Westminster School - Senior Financial Controller

Summary

We are currently seeking to fill the position of Senior Financial Controller.

Detail

Required for: As soon as possible
Location: Dean’s Yard, Westminster School
Contract: Full-time, permanent
Hours of work: 09:00 - 17:00, Monday to Friday with an hour unpaid lunchbreak. The role is required to be onsite, though hybrid working can be considered following the successful completion of the probationary period, but with the expectation that the majority of the time will be on site during term time.
Salary: £80,000 - £83,000, dependent on experience

Benefits of working at Westminster include:

• Generous School pension scheme
• Free access to the School’s leisure facilities, including a fitness gym (restricted hours)
• Cycle to Work Scheme and season ticket loans following completion of our standard probation period
• Private medical insurance (opt in)
• Discretionary Christmas shutdown period
• Professional development opportunities 

Free school meals are also available when on-site during working hours for the role.

For this role, there is no fixed closing date. Applications will be considered on receipt, and interviews may occur at any stage.

The Senior Financial Controller will be responsible for leading the finance team and managing the day-to-day financial operations for the School and associated charities and companies. This includes month end and year end processes and management of the sales, purchase and general ledgers, bank accounts, expenses system and fixed asset register. They will also be responsible for maintaining a strong control environment, ensuring the accuracy of the Trial Balance and providing a responsive and customer facing transaction processing service.

 
Key responsibilities for this role will include:

• Owning the month end and year-end financial accounting processes to deliver accurate and timely trial balance to support the production of monthly Management Accounts.
• Support the year end process to deliver a clean audit and accurate and timely Annual Accounts.
• Responsible for the accuracy and timeliness of the Purchase requisition to Invoice Payment process, fee and extras billings including for fundraising and commercial activity, and collection of income. 

They will be responsible for leadership and development of the team to effectively embed the recently implemented iFinance system. They will drive continuous improvement in financial processes, ways of working and engagement with all internal and external stakeholders and customers.

A breakdown of responsibilities includes, but is not limited to:

Accountable for:

• Leading the transactional accounting team to provide a responsive, efficient and customer facing transaction processing service. Develop and maintain relationships with internal and external stakeholders.
• Ensuring the accuracy of the Trial Balance through both ad hoc and regular forensic review of key figures and processes.
• Ensuring all balance sheet reconciliations and control accounts are completed and reconciled monthly in accordance with a month end close timetable.
• Ensuring bank accounts are reconciled monthly.
• Processing and post journals to ensure that income and expenditure is accurately and appropriately recorded.
• Working with the Payroll, Pensions and Benefits team to ensure that salaries journals are posted accurately each month.
• Owning the Chart of Accounts and ensure that it is fit for purpose.
• Ensuring compliance with Charity and other accounting regulations, including correct allocations between reserves and an accurate Fixed Asset Register.
• Supporting decision making on capital expenditure as required.
• Working with the Financial Planning & Analysis Manager to ensure that the budget is loaded into the iFinance system before the start of the financial year.
• Management of the accuracy and timeliness of the Purchase Requisition to Invoice Payment process.
• Management of the accuracy and timeliness of the billing process and collections including iSAMs ledger management (as well and iFinance).
• Responsibility for fixed asset and depreciation accounting (as well as the Fixed Asset Register).
• Managing and instigating the BACS receipts and payments processing on PTX.
• Managing and overseeing the staff expenses processing.
• Managing the credit card and debit card accounting and processes.
• Production and review of aged debtor and aged creditor reports on a monthly basis.
• Working with the Development team to ensure accurate and timely reporting and management of Gift Aid, and compliance with HMRC requirements.
• Owning the year end process to deliver a clean audit and accurate and timely Annual Accounts, including input on the final design and wording and provision of information for the Audit, Risk & Compliance Committee.  Manage any audits required for any other regulatory reasons.
• Ensuring timely and accurate returns and compliance with all HMRC requirements, including VAT, Gift Aid and other taxation. Support the Head of Payroll, Pensions & Benefits as required to ensure HMRC compliance with all employment tax issues. Lead on providing other tax advice as required by the charity.
• Ensuring a professional and responsive relationship between the transactional accounting team and Internal and external Auditors and timely and accurate responses to Internal and External Audit information requests and recommendations.  Ensure timely delivery of agreed internal and External Audit actions and process changes.
• Ensuring iFinance and other financial systems are able to deliver accurate numbers and strong controls through the work of the team.
• Working with the Finance Bursar to develop and maintain the department’s risk register, ensuring appropriate risk mitigations are in place and reviewed regularly.
• Working with the Finance Bursar to ensure business continuity plans are in place and reviewed regularly.
• Working with the Finance Bursar to develop, embed and maintain appropriate financial policies and procedures.  Ensure regular review of key processes.
• Ensuring the School’s finance policies and procedures for recording financial transactions operate in accordance with statutory guidelines, Companies House and Charity Commission financial regulations and guidelines set out in the school’s policy and procedures.
• Consistently looking for improvements that can be made to financial systems and processes to ensure that the school benefits from the use of new technology, products and services.
• Adopting a coaching leadership style to lead the finance team to achievement of its objectives. 
• Any other duties as required.

