Project Accountant

Project Accountant
Canterbury, Kent
£21,010 pa plus excellent benefits (£35,017 FTE)
21 hours per week
Fixed-term contract from January 2025 until December 2025

The Project Accountant is a very important role for the organisation as you will be responsible for overseeing our strategic projects, ensuring that sufficient funds are available for planned project expenditure within the Diocese.

As Project Accountant you will manage the restricted funds of the Diocese, preparing monthly reports and year end schedules whilst proactively reviewing the portfolio of restricted funds to ensure full utilisation against unrestricted expenditure. You will also prepare forecasts for project income, expenditure and cashflow, whilst analysing all project expenditure and providing detailed commentary on material variances against project budget.

Reporting to the Head of Finance, you will support the team in the planning, preparation and delivery of statutory reports, publications, internal and external audits, and the Annual Report and Accounts.

It is expected that you will proactively challenge and improve processes to ensure that currently held information meets the audit standard.

Degree qualified or with a professional accountancy, finance or related qualification (ideally ACCA or CIMA), you will have experience in year-end schedule preparation and project report writing.

With the ability to interpret financial entries to understand the nature of the financial transactions, you should have excellent problem-solving abilities and be proactive in reviewing balance sheet reconciliations and clearing/or allocating balances.

Your thorough understanding of financial regulations and compliance requirements will ensure you are able to propose improvements to financial procedures and operations.

An advanced knowledge and understanding of Excel, including pivot tables, sumif/sumifs and vlookups along with a detail-oriented approach to ensure accuracy and completeness in financial records and reports, are essential.

To be a person in sympathy with the mission and ethos of the Christian Church, the Church of England, the Diocese of Canterbury and the vision and values of our church schools, would be desirable.

Canterbury Diocese is the oldest diocese in England, stretching from Maidstone to Thanet, the Isle of Sheppey to the Romney Marsh. We have 350 miles of coastline with historic ports and seaside resorts, alongside rural communities, market towns and commuter-belt urban developments. Affluent areas often sit alongside pockets of major deprivation, offering an exciting and challenging mission context.

At the heart of all we do is a vision of transformation for ourselves and our communities: no one can encounter God and remain unchanged. In the Diocese of Canterbury, we want to increasingly become a Christian community transformed through encounter with Christ, growing and overflowing to transform and bless the families, homes and communities we serve: Changed Lives, Changing Lives.

Closing date: 5 January 2025