Assistant accountant jobs

Assistant Financial Accountant

RCN HQ London, 35 hours per week, 12-month Fixed Term Contract

Salary range per annum: £39,018 to £44,079* plus £5,424 London weighting

Imagine being faced with a world of exciting possibilities that could ultimately enable you to support our members and help shape the health policies of the future. As the UK's largest trade union and professional body for nursing, we support over half a million members with unwavering loyalty and total commitment. We represent and develop them, support their practice and lobby on their behalf to make a positive difference to their working lives.

The role

As an Assistant Financial Accountant you'll use your positive attitude, your knowledge of financial accounting and reconciliation skills to deliver high quality support to the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) and RCN Foundation.

In this varied role every day will be filled with possibilities. You will get involved in anything from balance sheet reconciliations to accounting for investments, providing support to the RCN Foundation and assisting with the preparation of statutory accounts.

We'll look to you to prepare accurate balance sheet reconciliations for the RCN, assist with maintaining the fixed asset register and assist with cashbook posting and reconciliation for membership and events income recorded through CRM. It's a great way to build on your skills and experience and develop your potential.

The person

As well as exceptional customer service, to join us you'll need an in-depth knowledge of accounting, a basic understanding of VAT, and the ability to effectively communicate complex financial information to non-financial managers.

You'll be studying towards a recognised CCAB qualification with experience of producing balance sheet reconciliations, maintaining fixed asset registers and investigating discrepancies.

Whatever your background, you'll be efficient, accurate and show a real customer focus in all you do.

The ability to encourage close collaboration between various teams within the finance department is key for this role.

To succeed at the Royal College of Nursing all you need to do is think bigger, better and brighter. And with an attitude like that, anything's possible.

What we offer you

We expect you to look after your customers. And we expect you to be rewarded for it. We offer an impressive range of benefits, a broad range of learning development opportunities and an award-winning health and wellbeing programme. We offer annual leave up to 32 days plus bank holidays and three additional days for the Christmas break plus generous maternity, adoption, paternity, and shared parental leave packages.

*We offer a competitive pay structure with annual pay progression until you reach the top of the salary scale. We normally offer new employees the first point of the salary range, although you may be able to negotiate a higher starting salary depending on your skills, experience and current salary.

We are a diverse organisation and understand everyone has different needs and many of our employees enjoy flexible working enabling them to deliver results whilst having a good work life balance. Our hybrid working model allows for up to 60% of your working time to be carried out from home. At least 40% of your working time will be spent working in person.

Our selection process

Please click the 'apply now' button to apply and answer the supporting questions online demonstrating how you meet the criteria for this role. You may not be shortlisted if you don't. Any identifying information in your application will automatically be anonymised for shortlisting purposes.

We want your experience applying for a job with us to be the best it can be. We may hold our interviews and assessments in person or by video call. If you foresee any problems, please let us know.

Equal opportunities for everyone

Equity, diversity and inclusion are a priority for us and we aim to foster an inclusive environment so our people can bring their authentic selves to work. This is integral to our mission to enable you to support our members and ensure their voice is heard by all UK governments to get the best outcomes for them and their patients.

As proud member of the Disability Confident employer scheme we actively encourage applications from people with disabilities.

Opening date: 17 July 2026

Closing date: 11.59pm on 2 August 2026

If we receive many applications after a week of advertising, we may close this vacancy earlier.

Selection dates: To be confirmed