Job Title: Head of Conference Accounts

Job Description

Reports to: Head of Finance

Salary: £31,000 to £35,000 depending on experience

Contract: Fixed term to cover maternity leave with potential to become permanent

Location: Bradford

Hours: Full time - 37.5 hours per week Monday to Friday

Holidays: 25 days annually plus bank and statutory holidays pro rata.

Primary Objectives: To take responsibility for the management of the Society’s Conference & Council quarterly & year end Returns.

Prepare consolidated finance summaries for Conferences and Councils on a quarterly basis, and at year end.

To ensure Conference and Council Treasurers are fully compliant with the Society’s financial policies and procedures.

Provide training and assistance to Treasurers to improve the quality of returns

Manage the administration of the Society’s internal support charges as apply to Conferences and Councils

Manage funds held centrally on behalf of Conferences and Councils, in particular unspent legacies. ______

Responsibilities:

Conference and Council Financial Returns With assistance from the Conference Finance Officer, ensure that all financial returns from Conferences and Councils are checked on receipt to ensure they are complete and accurate and input on a timely basis into the Society’s Conference accounting records.

Working with the Finance Manager, perform quarterly reconciliations of inter-Society balances and ensure all inter-Society transactions are identified to enable accurate consolidations.

1 September 2016 Review bank reconciliations for all Conferences and Councils as part of the returns process and follow up all queries and outstanding matters with Treasurers.

Suggest iterative improvements to the Treasurers return form and the supporting workbooks, in doing so increase the take up of electronic financial returns.

Reporting Prepare quarterly reports for District and Central Council Treasurers summarising the quarterly returns received and working with those individuals to ensure all outstanding returns are received promptly.

Prepare quarterly consolidated accounts for Conferences and Councils, ensuring that all inter-society balances are identified and eliminated.

Assist with the year end accounts process as pertains to the Society’s Conferences and Councils.

Financial Policies and Procedures Ensure bank mandates for the Society’s Conference bank accounts are kept up to date and that all conference signatory changes are processed promptly.

Ensure Conferences and Councils are compliant with the Society’s policies on banking and petty cash

Monitor Treasurer’s returns for potential financial irregularities and report suspected or potential issues in a timely manner

Perform internal audits on Conferences and Councils if required

Training Devise training packages and programmes for Conference, District Council and Central Council Treasurers.

Deliver financial training to Treasurers as appropriate

Evaluate the effectiveness of training on improving the quality and timeliness of returns received

Support Charges Ensure Conference support and legacy administration charges are levied accurately and promptly on the receipt of quarterly financial returns.

Review Conferences whose support charges are in arrears and report as appropriate

Legacies and other funds held centrally Maintain accounting records for legacies and other funds held centrally on behalf of Conferences and Councils.

2 September 2016 Other To deputise for the Head of Finance as and when required

Liaise with Treasurers and other within the Society to ensure timely flows of information.

Manage emails to group and personal mailboxes and ensure all correspondence is promptly dealt with.

Perform any other duties commensurate with this post e.g. general admin, IT etc.

Support the St Vincent de Paul Society’s aims and objectives.

The above list is not exhaustive and duties relevant to the post may be required from time to time. Variation may also occur to the duties, responsibilities and place of work at the request of your line manager without changing the general character of the post.

3 September 2016 Person Specification

It is essential that the post holder has the following:

a. Has excellent written and verbal communication skills and is able to communicate complex, sensitive or contentious information to colleagues and other stakeholders. Is able to persuade, motivate and re-assure others through communication.

b. Has an appropriate accounting qualification (or is suitably qualified by experience) supported by suitable experience in the preparation of management or statutory accounts

c. Has excellent problem solving and analytical skills, is able to draw conclusions and suggest plans and strategies to deal with a broad range of complex activities.

d. Has good organisational skills, including the ability to prioritise and allocate tasks to ensure that deadlines are met, adjusts plans and manages internal projects as appropriate.

e. Is able to work under their own initiative without supervision, generates solutions to problems and develops new policies and procedures as appropriate.

f. Has excellent IT and data manipulation skills. Advanced excel skills (SUMIFS, VLOOKUPS and Pivot Tables as a minimum) are essential.

g. Has willingness to travel for meetings nationally as required

h. Has impeccable attention to detail and an absolute dedication to achieving 100% accuracy at all times

i. Is highly motivated and has a commitment to provide a high quality service.

j. Understands and has a commitment to equal opportunities.

k. Has sympathy with the Christian aims and purposes of the Association and is able to value people of all faiths or none.

It is desirable that the post holder has the following skills/experience:

a. Has experience of work in the voluntary sector, experience in a membership or branch based organisation would be a particular advantage.

b. Has experience of designing SQL (or other similar Structured Query Language) queries and designing and maintaining excel macros.

c. Has experience supervising or line managing junior colleagues, including performance management.

4 September 2016