Accounts payable jobs in spennymoor, county durham
Location: Home based, or office based at Society Building, 8 All Saints Street, London N1, in line with NCVO’s flexible working policy or home working policy.
About NCVO
We are the charities charity. For over 100 years, NCVO has stood shoulder to shoulder with communities, championing and celebrating voluntary action.
Our membership is made up of over 17,000 voluntary organisations across England, from small, grassroots community groups and social enterprises, to large, far-reaching charities.
We believe that communities are strengthened by voluntary action. We therefore want charities to thrive and be empowered to deliver for people and communities.
This role sits in our Finance & Commercial Directorate on the Finance team. We’re looking for a person who will play a pivotal role in collaborating with and supporting the senior management team, including team managers and executives, to ensure effective financial management and decision-making across the organisation. You will be responsible for providing strategic financial insights, assisting in budgeting, forecasting, and financial planning, and driving improvements to operational financial performance.
Working alongside a dedicated finance team of 4 professionals - alongside that team, you will be a key support for financial queries from internal teams and ensure compliance with financial procedures and reporting standards.
About the role
You’ll lead our finance function, line managing two team members, and overseeing all aspects of financial operations. Reporting to the CEO, Executive Team(ET), and with the Finance and Commercial Director (FCD) support the preparation of papers for the Board on the numbers, with narrative, detail and analysis where appropriate.
You will maintain accurate financial records and systems that meet charity accounting standards and the requirements of the Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP).
You will produce timely, clear, and insightful monthly management accounts and financial reports for our executive team and board of trustees, supporting evidence-based decision making. You’ll also ensure our balance sheet is up to date, financial controls are robust, and all financial transactions are managed efficiently and with integrity.
This is a key leadership role in ensuring we continue to manage our resources effectively, enabling us to deliver our mission now and into the future.
Equality, diversity and inclusion
NCVO is fully committed to equity, diversity and inclusion in our sector. We want this to be reflected in the diversity of the people who work for us and we welcome applications from people from all backgrounds and identities. We particularly welcome applications from under-represented groups in the voluntary sector and those with diverse, lived experience. As part of our commitment to employing disabled people, all disabled candidates who meet the minimum requirement for all competencies on the person specification will be guaranteed an interview.
If you have access needs or require reasonable adjustments as part of the recruitment process, please let us know. Shortlisted candidates will be asked to complete a pre-interview task and will have one week to complete the exercise. Interview questions will be shared in advance.
NCVO is an equal opportunities employer and we welcome applications from everyone. Charity No. 225922.
Benefits for NCVO employees
NCVO offers attractive benefits including:
- 25 days’ annual leave (for full time staff and pro-rata for part-time staff) and office closure between 25 December and 1 January inclusive. After three years' service annual holiday increases to 27 days, and after five years to 30 days, (pro rata for part time staff)
- the option to purchase or sell up to five more days each year
- five days’ volunteering leave (pro rata for part-time staff)
- 2.5 extra ‘wellbeing’ days off during the year
- enhanced pay for sick/maternity/adoption leave
- subsidised gym membership
- season ticket loan
- flexible working, including opportunities to work from home/off site
- monthly homeworking allowance for permanent homeworkers
- monthly office worker allowance for those who have to work from the office on a daily basis
- generous employer pension contribution of up to 8.5% of salary, into our stakeholder pension scheme (linked to employee contribution)
- training and development opportunities.
- the opportunity to join Hospital Saturday Fund health cash plan for free at the basic level of cover, or at a reduced rate for other levels of cover
- 24-hour free and confidential employee assistance programme
We’re located a short walk from London King’s Cross station in a modern accessible building, overlooking Regent’s canal.
Closing date: 21 August 2025 at 08:00
Shortlisting date: 22 August 2025
Interviews: 1 September 2025
Thank you!
Unifrog’s mission
We’re on a mission to level the playing field when it comes to young people finding and applying for their next step after school. We're achieving this by bringing all the available information into one single, impartial, user-friendly platform that helps students to make the best choices, and submit the strongest applications. We also empower teachers and counsellors to manage the progression process effectively.
Our outlook is global - we work with schools and universities all over the world, from the US to New Zealand, and from Italy to Hong Kong. We want to make it so that young people can compare every opportunity taught in English, wherever it is in the world, and have all the support they need to make successful applications.
We have a clear social purpose, and we’re hugely ambitious. We already work with over half of UK secondary schools, and hundreds of international schools. We are growing rapidly in terms of the number of our customers, in terms of how much they use our platform, and in terms of the breadth of products we offer.
