in different areas of the department or wider University. Main Duties University * Maintain, update and self-review monthly balance sheet reconciliations for the university (including but not limited to asset cost, depreciation, assets under construction, other debtors/creditors and lease and service concession liability accounts), ensuring accuracy and timely completion. * Setting up and maintaining capital projects on behalf of project managers (ensuring correct mapping to relevant approved budgets) and liaising with the Assistant Financial Performance Partner (Capital) as required. * Performing monthly recharges for project expenditure to the relevant colleges – liaising with the relevant Assistant/Senior Business Partners as required. * Reviewing the equipment purchases code for capital equipment expenditure and obtaining the relevant documentation to support in-use/delivery dates prior to the equipment being capitalised. * Transferring equipment and project spend from under construction to asset cost in a timely manger and setting the useful life in accordance with University policies. Subsidiaries * Maintain, update and self-review monthly balance sheet reconciliations for subsidiary entities (as directed by the Subsidiary Accountant), ensuring accuracy and timely completion. * Raise and process sales and recharge invoices for university subsidiaries using the university’s financial system, ensuring correct coding and documentation. * Maintain the intercompany matrix and the log of intercompany sales and expenditure and supporting descriptions. * Prepare the templates for the statutory accounts prior to audit. * Assisting in the production of monthly management accounts. * Downloading bank statements and updating and maintaining the exchange rate table. * Keeping an up-to-date log of consultancy expenditure and providing support to the UoBE Finance Manager as required. General * Self-direct yourself on your individual tasks and use your knowledge of technical accounting standards to assess the correct application is made. * Respond to auditor queries and requests for financial information, working closely with the Corporate Finance Manager and Subsidiaries Accountant and other team members to provide timely and accurate responses. * Create, post, and upload journals for the Subsidiaries Accountant and wider finance team, ensuring compliance with financial policies and procedures. * Create, submit and receipt purchase orders for the Subsidiaries Accountant and wider finance team, ensuring compliance with financial policies and procedures. * Continuous development of self through coaching and training, both formal and informal, to develop and embed a strong financial controls environment. * Actively engaging with the wider Finance function to support the Finance Strategy. * You will be able to deal with complex systems and procedures and perform data integrity checks. In order to foster continuous improvement you will make recommendations to process enhancements and deliver advice to stakeholders. * You will be expected to exercise your own judgment on the answer to queries or on the direction of work required. * Maintain high profile working relationships with key stakeholders on your own initiative, fielding enquiries and ensuring that appropriate information is disseminated to stakeholders as appropriate. * You will be expected to use a variety of complex University systems and processes to research, analyse and interpret complex data, producing bespoke reports as required. This may include identifying and resolving issues with the data. * Provide advice and guidance to colleagues on technical financial accounting issues, self researching the outcome, if required. * Promotes equality and values diversity, acting as a role model and fostering an inclusive working culture. * Supports the University’s sustainability agenda through resource efficient working. * Any other duties commensurate with the grade. Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience * Educated to Degree level (or equivalent qualifications) - where no equivalent qualification is held, significant practical relevant experience and expertise in a similar role will be required. * Working towards a professional accounting qualification (ACCA, CIMA, CIPFA, ACA) and evidence of continuous professional development. * Experience of working in a similar role and producing accounting transactions and balance sheet reconciliations. * Team player, with exceptional interpersonal skills, able to work with a diverse and broad range of stakeholders across the organisation. * Demonstrable ability to influence. * Good communication skills, able to communicate clearly, concisely, accurately and in ways that promote understanding, to both finance and non-finance specialists. * Strong influencing skills, able to challenge stakeholders at all levels when needed. * Ability to work flexibly with conflicting demands so that work is scheduled in order to meet changing priorities and deadlines. * Ability to plan and organise own workload effectively and get things done. * Excellent IT skills including MS Office, inhouse finance systems and be confident and able to quickly learn new IT skills and software packages as required. * Confident in handling complex data and sensitive information and able to act with discretion when required. * Experience of working in a large, complex organisation and preferably higher education. * Evidence of literacy and numeracy, with the ability to write clearly, and to analyse information and data. * Knowledge of the protected characteristics of the Equality Act 2010, and how to actively ensure in day to day activity in own area that those with protected characteristics are treated equally and fairly. Informal enquiries to Russell Brown, email: r.brown.12@bham.ac.uk. View our staff values and behaviours here [https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/about/our-strategy/our-values] Use of AI in applications: We want to understand your genuine interest in the role and for the written elements of your application to accurately reflect your own communication style. Applications that rely too heavily on AI tools can appear generic and lack the detail we need to assess your skills and experience. Such applications will unlikely be progressed to interview. We believe there is no such thing as a 'typical' member of University of Birmingham staff and that diversity in its many forms is a strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation and debate at the heart of University life. We are committed to proactively addressing the barriers experienced by some groups in our community and are proud to hold Athena SWAN, Race Equality Charter and Disability Confident accreditations. We have an Equality Diversity and Inclusion Centre that focuses on continuously improving the University as a fair and inclusive place to work where everyone has the opportunity to succeed. We are also committed to sustainability, which is a key part of our strategy. You can find out more about our work to create a fairer university for everyone on our website [https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/university/about/equality/index.aspx].

Responsibilities

The role involves providing support for basic accounting and administrative duties, focusing heavily on balance sheet reconciliations, intercompany accounting, and managing financial operations for the university and its subsidiaries. Key duties include maintaining reconciliations, setting up capital projects, processing recharges, and assisting with statutory accounts preparation.