BGS Finance Officer

The British Geriatrics Society is the professional body of specialists in the healthcare of older people in the UK. It has over 4,600 members from all professions working to improve healthcare for older people in acute, primary and community care settings.
The Society is a registered charity based in Farringdon, central London.

BGS is seeking a Finance Officer to support the Finance Director by carrying out day to day finance administrative tasks, including data entry, invoicing, supplier payments, and banking. You will be part of a friendly staff team of 15, supporting the work of the BGS in improving healthcare for older people. 

Job title:                        Finance Officer 

Reporting to:              Finance Director  

Salary:                   £31,752 (grade 6.1), rising by annual increments

Benefits:                11% employer pension contribution; 29 days annual leave (plus bank holidays). Travel loan and cycle to work scheme. Access to a range of healthcare benefits

Base:                                The British Geriatrics Society’s office in Farringdon, London EC1; The BGS has a flexible working policy and most staff combine working from home with working in the office. A minimum of  one day per week must be spent in our Farringdon Office.

Hours:                             This is a part-time role – 3 days per week, either three full days or spread over Monday – Friday. 

The BGS Finance function is currently completely carried out by the Finance Director who is retiring by 31 March 2024.   Their role will be replaced by a part time Finance Director and this new role of part time Finance Officer.   There will be a transition period from December 2023 when the current post holder will be available to offer support.   

Job purpose:

·        To be responsible for the day to day running of the finance function such as processing and paying invoices and expenses and reconciling bank accounts and credit card records.

·        To maintain the electronic financial records of BGS and its trading subsidiary BGS Trading Ltd using Sage 50

·        To support the Finance Director with data for the quarterly management accounts and annual budget

·        To assist with the annual audit 

Main duties and responsibilities: 

Income, expenditure, and monthly accounts

·        Take overall responsibility for maintenance of Nominal ledgers for BGS and BGS Trading using Sage 50

·        Take overall responsibility for maintenance of purchase and sale ledgers for BGS and BGS Trading using Sage 50

·        Process and pay, staff, committee members and volunteer speakers’ expense claims, ensuring compliance with expense policies

·        Prepare and process month end journals as requested by the Finance Director e.g., salary journal 

Banking

·        Set up BACS payments and direct debits as necessary ensuring compliance with internal controls

·        Record and analyse income from a range of sources including SmartDebit and Stripe credit receipts

·        Prepare monthly bank reconciliations for BGS and BGS Trading

·        Bank Cheques received

 Credit cards

·        Record and reconcile credit card transactions monthly 

Other financial duties

·        Maintain all supporting documentation online on SharePoint

·        Run financial reports from BGS database (CiviCRM) and reconcile to financial records as required.

·        Assist with year-end audit procedures and deal with relevant queries and questions

·        Assist the Finance Director in the review and implementation of all finance policies and procedures

·        Assist the Finance Director in budget and management accounts preparation

·        Maintain close working relationships with all BGS staff, ensuring open lines of communication so that issues are picked up and resolved quickly

General duties

·        Be responsible for personal learning and development and keep up to date on research, relevant legislation, policy and practice, and other literature relevant to the role

·        Participate in supervision, training and meetings as required

·        Undertake other administrative tasks as may arise

·        Contribute to the development of the finance department and to the Society overall

Person Specification

Essential skills/experience required:

·        AAT Qualified or equivalent OR Qualified by experience

·        Proven experience (at least two years) of working in a complex finance office environment, demonstrating efficiency and reliability

·        Proven experience (at least two years) of financial accounting packages ideally Sage 50

·        Knowledge and experience in implementing financial systems and internal controls

·        Fully competent using Microsoft 365, in particular MS Excel, MS Word, MS Teams, SharePoint and Outlook

·        Experience of manipulating, analysing and summarising large data sets using Excel

·        Experience setting up and maintaining financial and administrative systems that are compliant with data protection and privacy laws

·        A good understanding of double entry bookkeeping

·        Strong organisational skills – ability to manage time effectively and deal with competing priorities/deadlines

·        Excellent written and verbal communication skills – with strong attention to detail

·        Ability to communicate effectively and build good relationships with people at all levels

·        Ability to work both independently - taking initiative and demonstrating a problem- solving approach and collaboratively as a team member

·        Highly motivated, willing to learn and enthusiastic

Desirable:

·        Actively working towards an accounting qualification or willing to undertake professional development with further training.

·        Experience in a charity finance department

·        Experience of Charity VAT

·        Experience supporting and training others to use finance systems by verbal and written instruction.

·        Experience of using and maintaining Constituent/ Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Databases (ideally Civi-CRM)

·        Experience of taking credit card payments over the phone, invoicing and receipting

·        Interest in the delivery of older people’s care with the NHS or social care sector 

How to apply

Applicants should send a tailored CV (maximum 2 sides A4) and cover letter (maximum 2 sides A4) setting out what they would bring to the position, in relation to the person specification above, by 10am on Tuesday 27 November. Interviews will be held online on 5 or 6 December.