Account payable assistant jobs in london, essex

• Leading UK-based music examination board
• Opportunity to lead a Accounts Payable Function

About Our Client

ABRSM is The Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music and a global music education charity. At the heart of everything we do is our belief that music enriches lives. Building on our heritage, we offer face-to-face and digital exams, sheet music, recordings, apps and courses for students and teachers across the world. 

In partnership with four Royal Schools of Music, we carry on a long legacy of musical excellence. More than an awarding organisation, we support learners from the first note they play, and empower teachers who help build musical skills and encourage progress around the world. 

As a charity, we use all of the surpluses we generate to make significant donations towards music education initiatives and to develop our support for learners and teachers around the world. We advocate for music and its many forms, playing our part to ensure the future of music education and its place in society. 

Together with our partners, our teachers and others around the world, we've been nurturing the future of music since 1889-to help people start or continue their journey.

Job Description

This role reports to the Head of Transactional Finance. The jobholder is one of three people working in the Accounts Payable Team, which is part of the Transactional Finance & Systems function. The Transactional Finance & Systems function is responsible for:

• recording and processing the financial transactions required to support the operations of ABRSM and its subsidiary ABRSM (Publishing) Limited and to enable it to meet its statutory obligations
• the provision of timely and accurate financial management information to departmental budget holders and to the ABRSM's committees.
• Management of the Accounts Payable Team including monitoring the volume of work and allocation of work to two Accounts Payable Assistants, ensuring that deadlines are met and accuracy is maintained.
• General review and oversight of the work carried out by the Accounts Payable Assistants providing leadership, support and training in Accounts Payable procedures as required.
• Ensuring all incoming Supplier invoices are shared between AP assistants and processed for authorisation daily.
• Ensuring Examiner fees are processed for weekly payment runs as set out in with ABRSM's payment policy.
• Ensuing Examiner and HLR expenses are processed weekly for payment.
• Ensuring Suppliers are paid in accordance with their payment terms and ABRSM's approval process.
• Resolving Supplier and Examiner queries, reconciling statements, and building strong relationships
• Ensuring bank Direct Debits relevant to supplier invoices are processed monthly before month end.
• Processing staff Barclaycard applications and maintaining expenditure limits.
• Meet with new staff to explain ABRSM's approval process before being given system access.
• Administering of travel loan applications
• Maintenance of fixed data for suppliers, examiners and HLRs.
• Dealing with internal Accounts Payable queries and responding to requests for information.
• Monthly reconciliation of aged creditor reports
• Maintaining up-to-date documentation in relation to procedures and systems used.
• Active participation in the enhancement and development of systems in relation to Accounts Payable processing.
• Support with month end activities such as control account reconciliations, bank reconciliations and the accruals process
• Provision of leave cover for the Accounts Payable Assistants and other members of the Finance Department as requested by the Head of Transactional Finance.
• Ad hoc duties as requested by the Head if Transactional Finance
• Processing Royalty payments and administration of accounts.
• Daily checking of VAT codes for invoices awaiting approval.
• Processing International Rep commission payments and administration of accounts.
• Processing Scholar termly payments and administration of accounts.

The Successful Applicant

The Successful Applicant

• Previous Accounts Payable leadership experience in a fast paced, changing environment
• A thorough understanding of the principles of double entry and knowledge of finance accounting procedures
• Experience of providing excellent customer service, dealing with customers by phone and email
• Able to work with minimal supervision

What's on Offer

What's on Offer

We would like to offer the successful candidate:

• Band D £45,000-50,000
• Hybrid working, with 2 days in the office
• Christmas closure days
• 25+ days of annual leave (depending on role and length of service)
• Discounts on ABRSM and affiliated products
• Contributory pension scheme
• Life assurance

Contact
Harry Richardson
Quote job ref
JN-092025-6833341Z

Where specific UK qualifications are required we will take into account overseas equivalents. All third party applications will be forwarded to Michael Page.

ABOUT THE ROLE

Responsible for the day to day running of the Financial Control department, and line managing two Senior Finance Assistants and two Finance Assistants.

Responsible for group reporting requirements for branches and subsidiaries, including assisting with their opening and closing.

Support the stewardship of the finances of ITF Group, including fixed assets, investments and banking. This includes processing and recognising transactions, maintaining schedules, reporting requirements, forecasting cash requirements and liaising with advisors.

Facilitate receipts, payments and expense claims, including checking of expense claims, and checking and recording regional office transactions in ITF Group accounts. Collaborate with and support teams responsible for different income streams, and process transactions on credit cards and prepaid cards, including issuing and closing of cards.

Responsible for employee and employer tax matters for benefits-in-kind that are identified in invoices or expense claims, including preparing the PAYE Settlement Agreement.

