Junior Financial Accountant

Working at the RFU means being part of the ‘bigger picture’ at England Rugby: to be rooted in our purpose, which is to enrich lives, introduce more people to rugby union & develop the sport for future generations. If our purpose resonates with you, and you recognise the value that sport can bring to people’s lives, we’d love to work with you. An opportunity has arisen for a Junior Financial Accountant to join our Finance Team on a permanent basis. 

Job Title : Junior Financial Accountant
Department: Finance
Reports to : Financial Control Manager
Direct report(s) : None
Salary Banding : c. £33k per annum with increases for relevant exam passes 
Job Level : Implement
Location : HQ - This role is contractually based at Allianz Stadium, offering some flexibility to work from home
Travel Requirements : None
Employment Type : Permanent 
Working Hours : This is a full-time role, covering 35hrs per week

Application Information:

• Please submit an anonymised CV and cover letter (i.e. please exclude personal details).
• The closing date for applications is January 6th at 5pm.
• The RFU reserves the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications.
• Applications may be considered whilst this vacancy is advertised.

Nature and Scope:

We are looking for a Junior Financial Accountant to join our Financial Control team.

The Junior Financial Accountant will act as a main point of contact for a range of stakeholders (both internal and external). They perform key tasks at both month end and year end monitoring and understanding the business to ensure that the results are in line with the expectations, investigating any variances.

The role will have a broad range of accounting responsibilities, covering month end/year end procedures and will require the candidate to work in close coordination with other members of the wider Finance team and RFU.

The Team:

The role is part of the Financial Control team, consisting of three members, and reports directly to the Financial Control Manager. The Financial Control team is one of three teams within the Finance Department, alongside Procurement and Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A). The purpose of the team is to ensure the completion of statutory reporting and to maintain a robust financial control environment.

As a team, we collaborate across a variety of areas within the finance function, working closely with other teams to support the broader financial operations of the organisation. Our work is dynamic, and we foster a collaborative environment that allows us to deliver high-quality financial reporting and control.

The team operates with a flexible working model, with most of the time spent in the office (2–3 days per week) and the rest of the time working remotely.

What will you be doing?

Some key responsibilities include:

Accounting Processes and Financial Reporting:

• General Ledger Management: Oversee and control the general ledger entries for subsidiaries, ensuring the integrity and accuracy of financial data.
• Month-End, Quarterly, and Annual Close: Manage the month-end, quarterly, and annual accounting processes for subsidiaries, including posting specific journal entries and finalising financial reports.
• Stakeholder Collaboration: Liaise with internal departments to gather necessary financial data, respond to stakeholder queries, and provide additional analysis or clarification as needed.
• Balance Sheet Reconciliations: Perform reconciliations for key balance sheet accounts to ensure the accuracy of financial statements.
• Management Accounts Preparation: Prepare detailed management accounts, presenting financial performance and variance analysis to senior management for strategic decision-making.
• Data Review and Anomaly Detection: Review financial data from other departments for consistency and reasonableness, identifying and addressing discrepancies or anomalies.
• External Statutory Reporting: Complete external statutory reporting, ensuring full compliance with regulatory requirements and timely submission to relevant authorities.

Club Loan Process Ownership (Rugby Football Union, Rugby Football Foundation and England Rugby Limited):

• Loan Repayment Management: Manage the loan repayment process for club-related transactions, including tracking repayments, resolving issues, and ensuring timely settlements.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Work closely with clubs to address any repayment-related issues and provide support in resolving discrepancies.
• Reporting for Trustees/Board: Prepare comprehensive reports for trustees and board members, updating them on the status of the loan process and highlighting any critical issues.

Year-End Process and Audit Coordination:

• Financial Statement Preparation: Preparation of year-end financial statements, ensuring accuracy and compliance with accounting standards.
• Charity Audit Management: Take responsibility for the smooth execution of charity audits, working with external auditors to ensure that all necessary information and documentation are provided.
• Senior Management Reporting: Present key financial statements and audit findings to senior management, providing insights and addressing any concerns raised during the audit process.

Finance Administrative and Compliance Tasks:

• Purchase Order Management: Oversee the creation and approval of purchase orders, ensuring they align with company policies and financial controls.
• Credit Checks and Compliance: Perform credit checks for executive box customers, ensuring compliance with internal credit policies and identifying any financial risks.
• Regulatory Compliance: Ensure all finance-related tasks comply with internal policies, external regulations, and industry standards.

Payment Run Review and Transaction Oversight:

• Payment Run Approvals: Review payment runs from the transactional team, ensuring all payments are accurate, authorised, and processed in a timely manner, aligning with the organisation’s cash flow management objectives.

Finance Project Support:

• Ad-Hoc Financial Projects: Provide finance and accounting support for various commercial and business transactions, collaborating with senior management to ensure all financial activities are executed smoothly and in line with strategic goals.

