Job Description

FoodCycle requires a great finance officer. The day to day role involves bookkeeping, accurate coding of income and expenditure, reconciling bank statements and credit cards, payment of expenses and general overheads, understanding and accurately recording restricted income and its expenditure and ensuring volunteer expenses are paid on time. We do this using Sage Line 50.

­­­Purpose of the role

Hi, we’re FoodCycle. We build communities by combining surplus food, volunteers and spare kitchen spaces to create tasty, nutritious meals for people who need them. We want to serve more meals, open more projects and increase our impact across the country.

Having a great finance person in post is essential to helping us achieve this as we need accurate financial data to understand our cashflow, the complexities of our funds and the upcoming running costs in order to achieve our goals.

This role is key to FoodCycle. The right person for this role enjoys data, pays attention to detail, likes to take the lead on being organised and prepares information in a timely manner.

Key areas of responsibility

Financial Management (Day-to-Day)

• Management of bookkeeping system, inputting all bank transactions relating to income and expenditure, coding entries to the correct cost centre with the correct nominal codes
• Maintain the Cashbook in accounting software for all FoodCycle’s bank accounts (2 in total) and prepare monthly reconciliations in Sage and control accounts in Excel. 
• Monitor the FoodCycle bank accounts balances for restricted funds, reconcile cash balances to fund balances on a routine basis
• Record credit card transactions and process and reconcile petty cash
• Manage Purchase Ledger and Sales Ledger and reconcile on a monthly basis. Raise invoices where necessary and chase up outstanding payments
• Process and record donations received in all forms including cheques, cash, charity vouchers, BACS and electronic means including Just Giving, CAF Donate, Stripe, Virgin Money, CAF GAYE and My Donate
• Fortnightly payment run and general banking
• Perform monthly management account adjustments such as Accruals and deferred income (even though we don’t expect you to prepare management account reports)
• Provide financial support to an outsource provider (Menzies) for payroll. To ensure that PAYE is paid to HMRC and input of payroll to sage system and to assist with pension queries
• Support to fundraising in providing the financial information for reporting to funders and Programme team with local income and expenditure
• Prepare monthly Gift Aid claims and quarterly VAT returns
• Act as a knowledge centre for all finance queries

Other duties 

• Some office management duties, including management of suppliers
• Assist with financial training at our volunteer conference Occasionally visit FoodCycle projects and take an interest in the work of our volunteers.
• Work with all staff towards achieving FoodCycle’s vision and contribute to its success.

Person Specification 
 
Essential Experience 

• Experience of working in a finance team and using accounting software, particularly Sage Line 50 or Xero
• Good knowledge of double entry accounting and experience with reconciliations
• Possess strong IT skills, particularly in Excel, and have experience of other Microsoft Office programmes
• Solid understanding of basic bookkeeping and accounting payable/receivable principles with proven experience
• Proven ability to calculate, post and manage accounting figures and financial record
• Knowledge & experience of charity based accounting & reports such as Statement of Financial Position (SOFA)
• Knowledge of restricted & unrestricted funds
• Knowledge / experience of dealing with trading company within the organisation (Inter-company transactions)

Desirable Experience and Qualifications

• Possess an accounting qualification 
• Have VAT and Gift Aid experience 
• Be proficient with advanced Excel techniques ideally using lookups and pivot tables

Personal Qualities 

• Be highly numerate, have excellent attention to detail and a methodical approach
• Have excellent organisational skills and ability to meet demanding deadlines
• Have strong communication skills (both written and verbal), ability to communicate finance to non-finance professionals and present to senior level
• Have excellent and accurate data entry skills

Personality

• Be flexible and have a practical, ‘can do’ attitude.
• Ability to work with colleagues as part of a team and on own initiative
• Customer service orientation

• Commitment to and passionate about FoodCycle’s charitable objectives and values

Working at FoodCycle

Holidays: 23 working days (pro rata if part time)

Benefits: New staff are automatically enrolled in to our  pension after three month's service unless you choose to opt out.

Childcare vouchers.

Applying for this role

What to send: A CV of no more than two sides, and a covering note/letter of no more than one side explaining why you are suitable for the role.

Deadline for your application: 9am 8th August 2017

We will aim to get back to you by: 11 August 2017

Interview dates: First round 17th or 18th August2017

Tips on your CV and covering letter: Your CV should tell us about your achievements. Have you done something impressive? Have you achieved your goals or perhaps surpassed them? Tell us about it!