Responsible for statutory and regulatory calculations, reports and filing, including Certification Office, Companies House, corporation tax, VAT, gift aid and other taxes, levies, charges and duties.

Prepare for and assist the external audit, and year-end and monthly accounts, and complete allocated balance sheet reconciliations.

Establish and provide appropriate policies and processes to ensure compliance and to meet defined deadlines.

Lead the operational team, systems and initiatives that enable ITF to deliver high-performing, values-led services. Ensure effective planning, delivery and improvement of the organisational function. Combine subject matter expertise, strategic thinking and people management to ensure a resilient, compliant and impactful operation.

ABOUT YOU 

We are looking for a highly numerate and organised individual with a strong ethical approach. The ideal candidate will have:

Essential criteria:

• Substantial experience: A professional accounting qualification (CCAB or CIMA) with a proven track record in a senior finance role.
• Leadership: Proven experience in managing and leading a team.
• Technical accounting expertise: Hands-on experience preparing annual reports and financial statements, with a solid knowledge of accounting standards and HMRC requirements.
• Audit experience: Direct experience of being audited by external financial auditors.
• IT proficiency: Advanced Excel and intermediate Word skills. Must have practical experience with complex finance databases (e.g., Sage, Oracle, SAP), reporting tools, and expense claim systems.
• Personal attributes: Exceptional attention to detail, accuracy, and the organisational skills to meet tight deadlines. Must be fluent in English.
• Flexibility: Willingness to adapt working hours during periods of high demand to ensure deadlines are met.

Desirable criteria:

• Experience in implementing new finance databases, reporting tools and expense claim systems

Venn Group is delighted to be recruiting for an Assistant Accountant on behalf of a respected membership organisation based in London. This is a fantastic opportunity to join a collaborative finance team and contribute to the smooth running of financial operations.

Key responsibilities of the role:

• Lead weekly and fortnightly payment runs for suppliers and staff expenses
• Process purchase and sales invoices in line with internal controls and VAT compliance
• Perform balance sheet reconciliations, including bank accounts and control accounts
• Prepare general ledger journals and assist with month-end and year-end procedures
• Support audit preparation and respond to audit queries
• Maintain accurate financial records and filing systems
• Liaise with internal and external stakeholders to resolve finance-related queries

Ideal candidate profile:

• AAT qualified or actively studying towards a recognised accounting qualification
• Experience working in the charity or not-for-profit sector
• Strong understanding of double-entry bookkeeping and accounting principles
• Experience with payment processing, reconciliations, and financial systems (e.g. Great Plains)
• Excellent attention to detail and ability to meet tight deadlines
• Confident communicator with strong Excel and Microsoft Office skills
• A team player with a customer-focused approach and problem-solving mindset

Agency reference number: J91506
Location: Central London
Duration: 6-month fixed term contract, likely extension
Salary: £35,500 per annum
Working hours: 35 hours per week
Working pattern: Hybrid (2 days per week in the office)

This vacancy will be actively shortlisted so early applications are encouraged to avoid missing out.

Venn Group is an equal opportunities employment business and employment agency and welcomes applications from all candidates.

Assistant Financial Accountant
£37,264 pa plus excellent benefits
London WC1 and home-based - hybrid with expectation to work at London office 40% of the time
35 hours per week, full-time
Permanent contract

The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) is seeking a highly motivated and detail-oriented Assistant Financial Accountant to support the financial accounting and compliance functions of the College.

This is an important role within the Finance team, supporting the College’s mission to improve child health by ensuring the integrity of financial information, robust financial controls, and compliance with statutory and regulatory requirements.

Working closely with the Financial Accountant and wider finance team, you will take responsibility for key accounting processes including payroll, tax, treasury management, and monthly financial reconciliations. You will play a vital role in maintaining accurate and timely financial records, supporting audit preparation, and ensuring that all financial operations run smoothly.

Key responsibilities include:

• Maintaining the integrity of financial systems and ensuring accurate, timely accounting entries and reconciliations
• Supporting the Financial Accountant in preparing key balance sheet reconciliations, including fixed assets, investments, accruals, prepayments and deferred income
• Assisting with internal and external audit processes and the preparation of group statutory accounts
• Processing monthly payroll and pension submissions, ensuring accuracy and compliance with regulatory requirements
• Supporting VAT, corporation tax and Gift Aid returns, and ensuring all submissions are completed on time
• Managing banking and treasury activities, including cash flow monitoring and reconciliation of company credit cards
• Providing administrative support for finance systems, including user access and coding updates
• Supporting continuous improvement initiatives, including system developments and process efficiency projects

Essential skills and experience:

