Head of Finance – River and Rowing Museum

The Finance Team

The Finance team is focused on supporting the Museum with efficient processes, financial governance and accurate information. The team is made up of two members of staff: Assistant Accountant and a Head of Finance. We deal with multiple streams of activity and while we are busy, it is a pleasant and friendly environment to work in.

Head Of Finance role

If you’d like to ask anything about this role, please do get in touch: [email protected]

This role reports to the Museum Director. It is based at the River and Rowing Museum, Henley-on-Thames, although there may be some remote working.

This is a permanent role with an annual salary of £30,000, based on 3 days a week on a potentially flexible basis. There are 20 days holiday pro rata rising to 25 days pro rata after two years. We operate an auto-enrolment pension scheme.

This role line manages the 0.8 FTE Assistant Accountant and along with Head of Public Engagement and Head of Facilities and Commercial forms part of the leadership team with the museum director.

Key Responsibilities

• Responsibility for the Finance ledgers of the River & Rowing Museum Foundation and it’s trading company.
• Preparation of monthly management accounts with commentary to provide the Trustees, Director and department heads with an ongoing understanding of the financial position and ensuring the Charity is meeting its objectives.
• Drive the annual budget process and additional forecasting processes as required by the Director/Trustees.
• Preparation of annual financial accounts in compliance with Charities Commission and Companies House regulations and build an ongoing relationship with the Charities auditors.
• Regularly review of finance processes to ensure they are efficient and effective and support the charity’s operations.
• Working with the Director and Department heads to provide financial information on current commercial activities or scenario modelling for future activities.
• Ensure communication with all staff about key financial processes and deadlines and ensure budget holders understand their budgets and financial responsibilities.
• Responsible for the following processes: payroll, pensions, VAT, Gift Aid, Corporation Tax.
• Work with the Director to ensure all Charities Commission and Companies Act requirements are meet and appropriate up to date documentation is in order (for example: Reserves register, Risk Register, Register of Members etc) and make sure any changes to Trustees and Directors promptly updated on the relevant website.
• Build excellent relationships with the Chairman and Treasurer of the Board, as well as third parties such as accountants, tax advisers, bankers etc.
• Proactively support the Museum’s financial sustainability goals through identifying efficiencies and new sources of income.

Personal attributes

• Accountancy Qualification (ACA, ACCA, CIMA) with at least 5 years PQE
• Excellent interpersonal and organisational skills
• Strategic thinking with ability to analyse data and draw meaningful conclusions
• Broad understanding of charity governance and financial probity
• Excellent planning and budgeting skills
• Experienced and supportive manager able to develop staff competencies
• Happy to get involved in the financial detail and processing if required
• High levels of literacy
• Motivated, co-operative team player
• Sound working knowledge of Sage and Xero, and excellent Excel skills

The above job description is not intended to be a comprehensive list of key responsibilities, duties or requirements, and you are expected to carry out any other duties commensurate with the scope and scale of your role. The job description should be reviewed regularly to ensure it remains an accurate reflection of your role.

How to apply

Please send us a CV together with a supporting statement that covers the following points:

• Tell us about your style when working in a Finance Team. What are the key principles you work to?
• Tell us about your experience of collaborating with different areas in an organisation. What did you particularly contribute to the process?
• What do you enjoy most about Finance?
• What are your three key strengths you would bring to this role and where might you need additional training and support?

If you prefer, you can record a video summarising your CV and a video covering the supporting statement points above. However – please make sure you send these as a link to a file-sharing site and not the video files themselves.

Please also complete our equal opportunities monitoring form.

All documents (or video file-sharing links) should be sent to [email protected]

We’ll be accepting applications up to midnight on Friday 23 July. Interviews will take place on Thursday 29 July and will probably take place online. You are very welcome to visit the museum in advance of the closing date if you wish. Finally, please ensure that you have included your contact number and email address, as well as any dates when you will not be available or might have difficulty with the indicative timetable.

Click here to visit the River and Rowing Museum website>>