QUALIFICATIONS, SKILLS & EXPERIENCE

The skills and attributes outlined in this description are not exhaustive and we welcome candidates who can bring different relevant experiences to the role.

Essential:

• Finance experience (work or study).
• Proactive and energetic with a positive attitude and approach.
• Excellent attention to detail with a thorough, proactive approach to problem solving.
• Ability to balance multiple priorities against strict deadlines.
• Excellent communicator, comfortable with dealing with internal and external stakeholders at all levels.
• Self-aware; committed to continuous professional and personal development.
• Proficient in working with Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
• Committed to embodying the ethos our culture by using our three core values – Put The Team First, Shape The Future, Respect Each Other – to guide your day-to-day decisions, actions and interactions.
• Committed to actively contributing and building an inclusive culture in your role and day to day behaviours.

Desirable:

• ACCA Part qualified or desire to work towards starting qualification.
• Experience/knowledge of periodic financial processes (financial “close” processes, reporting etc.)
• Oracle experience preferable although candidates with exposure to similar ERP systems will be considered.
• Knowledge of charities accounting preferred.

Additional Information:

• We want you to have every opportunity to demonstrate your skills, ability and potential. If there is anything we could do to support you through your application or to provide the best environment for your interviews, including assistance or adjustment, please reach out to recruitment@rfu.com. 
• During your application, we will ask questions about your identity. This information is considered highly confidential and will not be seen by hiring managers. You can find out more about why we ask these questions here.

Please download the job description here for full details of this role.*

* We recommend keeping a copy of the JD to hand as you may wish to revisit the role requirements in the event you are invited to interview.

About England Rugby
England Rugby or Rugby Football Union (RFU) is the national governing body for rugby in England. We deliver three core activities, and our purpose is to enrich lives, introduce more people to rugby union and develop the sport for future generations.

Our core activities are:

Rugby – supporting rugby from grassroots to performance level

Commercial – building partnerships and hosting matches and events

Running the business - ensuring our organization and people can thrive

Our Culture

At England Rugby, one of our core objectives is to drive rugby union to better reflect the diversity of society. We are aware that rugby, and sports in general, has not always been as welcoming an environment for everyone as we would like, and we are working hard to make rugby a more inclusive space for all identities.

We believe hiring people from underrepresented groups into positions at all levels is vital to creating spaces and initiatives that better support those identities. We would love to see applications from disabled people, LGBTQ+ people, people from ethnically diverse communities, people of faith, people from lower socio-economic backgrounds, and women and non-binary people.

We know that representation is more than just getting people through the door, it’s about keeping people by responding to structural barriers relating to identities and valuing the insights that different lived experiences bring. We have network groups that provide peer-to-peer support and drive forward change internally. We support colleagues to develop, and each colleague has access to a personal coaching platform that can provide same-day one-to-one coaching. We are pushing ourselves to create a more inclusive culture every day through role modelling our BACK behaviours which stand for Brave, Accountable, Collaborative and Keep improving.

We know that flexible working is important to our colleagues, so our guiding principles are designed to support everyone to work in the way that suits them, their teams, and the organization in the best way.

We want you to have every opportunity to demonstrate your skills, ability and potential. If there is anything we could do to support you through your application or to provide the best environment for your interviews, including assistance or adjustment, please reach out to recruitment@rfu.com.

What we can offer you

We are proud of the range of benefits we can provide:

• A variety of corporate discounts.
• Priority access to purchase match tickets
• 25% discount in Rugby Store and EnglandRugby.com
• 25 days of annual leave and your birthday day off
• Free access to the stadium gym
• Life assurance of 4x your basic salary, income protection scheme and Employee Assistance Programme that offers anonymous and confidential, emotional and practical support 24/7
• After 3 months, you will be enrolled in our Aviva pension scheme and we will match and double your contribution up to 10%
• Ride-to-work scheme, eyecare vouchers and season ticket loans

About Our Team At England Rugby, we want to hear our employees’ thoughts, ideas and feedback on our strategies, new initiatives and our work environment. That’s why we have quarterly meetings called ‘the Voice’ where various topics are discussed, in addition to regular surveys, including our annual D&I survey. We are always striving to create the best environment for our colleagues, and we are proud to present some of our most recent feedback from Feb 2022:

• 85% feel motivated to perform their role to the best of their ability
• 83% feel supported by their Manager
• 90% agree or strongly agree that their Manager empowers and trusts them to deliver while working from home
• 83% feel informed and connected with the organisation

If you would like to find out more about our diversity and inclusion work or the culture at England Rugby, please visit our website here: https://www.englandrugby.com/about-rfu/rfu-policies/diversity-and-inclusion/our-approach 

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