• Part-qualified accountant (ACCA, CIMA, CCAB or equivalent)
• Minimum of 2–3 years’ experience in financial accounting or operations roles, ideally within the charity, not-for-profit or public sector
• Experience supporting statutory accounting, audit preparation, payroll, pensions and VAT returns
• Strong understanding of financial controls and reconciliation processes
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills with high attention to detail
• Proficiency in financial systems and advanced Microsoft Excel skills
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to work effectively across teams and departments
• Highly organised and able to manage multiple priorities and deadlines

Desirable:

• Knowledge of charity accounting and regulatory requirements, including SORP
• Experience using Business Central or similar ERP/financial systems

This is an excellent opportunity to develop your finance career in a supportive and high-performing team.

The RCPCH has more than 25,000 members and fellows and employs around 200 staff, most of whom work in our London office in Holborn. We have a Devolved Nations team operating from Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Our College values: Include, Influence, Innovate and Inspire, are important to us. These values ensure we bring out the best in each other, strive forward together to make the College a positive and dynamic place to work. 

The RCPCH champions Equality, Diversity and Inclusion. Our workplace is inclusive, offering a supportive environment where staff can thrive. The College is keen to accept applications from people with protected characteristics. We believe that our staff should represent all of the diverse communities we serve. Join us to help realise our vision of a world where every child is healthy and well.

The College operates a flexible and modern working policy, whereby our colleagues work in the office for a minimum of 40% over a 4 week cycle and the remainder from home.

The RCPCH is committed to safeguarding the children, young people and adults it has contact with in the exercise of its functions and responsibilities. The RCPCH expects all staff to share this commitment – we place a high priority on ensuring only those who do so are recruited to work for us. 

All offers of employment will be subject to satisfactory references and appropriate screening checks, which can include criminal records. 

Closing date: 10 November 2025

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.

Assistant Accountant
Department: Finance and Services
Responsible to: Finance Manager
Location: South Kensington, London SW7
Working Pattern: 35 hours a week (2 days in the office)
Terms: Permanent, Full-time
Salary: £34,000 - £36,000

The Society

The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) is the learned society and professional body for geography and geographers. It is also a charity and a membership organisation. The Society was founded in 1830 and has been one of the most active of the learned societies ever since. It was pivotal in establishing geography as a teaching and research discipline in British universities and continues to play a key role in geographical and environmental education.

The Society is a leading world centre for geographical learning – supporting education, teaching, research, professional practice and scientific expeditions, as well as promoting public understanding and enjoyment of geography and providing advice to policymakers.

The Society offers professional accreditation to members through Chartered Geographer status. The Society is based in a listed building in its own grounds in Kensington opposite Hyde Park, and operates nine regional branches in the UK and two overseas.

The Position

We are seeking a full time Assistant Accountant to support timely processing of financial transactions, accurate accounting, consistency of financial records, supporting the year-end close.

As the Assistant Accountant, you will become an integral part of our dedicated team, ensuring the smooth functioning of financial operations.

Duties and responsibilities

• Maintain and improve accounts receivable processes – review and issue of sales invoices, and debt recovery, and follow-up invoicing queries.
• Recording receipts – subscriptions, legacies, grants, gift aid and investment income.
• Manage and reconcile payments, including direct debits, credit card expenses, and PDQ receipts.
• Perform accurate cash and bank reconciliations and updates of bank and deposit balances.
• Reconciliation of receipts in the financial system and the CRM system.
• Perform monthly reconciliations of balance sheet accounts, including prepayments, accruals, and other key ledger accounts.
• Assist with VAT returns, ensuring compliance with accurate coding and reporting.
• Support the Finance Manager with the month-end process, including posting month-end journals and assisting with the preparation of month-end reports.
• Assist with year-end processes, including preparing schedules and supporting documentation for auditors.
• Oversee and manage multiple shared finance mailboxes.
• Support internal stakeholders with finance queries.
• Undertake ad hoc general accounting tasks as required.

Salary and Benefits

This is a permanent, full-time post subject to successful completion of a probationary period of three months. The salary range for this post is £34,000-£36,000 per annum depending on experience and qualifications. The post is based in Kensington, London.

There are a range of benefits at the Society which include the following:

• 35-hour working week with core working hours between 10.00am and 4.00pm.
• Flexible working arrangements are available with a mix of office based and home working.
• 25 days annual leave per annum, pro rata, plus public bank holidays.
• Society closure between Christmas and New Year, in addition to the basic annual leave allowance.
• Pension scheme - 3% employee, 7.5% employer.
• Group Life Assurance at four-times basic annual salary.
• Corporate eye care vouchers.
• Cycle to work scheme.
• Free 24-hour Employee Assistance helpline with available counselling support.