Leadership and Management

• Leading by example through visible and impactful line management of the finance team.
• Providing the necessary training, guidance and support for staff members to enable them to carry out their duties effectively, maintaining visibility with the team and stakeholders.
• Driving the development of the team to ensure delivery of a visibly customer focused (internal and external) ways of working.
• Acting as a technical expert on day-to-day accounting matters.
• Deputising for the Finance Bursar as required.
• Advising and engage with members of School’s management teams on relevant financial matters as necessary.

The role is also expected to develop and effectively manage key relationships with the following:

Internal customers

• Finance Bursar
• Bursar & COO
• Finance team 
• Financial Planning & Analysis Manager
• Budget holders on all transaction processing queries
• Owners of key financial inputs (e.g. Head of Payroll Pensions & Benefits, Development office for gift aid)
• School leadership teams
• Internal Audit in relation to financial accounting (when appointed)

External customers

• HMRC (Corporation Tax, VAT, MTD, Gift Aid)
• External Audit
• Banks and other advisers

In addition to the specific duties and responsibilities outlined in this job description, all Westminster employees should be aware of their specific responsibilities towards the following:

• Adhere to all Safeguarding, health and safety and fire regulations and to co-operate with the Charity in maintaining good standards of safeguarding and health and safety. 
• Adherence to, understanding of and commitment to the Charity’s ethos, values, vision and expectations. 
• Uphold ethical and professional standards and not behave in a manner that is likely to bring the Charity into disrepute.
• Promote and sustain a responsible attitude towards equality, diversity and inclusion within the Charity.
• Demonstrate a commitment to ongoing registration requirements or any national professional or occupational standards associated with the role.
• Demonstrate a commitment to ongoing learning and development and to participate in any training relevant to the role.

Equal Opportunities
We are an equal opportunities employer. We therefore encourage candidates to apply irrespective of age, disability, marriage or civil partnership status, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion and belief, gender identity, sex or sexual orientation.

Safeguarding and Child Protection
Westminster School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. Applicants must be willing to undergo child protection screening appropriate to the post, including checks with past employers and the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Working at Westminster

Westminster School is a busy, purposeful and vibrant place to be and an excellent workplace. The community is made up of around 750 pupils, 120 teaching staff and 108 support staff.

Our staff are friendly and welcoming, and all newcomers quickly become part of the rhythm of life here.

There is a real sense of community here as, being a boarding school many members of staff and pupils live on site and the School’s premises are very much treated as a home away from home. School life starts before breakfast and continues way beyond the working day; as a result, there is always a lively atmosphere in and around School and always someone to share a tea and biscuit with in the Common Room. Support staff as much as teaching staff are encouraged to embrace the School’s day-to-day activities, whether that be attending an evening concert or a morning service in the Abbey.

At Westminster we will always select the best candidate for every position. We do know, however, that we can only truly choose the best person on every occasion if a broad and diverse pool of candidates see the job advertised and are encouraged to apply.

As such, we continue to work on how our job roles are encountered, and particularly welcome applications from groups who have traditionally been underrepresented here.

Westminster School is for everyone, regardless of gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation or any other protected characteristic. We hope you are encouraged to apply.

The School

Westminster School is an independent day and boarding school for boys aged 13-18 and girls aged 16-18, with a long history, a distinctive ethos, and a unique sense of place in the very heart of London. Pupils achieve exceptional examination results and entrance to some of the top universities in the world. It is a busy, passionate and purposeful place where independent and deep thinking is enjoyed, encouraged and respected by all, and where holistic excellence is nurtured and valued.

While the School is one of the foremost centres of academic excellence in the country, its commitment to academic life does not make it a hothouse for passing examinations. Pupils’ success at examinations and entry to leading universities is instead a result of their enjoyment of academic enquiry, debate and search for explanation, well beyond published syllabuses. Pupils are intellectually, socially, ethically and politically engaged and our aim is to ensure that their enthusiasm for learning is developed further, allowing them to take full advantage of the opportunities presented to them in the future. At Westminster, pupils have the freedom to lead on projects outside of the classroom and embrace a whole range of extra-curricular activities and interests. A host of pupil-led societies take place every week at the School, often with expert guest speakers, and pupils can choose to study an additional language, play an instrument or two, volunteer in local primary schools, row along the Thames, take part in plays and musicals, and much more. 

The School’s ethos resides in the enduring values of the liberal tradition reflected in the 1560 Charter of Westminster’s Elizabethan foundation, where it is stated that: ‘the youth which is growing to manhood, as tender shoots in the wood of our state, shall be liberally instructed in good books to the greater honour of the state’. Whilst academic and cultural attainments are highly prized at Westminster, the School is fully committed also to each pupil’s spiritual, moral, emotional and physical development and wellbeing – with a particular emphasis on drawing out individual talent wherever it lies – and to prepare young people for fulfilled private and public lives.

From September 2028, the School will welcome both girls and boys at 13+ entry, offering a Westminster education to all. By 2026, Westminster Under School will have opened its brand new pre-prep for girls and boys at 4+ and girls will have joined boys in Years 3 and 7, at the 7+ and 11+ entry points. By 2030, all year groups at Westminster School and Westminster Under School, from ages four to 18, will be fully co-educational, reflecting the School’s dedication to inclusivity and excellence.

Documents

• Senior Financial Controller - person specification PDF Document