Post:

Location:

Finance Officer

Home based

Contract type:

Part time – 3 days per week

Contract length:

Permanent

Reports to:

Head of Finance

Grade:

Line Manages:

7

N/A

Job Purpose:

The Finance Officer will oversee the financial administration and associated processes
and  procedures  within  SCIE,  including  key  financial  procedures  such  as:  month/year-
end;  expenses  claims;  virements  and  journals;  the  monitoring  and  reconciliation  of  all
budgets; preparing financial reports and data required for high-level budget management
and analysis; assisting with the monthly payroll run and reviewing purchases orders to
ensure they are in line with SCIE’s Procurement policies.

Reporting  to  the  Head  of  Finance,  the  role  holder  will  provide  professional  and
comprehensive  financial  support  enabling  senior  management  to  make  informed
decisions.

Main Duties:
1.  Provide  operational  management  support  to  the  Head  of  Finance,  ensuring
operational  efficiency  and  compliance  with  both  SCIE’s  and  other  financial
regulations.

2.  Monitor financial procedures and processes to ensure they are fully compliant with

SCIE’s guidelines and are administered accurately and efficiently.

3.  Provide professional financial guidance and advice to staff within SCIE, to assist with

the operational running of budgets and associated processes.

4.  Provide financial management of SCIE’s portfolio of research and innovation awards
ensuring compliance with funder and SCIE regulations. This will include monitoring
project  budgets,  liaison  with  Project  Managers  concerning  under-  or  over-spends,
raising  supplier  invoices,  approving  financial  transactions,  providing  advice  and
guidance  on  funders’  terms  and  conditions  (post  award),  performing  financial

assessments  of  application  budgets  and  providing  an  efficient  service  to  budget
holders in SCIE.

5.  Monitor  income  and  expenditure  against  all  SCIE  budgets  ensuring  all  activity  is
appropriately  coded  and  budgets  are  not  exceeded.  This  will  involve  liaison  with
budget holders in order to investigate areas of potential over-spend or concern.

6.  Collect and process SCIE’s monthly payroll data, ensuring both completeness and

accuracy, including liaising with SCIE’s external payroll provider.

7.  Reconcile  SCIE’s  pay  budgets  to  monitor  under-  or  over-spends,  coding  errors,
payment errors as well as assisting in the processing of the monthly payroll run.

8.  Assist the Head of Finance to manage SCIE’s purchase order process, ensuring that

orders are inline with SCIE’s procurement policy.

9.  Manage  SCIE’s  Business  Card  expenditure  ensuring  value  for  money  and  that

expenditure is inline with policy.

10. Undertake  detailed  analysis  of  SCIE’s  income  and  expenditure,  producing  reports
and financial forecasts to inform SCIE’s Senior Leader Team's decision-making.

11. Line  manage,  lead,  motivate  and  develop  relevant  staff,  providing  clear  objectives
and  managing  performance  against  these,  to  ensure  that  staff  are  appropriately
motivated and trained to carry out their responsibilities to the required standards. This
includes  recruitment  and  development  of  the  team  (induction,  appraisal  and
performance management, etc).

Key challenges and decisions:
1.  The following provide an overview of the most challenging or complex parts of the role

and the degree of autonomy that exists.

2.  Maintaining  accuracy  when  dealing  with  financial  data  and  ensuring  excellent
attention to detail when processing payments or checking expenses claims etc. Able
to spot discrepancies and resolve them. Impact of making errors could be significant
– could lead to financial losses for SCIE.

3.  Having an excellent knowledge and understanding of SCIE’s financial procedures to
enable  the  role  holder  to  respond  to  a  wide  range  of  queries,  ensure  financial
transactions are carried out correctly and in accordance with procedure.

4.  Able to work on own initiative, planning own workload and that of team. Deciding what
is, or should be, a priority, using their knowledge of the regular financial reporting cycle
and  requirements  to  prioritise  work.  Able  to assist  the  Finance  Administrator  in  the
planning of their work as necessary.

5.  The role holder will be expected to work autonomously with minimal guidance from

the Head of Finance.

6.  Needs to understand the context of financial information by acquiring a grasp of the

main non-financial factors affecting SCIE.

General responsibilities:
7.  Have fun and challenge yourself at work, model the charity’s values and abide by our

policies and practices.

8.  Embrace  diversity  and  share  in  our  commitment  to  equality  of  opportunity  and  to

eliminating discrimination.

9.  Work flexibly and positively contributing to good team working and the delivery of the

SCIE’s objectives through matrix working.

10. Show a clear commitment to working with people with lived experience in a sensitive

and non-judgmental way to facilitate positive working relationships.

11. Other tasks as may be required, commensurate with the level of the post

General Comment:

This job description describes the principal purpose and main elements of the job.  It is a
guide  to  the  nature  of  the  main  duties  as  they  currently  exist  but  is  not  intended  as  a
wholly comprehensive or permanent schedule of tasks.

PERSON SPECIFICATION

You will use your financial/accounting knowledge and experience to advise staff on day-to-
day financial matters within SCIE.  You’ll possess excellent communication and interpersonal
skills, with the ability to work as part of a team and build positive working relationships with a
wide range of people.

You’ll be able to demonstrate the following skills, experience, abilities and personal interests:

Essential

GCSE English and Maths (grade C/4 or above) or equivalent

Foundation level financial qualification (e.g. AAT) actively studying towards full
qualification; or equivalent

Previous experience in a similar finance/accounting role implementing financial
procedures in a busy environment

Knowledge of Business Central or similar financial system

Good IT skills in particular MS Office packages

Experience of using spreadsheets and databases on a regular basis

Experience of answering enquiries, particularly of a financial nature

High level of numeracy, accuracy and attention to detail

Strong  communication  skills  with  the  ability  to  communicate  effectively  both
verbally and in writing

Ability  to  communicate  and  translate  financial  information  to  non-finance
individuals

Experience of gathering, analysing data, producing financial reports and making
recommendations for action

Excellent  organisational  skills  with  experience  of  managing  own  workload,
prioritising tasks as appropriate and effectively dealing with competing priorities
Customer  focused  approach  to  work  with  the  ability  to  deliver  a  high  level of
customer service

Ability to build and maintain good working relationships

Assessed
via
A

A,I

A,I

A,I

A,I,T

A,I,T

A,I

A,I,T

A,I,T

I,T

A,I,T

A,I,T

I

I

Ability to assess outcomes of work and constantly review processes to improve
them

Ability to work independently, within managerial direction, and collaboratively as
part of a team

Firm commitment to achieving SCIE’s vision and values, with a passion for a
multidisciplinary, impactful research

Commitment to deliver and promote equality, diversity and inclusivity in the day
to day work of the role

I

I

I

I

Desirable

CLAIT/ECDL or an equivalent IT qualification

Recognised accountancy qualification (e.g. ACCA, CIMA)

Experience of managing complex budgets

Experience of project accounting and working with external funders

Knowledge and understanding of the Charity Sector

Membership of a relevant professional body

* A - Application; I - Interview; T - Test/presentation at interview stage

Assessed
via
A,I

A

A,I

A,I

A,I

A