Our team is at the heart of our business and is integral to our success. We work hard to foster a culture of openness, happiness and innovation, and we commit to helping every individual learn and grow so that they can reach their full potential. We want to hire talented people, whatever their background. If you are excited by our mission and are ready to work hard, please don’t hesitate to apply. We look forward to hearing from you!
We believe in the power of diversity. If you are from an ethnic minority background, we would like to strongly encourage you to apply. In advance of applying if you have any questions about working at Unifrog, please contact Mhairi (details on our jobs page).
What you’ll do
As Finance Executive, you’ll play a key role in keeping our day-to-day finance operations running smoothly; from processing transactions and performing reconciliations, to ensuring our partners are billed correctly and pay on time. You'll be a key point of contact for finance queries across the business, and your work will be essential to maintaining accurate records and enabling wider decision-making. You'll also play an important role in driving process improvements, and support the team by analysing data and producing insightful reports that inform decision making.
This is a varied role where you’ll get exposure to lots of different areas within the finance function of a SaaS company. It’s perfect if you’re keen to explore your interests and gain a solid grounding across multiple aspects of finance.
- Record, process and reconcile transactions for the company using platforms like Spendesk and Xero, and ensure transactions are accurately recorded and categorised.
- Manage our finance email inbox, responding to queries from schools, universities and employers.
- Manage our accounts receivable processes, keeping track of overdue invoices, chasing partners for payment and recording received payments.
- Support our sales teams with general finance related queries and keeping their partner records up to date on Salesforce (our CRM system).
- Improve, streamline and automate processes within the finance function.
- Get involved with projects such as:
- Setting up a simple way to keep track of the subscriptions we pay for, and make sure we’re getting good value from them.
- Finding solutions to increase the number of invoices paid on time.
- Creating useful reports and dashboards on Salesforce to aid decision making.
- Support the Finance Lead to:
- Prepare the payroll for our accountants (including commission calculations) and manage associated schemes (e.g. pension contributions).
- Manage our accounts payable processes, making and recording payments.
- Work on forecasting and variance analysis to support business planning.
- Check through our quarterly VAT return.
- Manage the banking for our much smaller Hong Kong and US companies.
- Support the Head of Finance (your line manager) to:
- Create the annual budget.
- Support on ad-hoc projects and data analysis requests.
Who we’re looking for
You’ve got some experience in a finance or operations role, or you can demonstrate that you’ve built the relevant skills in another setting and are ready to learn more.
- You’re organised and methodical, with strong attention to detail that helps keep things running smoothly and accurately.
- You enjoy solving problems and thinking critically about how things can be improved, streamlined or automated.
- You’re quick to learn new systems and tools, you might not have used platforms like Xero or Salesforce before, but you’re keen to get stuck in.
- You take ownership of your work, following through on tasks and making sure nothing falls through the cracks.
- You’re proactive and hands-on, excited to go beyond your core responsibilities to improve how we work and help make it a success.
- Being a proficient user of Microsoft Excel (formulas, pivot table, x-lookup) is a bonus.
- Having an educational background in Finance, Accounting or a Business related discipline is desirable, but not essential.
Working together
We’re a small but mighty team of 3 within Finance (this role included). You’ll be line managed by the Head of Finance and will be working very closely with our Finance Lead too. You’ll also have regular contact with most people across the Unifrog, especially our partner-facing teams and the People team. You’ll also be liaising with our external accountants who take lead with the financial accounting and payroll side of things.
Key benefits
Head to our jobs page for a full list of the excellent benefits we offer our team.
- Join one of ‘the best organisations to escape to’ and help transform careers and destinations in schools.
- Become part of a committed, dynamic, and growing company. We want to build our team for the long term: if you do well, we will do our best to make sure you want to stay at the company for a long time.
- Professional development is important at Unifrog. You will define your own 6-month objectives and will be supported by your line manager and the rest of the team to achieve them. You will have an annual training allowance to spend on what you need to grow and progress.
- Influence the company’s direction: we love to promote great ideas, wherever they come from.
Key details
- £33,000 - £36,000 per year, depending on experience (Grade B).
- This position is advertised as Finance Executive, though internally it will be referred to as Finance Coordinator to better align with Unifrog job titles.
- Work remotely, or flexibly in our London or Edinburgh office.
- 28 days paid holiday per year (plus bank holidays).
- Working hours are 9am to 5pm, Monday to Thursday, and 9am to 4:30pm on Friday.
- Start date: as soon as possible, though we will be flexible for the right candidates.
- If you require reasonable adjustments, or want to discuss any details about the role before applying, please contact Mhairi (details on our website).
- We can only consider candidates who have the right to work in the UK.
