Finance Officer

Location:
Based in our Dalston office with flexibility to WFH

Reporting to: Head of Finance

Contract: Permanent, full-time

Salary: £32,000 per annum

About Fair Finance

Fair Finance is a social business with ambitious plans to revolutionise financial services to give everyone a fair chance. Our vision is to scale our alternative to the high-cost lending market and help reduce financial exclusion across the UK.

Over the last eighteen years Fair Finance has helped over a hundred thousand people escape the clutches of high-cost money lenders, start businesses or avoid eviction. Our work has helped influence Government policy and legislation, as well as demonstrate how purpose and profit can work together to change the financial system for the better.

The last few years of the pandemic and the Cost-of-Living crisis have really highlighted the importance of our work, and as such we have embarked on an ambitious program of growth and expansion to meet the challenges facing some of the poorest and most excluded in the coming years.

About the role

We are looking for an individual with at least 3 years of experience working in a Financial Function (or 2 years in a similar role) to join our Finance Team as a Finance Officer. Reporting to the Head of Finance, the Finance Officer, together with the Finance Team, will deliver all management and statutory accounting, investor and bank reporting and other management information.

The successful candidate will contribute to the team that oversees the annual audit and reporting to all stakeholders. They will undertake all day-to-day management of all financial process and controls, and reviews the work of the finance administrator.

The role will be a mix of hands-on work and providing strategic input and ideas to support the development of a high-performing finance function and team.

About you

You will be a part qualified finance professional with ambitions of working towards full qualification. You will have a minimum of 3 years of experience in a financial role (or 2 years in a similar role), this experience will have developed your data manipulation and analytical skills.

You will use your strong written and verbal communication skills to help negotiate the challenges of working in a busy environment as part of a high-performance team.

You will have experience maintaining and utilising accounting software (e.g. Sage of Xero). As well as a track record of developing relationships with auditors and other external stakeholder.

You will be a problem solver, whose curiosity and appetite for reviewing and improving processes makes them a perfect fit in a team managing change.

Key Responsibilities:

Operational & Transactional Finance – with the support of an administrator, look after all financial processing including banking, bank reconciliations, managing payments and preparing payroll information.

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• Payments and invoicing; preparing payment instructions, paying invoices, check and arrange reimbursement of all staff expenses and posting all receipt and payment transactions into Sage.
  
• Bank reconciliations; conducting regular supplier reconciliations to ensure that invoicing and payments are up to date.
  
• Preparing payroll information; ensuring data is provided to our external provider in a timely manner and with sufficient detail.
  
• Preparation of accounts; produce finance reports from Sage, liaise with managers and other staff to resolve queries, prepare supporting material to prepare for our annual audit.
  

Financial Control – with the support of an administrator and finance team peers, help with aspects of the finance function ensuring that a robust control environment is maintained and documented.

• Own responsibility for the administration for all book-keeping tasks and the provision for accurate timely financial information from utilising the Sage accounting system.

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• Perform and review, with the assistance of the Finance Administrator, month-end reporting requirements including reconciliations, posting of journals, payments etc.
  
• Assist with the timely delivery of year-end financial reporting and audit.
  
• Be conscious of financial operations and controls (e.g. transactions, payments processing, and reconciliations) across the business, and make recommendations for best practice.
  
• Help with information requests from external auditors, payroll providers and tax accountants.
  
• Support non-finance people within the business with finance requests around expenses, payments and other ad-hoc finance queries.
  
• Communicate with external suppliers when required to obtain and challenge information relating to the book-keeping of the business.
  

Financial performance and management information – support Senior Finance Officer to:

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• Provide the Board, Finance Committee and other members of the senior leadership team with business performance MI. Deliver MI by WD 6 each month, consisting of management accounts (IS, BS, CFS).
  
• Support development and maintenance of budget information and performance reporting.
  
• Help with the preparation of monthly, quarterly and yearly reporting required for compliance, investor and covenant reporting.
  
• Help report and monitor financial targets across the business in line with the overall strategic plan.
  
• Support the annual budgeting and regular financial forecasting process as required by the Head of Finance and Senior Accounting Officer.
  

• This job description may be amended from time to time to reflect the changing needs of the business.

Skills and Experience:

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• The role will suit a candidate who has started studying towards an accounting qualification and is keen to pursue further study within an accounting-based role.
  
• At least 3 years of experience working in a Finance Function or 2 years in a similar role.
  

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• Your training and ongoing development will be fully supported by our small but very experienced finance team and we would support training costs towards your full professional qualification, after a period of service.
  
• Experience with Excel and comfortable with formulas and data manipulation.
  
• Strong analytical and decision-making abilities.
  
• Proven ability to multi-task and prioritise in a busy environment.
  
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
  
• Experience assisting with auditors and other external stakeholders in not required but would be advantageous.
  
• Solutions-orientated and curious, with an appetite to continually review and improve processes.
  
• Experience of maintaining and utilising accounting software, eg Sage or Xero.
  

Why work for Fair Finance?

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• Fair Finance is a social business with ambitious plans.
  
• Over the last eighteen years Fair Finance has helped over a hundred thousand people escape the clutches of high-cost money lenders, start businesses or avoid eviction.
  
• Our work has helped influence Government policy and legislation.
  
• We have demonstrated how purpose and profit can work together to change the financial system for the better.
  
• We believe in employing, growing and building around exceptional people who share our values.
  
• We have created an environment where you can genuinely put clients before profits and make a difference to our clients’ lives.
  
• We will provide you with a supportive workplace surrounded by peers who want you to do well, with responsibility to make a real difference in the organisation and the opportunity to thrive and make the role your own.
  
• We are a diverse organisation full of people who understand the balance between achieving business objectives and our social mission.
  
• Our Head Office is in a shared workspace in Dalston, housing more than 300 creative businesses, social enterprises and charities.
  
• Hybrid working and work practice flexibility is offered.
  

Employee Benefits

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• Annual holiday entitlement of 23 days in addition to UK public holidays.
  
• An additional paid day off for your birthday.
  
• Staff receive an additional 'WFH budget' to allow even greater location flexibility.
  
• Private Health Insurance.
  
• Perkbox access for a wide range of discounts.
  
• Employee Assistance Programme (EAP).
  
• Staff Loan Scheme (currently interest free).
  
• 3% matching contribution towards a stakeholder pension.
  

The closing date for applications is Monday 24th June (11:59pm). The first interviews will be completed by Teams or phone call from the Tuesday 25th June. The second/final interview to be in person at our Dalston Office subsequently.