Financial Administrator - Pension Scheme Accounts

The Company

A Clifton based independent company of actuarial, consultancy, investment and administration services to the pensions industry is looking for a bright individual to join their team as a Financial Administrator.

General Description

Arrange the timely production of the pension schemes’ trustees’ annual reports & accounts

Maintain and reconcile accounting records on our QuickBooks system

Part-time (expected hours: 25 per week)

Qualifications/Experience

• General office experience
• Minimum 8 GCSEs or equivalent at Grade C or above including Mathematics and English (Mathematics minimum of a B)
• Ideally a qualified AAT accounting professional or part-qualified accountant
• Experience in drafting annual reports and accounts (preferably for pension schemes)

Skills – Technical

• Good MS Office skills, including Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint
• Basic understanding of occupational pension schemes (preferable but not essential)
• Good QuickBooks (or other accounts software) skills

Responsibilities

• Maintain accounting records on our QuickBooks system for client schemes (currently 18 schemes)
• On receipt of bank statements, reconcile entries to cash flow spreadsheet maintained by scheme administrators. Investigate and resolve any differences
• Reconcile the QuickBooks accounting records to the bank statements for each scheme on at least a monthly basis
• Reconciling investment transactions on monthly basis
• Obtain investment valuations at scheme year end for each client scheme and reconcile value at end of year to starting value and transactions during the year
• Preparing the working papers & reconciliation of investment information received from investment managers and investment custodians and post to QuickBooks
• Analyse and post year-end financial information journals to QuickBooks
• Prepare first draft of scheme accounts in accordance with the Statement of Recommended Practice (2018) (Financial Reports of Pension Schemes), Occupational Pension Schemes (Disclosure of Information) Regulations and Scheme accounting policies
• Co-ordinate with scheme auditors to ensure timely completion of annual audit and act as first point of contact for the resolution of auditors’ queries
• Liaising with and maintaining effective professional relationships with third parties including consultants, trustees, actuaries, investment managers and auditors
• Prepare final version of scheme accounts for signing by trustees of client scheme and auditors
• Maintain schedule of client scheme accounts showing position on current year’s accounts and, in particular, to monitor progress towards completion within the statutory deadline of seven months after scheme year-ends
• Ensuring best practice – staying updated with regulations