Closing date: 5.00pm on 31 October 2025.
Interviews are planned to take place on 3 November 2025.

Interested?

If you would like to find out more, please click the apply button. You will be directed to our website to complete your application for this position.

The Society aims to be an equal opportunities employer.

Applicants must have the right to work in the UK. The Society is unable to offer work visa sponsorships.

We thank, in advance, all candidates for applying and regret we are unable to write separately to those who are not selected for interview.

No agencies please.

Senior Financial Accountant - Restricted Income
Reference: OCT20254404
Location: Flexible in UK
Contract: 12 months, fixed term
Hours: Full-Time, 37.5 hours per week
Salary: £47,313.00 - £50,309.00 Per Annum
Benefits: Pension Scheme, Life Assurance Scheme, 26 days' Annual Leave

Are you a qualified accountant looking to make meaningful impact? This is an exciting opportunity to join the RSPB’s dynamic Finance team and contribute to one of the UK’s most influential conservation charity. With an annual income exceeding £170m and over 1.15 million members, the RSPB combines charitable impact with a substantial commercial operation - offering you both challenge and opportunity.

This role plays a pivotal part in embedding the Overhead Cost Recovery (OCR) internal recharge mechanism into our financial operations. The OCR initiative is designed to improve how we cost projects and recover overheads, aiming to deliver a net financial benefit of approximately £1million annually. By supporting this initiative, you will help drive financial sustainability, improve cost transparency, and enable better decision making across the organisation.

As a Senior Financial Accountant - Restricted Income, you will be a key member of the Financial Planning & Reporting team. Your responsibilities will include:

• Implementing the OCR mechanism: - set-up coding structures and integrate overhead recovery into financial systems and reporting templates.
• Project-level financial management: - Execute debits/credits, track overhead recovery, and monitor funding gaps using a standard 15% OCR rate.
• Stakeholder engagement: - Collaborate with Project Managers and Fundraisers to assess and communicate OCR funding status.
• Financial Planning and modelling: - Prepare and present budgetary analysis, support strategic decision-making, and contribute to long term financial planning.
• FCR tool ownership: - Maintain and update the Full Cost Recovery Projects costing tool and associated guidance, ensuring effective training and usage. 

This role offers the opportunity to influence financial strategy and improve operational efficiency across a complex and diverse organisation.

Essential skills, knowledge and experience:

Qualification:

• Professional accounting qualification (e.g. ACCA, CIMA or equivalent). 

Skills:

• Strong analytical and financial modelling skills.
• Ability to communicate financial information clearly to both finance and non-finance audiences.
• Advanced excel skills.

Knowledge:

• Solid understanding of financial management and processes and double-entry accounting.
• Familiarity with financial management standards and charity sector regulations.

Experience:

• Proven management accounting experience.
• Track record of delivering projects that improve profitability or efficiency.
• Experience preparing reports for external stakeholders (e.g. HMRC, Charity Commission)

Desirable Attributes:

• Experience with accounting software within a medium sized organisation.
• Experience of liaising with auditors, trustees, and regulatory bodies

Additional information:

• This role is remote, but occasional travel to RSPB HQ in Sandy and other UK locations may be required. Overnight stays may be necessary.
• This is a 12-months fixed-term full-time role for 37.5 hours per week.
• The RSPB reserves the right to extend or make this role permanent without further advertising dependent on business needs at the end of the contract term.
• You will be expected to support our Environmental Policy and promote sustainability in your work.
• Volunteers are integral to the RSPB’s mission - staff are encouraged to support and collaborate with them.

Closing date: 23:59, Sunday, 2nd November 2025
We are looking to conduct interviews for this position from 10 November, 2025.  
Please note that we will be actively recruiting for this role and reserve the right to close this vacancy should sufficient applications be received.

Interested?

If you would like to find out more, please click the apply button. You will be directed to our website to complete your application for this position.

We are committed to developing an inclusive and diverse RSPB, in which everyone feels supported, valued, and able to be their full selves. To achieve our vision of creating a world richer in nature, we need more people, and more diverse people, on nature’s side. People of colour and disabled people are currently underrepresented across the environment, climate, sustainability, and conservation sector. If you identify as a person of colour and/or disabled, we are particularly interested in receiving your application. 

The RSPB is a licenced sponsor. This role is not eligible for UK Visa Sponsorship - the successful applicant will need to have a pre-existing Right to Work in the UK in order to be offered an employment contract.

As part of this application you will be asked to provide a copy of your CV and complete a short form with cover letter. Please use the cover letter section to explain how you meet the criteria set above. Contact us to discuss any additional support you may need to complete your application.

No agencies please.