Application process
Deadline: 10:00am (BST) on Monday 1st September 2025.
Stage 1: Application form (~1 hour)
Visit our website to upload your CV and complete the questions and tasks below. Please note that we do not review CVs at this stage of the application process so please be as specific as possible about your experience.
- i. With reference to examples of your recent experience, what would make you an excellent candidate for this role? (250 words)
- ii. Describe a time when you identified an opportunity to improve something in your team or organisation. What steps did you take, and what was the outcome? (250 words)
- iii. Our Finance team is looking to reduce the number of late payments from our partner schools. What kind of information would you want to understand the issue, and what steps might you suggest to help improve the situation? (250 words)
Stage 2: Phone interview (15 minutes)
- The next stage of the application process will be a short phone interview.
Stage 3: Video call interview and task (1 hour 20 mins)
- In-tray exercise (20 minutes)
- Standard Q&A from a panel of three, including questions about your experiences and how these relate to the role, and scenario questions based on common situations you might face (plus time for your questions) (60 mins).
Phone interviews will be held throughout the application window. Video call interviews will be held w/c 15th September 2025.
Your answers are an opportunity to let us know more about your motivations and experience. While we understand that candidates might want to use AI to improve parts of their application, we strongly encourage you to write your answers independently.
Please note, we compare all answers to an AI generated answer. Where we suspect AI has been used to write the majority of the answer, this will be taken into consideration when scoring.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Thank you!
Using Anonymous Recruitment
This organisation is using Anonymous Recruitment to reduce bias in the first stages of the hiring process. Submit your application as normal and our system will anonymise it for you. Your personal information will be hidden until the recruiter contacts you.
About Chapter One
Chapter One is a dynamic, growing charity with a vision of a world in which all children have the literacy skills needed to thrive. Our mission is to close the reading gap by providing children with one-to-one support at the time they need it most.
Our unique Online Reading Volunteer programme currently supports over 3,200 children a year. It pairs disadvantaged, struggling five to eight-year old (KS1) readers with reading support volunteers who come from over 160 local and national businesses. The volunteer ask is very focused: readers commit 30 minutes a week to read with a child using a bespoke digital platform for an entire academic year. The results are transformative, boosting children's reading confidence and ability.
For more information about our programmes please visit our website. Please also take some time to visit our social media channels and watch our videos.
About the Role
The Finance Assistant has responsibility for a variety of finance functions including the purchase and sales ledger, making payments to suppliers, invoicing Corporate Partners and Schools and reconciling bank accounts. They support the day to day running of the Finance Team ensuring that tasks such as posting invoices, reconciling customer accounts, supporting credit control and chasing non-payments are carried out in a timely and accurate fashion.
The Finance Assistant reports to and works closely with the Head of Finance and plays a critical role in resolving finance queries from Chapter One colleagues, maintaining accurate financial records, supporting internal processes and contributing to the effective financial management of Chapter One.
This role is ideal for someone who has experience in a similar position within a finance team and has good working knowledge of accounting principles and a basic understanding of income for charities. They will work remotely and will need to have access to a reliable internet connection. This role is subject to an Enhanced DBS check, and the post-holder must be permanently based in the UK at the time of applying and for the duration of their employment.
All Chapter One employees are required to attend quarterly in-person staff meetings held in various locations across the UK (all expenses covered) as well as monthly all staff virtual meetings which are held on the first Wednesday of each month from 12:00 - 13:00; participation is mandatory.
How to Apply
Please read the full job description for details of the responsibilities of the role, and our employee recruitment pack to learn more about Chapter One. Application instructions included below.
Interview Dates
First Round Interviews: w/c Monday 1st September
Second Round Interviews: w/c Monday 8th September
Chapter One is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We value and celebrate diversity in backgrounds and experience and are deliberate about the kind of teams we are building. Literacy is a universal concern, and we need people from all backgrounds to maximise our innovation, creativity and impact. We especially welcome applications from individuals who have experienced disadvantage and/or from those who are of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities who are currently underrepresented in the organisation
Please send your CV (maximum 2 A4 sides) and a covering letter via CharityJob. Your covering letter (maximum 1 side of A4) should include:
1) A summary of your relevant experience, including clear examples
2) Tell us about a time when you identified an opportunity to improve a financial process or system
3) Tell us about your journey of continuing professional development
4) Tell us about how our organisational mission is in line with your values
Applications that fail to meet these criteria will automatically be discounted. We want you to have every opportunity to shine and to show us your talents - please let us know if there is anything we can do to make sure the assessment process works for you.
Registered Charity
21 - 50
At Chapter One, we want to create a world where all children have the literacy skills needed to thrive.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.