The Rent and Service Charge accountant will join the Financial Accounting team and the role will oversee the management of Octavia’s rent and service charge accounting and budget setting.

They will lead on the delivery of the Rent and Service Charge transformative change programme and on the calculations of all rent and service charges; ensuring that tenants, leaseholders, freeholders and other outside agencies are recharged appropriately.   They will document procedures and processes in relation to rent and service charge accounting and help to impart this knowledge to other members of the Finance Team.

Key Responsibilities

Transactions

• Lead the annual rent and service charge budget setting process and support the issuance of the service charge booklets as required by legislation and in accordance with Octavia’s policies; extracting information from the systems to prepare schedules and statements
• Provide a high quality, customer focussed finance partnering service to the Homeownership, Care and Support and Housing Management for all rent and service charge related activity
• Provide comprehensive financial information and reporting for the rent and service charge activities, working closely with the business to ensure costs are accurately monitored, challenging the business to deliver to budget
• Oversee all rent and service charge calculations, liaising with relevant service departments and recording charges in the rent and service charge module and accounting systems for all tenure types, maintaining accurate records and carrying out reconciliations on a timely basis
• Lead the internal/external service charge audit
• Lead on the delivery of the Rent and Service Charge transformative change programme
• Monitor the input of all service charge invoices into the accounting system; code checking and making amendments as appropriate for the purposes of accurate budget reporting
• Analyse system data to ensure that correct costs are reflected against properties and schemes to enable accurate recharges to be calculated
• Document relevant procedures and processes in relation to rent and service charge accounting, sharing knowledge and understanding of rent and service charge accounting with other members of the Finance Team
• Organise the schedule for the preparation of the rent and service charge statements with other departments, ensuring that statutory deadlines are met
• Fully embrace a culture of collaborative working and continuous improvement, taking responsibility for ensuring quality of work is of an expected standard. With a particular focus to improve the quality of the inputted data and streamline the rent and service charge processes

Requirements

For this position, we have listed the requirements we believe are essential for this role:

Experience

• Social housing rent and service charge experience
• Proven experience of processing high volume financial transactions on a computerised Finance system in an accurate, efficient and timely manner Proven experience of successful performance management, team. leadership and coaching/mentoring
• Proven experience of maintaining and enhancing a strong set of financial controls, reconciling accounts and preparing financial statements

Knowledge/ Skills

•  Deep knowledge of rent regulation, service charges and tenancy legislation
• Ability to work to high levels of attention to detail and accuracy
• Ability identifies control gaps, and design, implement and evaluate improvements
• Excellent customer service skills and ability to instil a high-performance culture across the team
• Knowledge of month-end and year-end accounting processes as well as experience of internal and external audit requirements
• An ability to document processes and share knowledge with colleagues
• Excellent computer, financial systems and analytical skills including advance Excel, and financial reporting tools
• Sound accounting knowledge and ability to apply knowledge to practical business situations
• An ability to inspire, motivate and support the wider team

Qualifications

• Qualified/part qualified/QBE accountant/Cert ACT

Benefits

The salary for this role is c£50,000 per annum with up to 10% pension contribution.

We also offer a fantastic additional benefits:

• Flexible-working
• Life Assurance
• Employee Wellbeing App/ Mental Health Support
• Online GP Service
• Cycle to work
• Opportunities for self-development with over 60 courses available to self-enrol
• Opportunities to volunteer in our Charity Retail Stores or on our Befriending Programme

Together, we continue to build an inclusive culture that encourages, supports and celebrates the diverse voices of our employees. Everyone is welcome.

Early application is encouraged as we will review applications throughout the advertising period and reserve the right to close the advert early.

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