Finance and Administration Assistant

Finance and Administration Assistant

Instruct-ERIC, Oxford, United Kingdom

Instruct-ERIC has an open position for a Finance and Administration Assistant .

The appointee will be a motivated and organised individual with strong interpersonal skills to help us with our finance and admin.

The role is based at the Instruct-ERIC offices in Oxford, UK.

The day ‑ to ‑ day financial and administration assistance of a European scientific organisation .

The post holder will work on all general bookkeeping, financial and general administrative procedures for the organisation and have general responsibility for finance and admin support for a number of European projects.

The postholder will be responsible for:

• The accurate and timely completion of monthly accounting procedures based on appropriate supporting documentation. Preparation of information for financial reporting, monitoring expenditure in comparison to detailed budget plans, investigating and alerting Managers and Senior Project Officer to potential overspends where appropriate.
• Working proactively with managers to provide support in the financial and administrative management of projects, responding quickly to issues raised and resolving these satisfactorily and in a timely manner, escalating where appropriate. e.g. Alerting impending project end dates, potential budget overspends.
• Maintaining correct information on the Instruct Finance system.
• Proactively liaising with third parties to provide or obtain information.
• Providing advice and assistance to all customers on financial issues, including the interpretation and explanation of financial data, rules and regulations.
• Assisting in Audits, Health Checks and Self ‑ Assessment reviews, as required.
• Ensuring any risks, issues or discrepancies are brought to the attention of the Senior Project Officer.
• Supporting the continuous improvement of finance and admin procedures, suggesting improvements and facilitating their communication and implementation.
• Any other duties commensurate with the grade of the post as requested by the Senior Project Officer and Administrator/HR officer.

• Educated to at least A Level standard (or equivalent) including Mathematics.
• AAT qualification or equivalent, or part-qualified accountant.
• Fluent spoken English, and clear evidence of numerical ability.
• Excellent IT skills, including MS Office (Word, Excel, Outlook) , particularly the ability to create and manipulate pivot tables and manage large volumes of data; databases and the ability to learn specialist software ( e.g. Xero, HSBCNet ).
• Evidence of attention to detail ( e.g. experience of distributing complex or confidential information without requiring review).
• Excellent communications skills, in writing and in person, able to communicate clearly and appropriately at all levels, including with senior staff across the Consortium and with a wide network of contacts across the wider European education and research sector
• Experience of handling confidential information, and the ability to manage personnel matters with tact and discretion.
• Strong interpersonal skills, the ability and willingness to work and co ‑ operate effectively with people from different organisational levels, both internally and externally as may be required .
• A flexible and resilient approach to work, able to use initiative and a proactive approach to problem solving.
• Ability to organise and prioritise own workload and work to deadlines in the presence of conflicting priorities.
• Capacity to work independently, with minimum supervision, and a willingness to resolve situations, as well as knowing when to refer issues to others.
• Experience in a similar role and working environment.
• Experience of providing support as a finance officer.
• Experience working with grant funded projects.
• Experience of working with Xero .
• Experience in preparation of management accounts and the analysis of variances.
• Experience in producing and interrogating budgets and forecast.

Please note that the appointment of the successful candidate will be subject to standard pre-employment screening, as…