Skip to main content

This job has expired

Finance Assistant

Employer
Journeys by Design
Location
Brighton, East Sussex
Salary
From £25,000 - £28,000
Closing date
8 Nov 2019

Job Details

The opportunity

Employed by Journeys by Design and working across all our enterprises within Africa House, you will be a qualified AAT Accounts assistant, with experience in small businesses working across a broad base, and comfortable assisting many stakeholders. You will be a strong team player with good communication skills, highly organised and used to juggling deadlines. You will be an unflappable, positive person who can hit the ground running on this maternity cover role.

  Terms and conditions

Job Title: Finance Assistant

Start date: As soon as possible

Duration of contract: Fixed Term Maternity cover up January 2021

Probation period: Six months

Salary: From £25,000 - £28,000

Location: Africa House, Brunswick Row, Brighton BN1 4JZ.

Benefits: Journeys by Design offers an attractive benefits package. As well as a competitive salary, commensurate with experience, we offer the following benefits.

  • 25 days annual leave, exclusive of Bank Holidays
  • Pension contribution
  • Company performance related bonus
  • Flexible working opportunities
  • Beautiful offices close to Brighton train station
  • Discount at our inhouse Community Coffee Shop 

In addition to this, we operate a family-first office environment, encouraging staff to ensure a healthy balance between work and play. We believe that by treating our team fairly we not only create a positive working environment, we enable the delivery of a greater impact in terms of our group mission at Africa House. Very rarely do we find ‘going the extra mile’ a problem. On the contrary, it’s good for all.

Job description

Job title:  Finance Assistant

Reporting to: Financial Director

General responsibilities

The Finance Assistant will:

  • Deal with ad-hoc queries from both internal and external parties
  • Ensure that all processes are managed as per documented best practices
  • Be aware that all processes and practices may be improved and offer suggestions so they remain fit for purpose as business environments change

Specific Responsibility

  • Deputising for the Project Accountant
  • Processing and raising sales invoices for clients
  • Accounting for client payments received
  • Producing weekly Aged Debtors to be provided to Sales Team with notation of accounts to be chased
  • Liaising with Sales Team to confirm ground handlers’ costs and preparing reports for bank payments
  • Processing ground handlers’ expenses invoices and reconciling ground handler supplier accounts to supplier statements
  • Posting all bank transactions on a weekly basis
  • Bank reconciliations including currencies
  • Reconciliation of debtor and creditor control accounts
  • Confirm to HR Manager the BACS payments file for employees net pay and HMRC liabilities
  • Posting payroll journals and reconciliation of payroll control accounts
  • Posting other nominal journals required and reconciliation of other inter-company and other control accounts
  • Preparation of monthly VAT report including & reconciliation of control account
  • Producing a weekly cash balance report of bank balances including currency conversion
  • Producing a weekly & monthly exchange rate report for costing purposes
  • Processing the client credit card payments through Worldpay
  • Providing support & services across the business as required
  • Assisting with the budget process

Personal Specification

Essential Skills

  • Good communication skills (verbal and written).
  • Highly organised with the ability to manage multiple deadlines.
  • Numerate and able to work with accuracy under pressure.
  • A firm grasp of accounting concepts and confident with journals.
  • An ability to evaluate complex problems and find solutions
  • Self-motivated and able to work independently, but also as part of a team.

Essential Knowledge and experience

  • Fully qualified AAT.
  • Experience in broad-based role in small business.
  • Relevant technical accountancy experience.
  • Used to working with, and reporting to, senior management and other stakeholders.
  • At least three years’ experience working with small business accounting systems.
  • Good working knowledge of Excel and Word on a Windows operating system.
  • Experience of Digital Accounting Systems

Essential Behavioural qualities

  • Ability to hit the ground running.
  • Adaptability and able to pick up on new procedures quickly.
  • Ability to embrace change as the company grows
  • We have a strong organisational culture that we believe allows us to operate more effectively. This is built on trust, mutual respect and a deep commitment to profit with purpose. We look to grow organically where appropriate, to drive our conservation ethic. The successful applicant will be able to demonstrate they share our vision.
  • An empathy and enthusiasm towards both people, and our brands and their potential including the positive impact they can achieve. To further include our underlying ethics of conservation and philanthropy.
  • Communicate the work of Africa House positively both internally and externally.
  • Sociable and a good sense of humour goes without saying…

To Apply

Please submit your application, consisting of a covering letter, CV and contact details for two referees to recruitment@journeysbydesign.com.

Deadline for applications is 8th November 2019. Due to the urgency of this vacancy, we will consider CVs as the are submitted, and reserve the right to close the application process early.

Candidates selected for interview will be contacted by email or telephone. Please specify any preference for contact in your covering letter.

Regrettably, due to limited resources and the high number of applications we receive, we are only able to contact short-listed candidates. If you do not hear from us within four weeks of the closing date, please assume that you have not been successful on this occasion.

Journeys by Design encourages applications from individuals with disabilities who are able to carry out the duties of the post. If you have any special needs in relation to your application please contact Rosanna Garrod, HR Manager on Tel: 01273 623790

Journeys by Design values diversity and is committed to equality of opportunity.

Company

Background

Our mission is to do things differently. We have been breaking new ground since inception in 1999. Journeys by Design is built on a sustainable travel model, crafting tailor-made journeys to Africa, with conservation and philanthropy as much at its core as luxury and adventure. Our conservation ethic has grown exponentially, resulting in the setting up of Wild Philanthropy, a charitable foundation supporting and protecting wilderness, wildlife and community projects on the ground in Africa. Wild Enterprise, our newly formed social enterprise, has invested in and supports a local tourism business in Ethiopia, Wild Expeditions Ethiopia. Global, national and local, our deep sense of ethic reaches back into Brighton where we operate a coffee shop on the ground floor connecting business to the local communities. Together, these companies combine as Africa House.

Journeys by Design

Journeys by Design has a strong brand in the luxury and frontier travel sector and has a renowned media presence, setting the trend by recognising the value of the international market very early on, working with publications in the US and the UK such as Condé Nast Traveller, Departures Magazine, The Financial Times, Robb Report and Travel & Leisure.

Wild Philanthropy

Wild Philanthropy is successfully emerging as a mechanism to provide investment in Africa, its people, wildlife and wilderness. Supported by our Friends, Wild Philanthropy successfully helps a number of high impact conservation and community development projects.

Wild Enterprise

Wild Enterprise is a social enterprise which aims to blend profit and purpose by developing community-led tourism businesses that support conservation and community development. Its first impact investment has been into Wild Expeditions Ethiopia, which in its first few years has successfully taken the leading position in ethical travel in Ethiopia.

Africa House

Africa House is both our physical home and the umbrella under which the various companies sit. It also has its own café, which helps connect us to our local community. Designed to create a tranquil yet productive space for the team, our offices are the envy of the industry. The cafe acts as a gateway into our building, allowing us to share some of the wonders of Africa through books, music and people.

Company info
Website
Telephone
01273 623790
Location
Africa House
5a Brunswick Row
Brighton
East Sussex
BN1 4JZ
GB

Get job alerts

Create a job alert and receive personalised job recommendations straight to your inbox.

Create alert