Project Accountant

Blue Marine Foundation aims to restore the ocean to health. Building on over a decade of experience, Blue Marine is securing the creation of marine protected areas, establishing models of sustainable fishing, restoring habitats, tackling overfishing and connecting people with the sea.

Blue Marine has an exciting new opportunity for a Project Accountant to join our dynamic finance team. This new team member will support the Senior Project Accountant and wider Blue Marine team with project budget reporting, working directly with project managers to ensure the accuracy of the budget reports and to assist the project team with budget queries.  The role will also involve working closely with the fundraising team for financial reporting to donors and budget planning for new funding proposals.

Salary: £35,000 – £38,000 per annum, depending on knowledge and experience. We also offer a generous benefits package.

Contract: Permanent.

Hours: Full time, 35 hours per week, Monday – Friday, 9am – 5pm

Location: Somerset House, London. Presence in the office of at least 2 days per week will be expected.

Benefits: A generous benefits package is offered, including an optional subsidy of £2,000 per year which is currently available to employees attending the office at least two days per week.

Reporting to: Senior Project Accountant

Application deadline: 12 January 2025

Please send your CV and a covering letter detailing your skills and suitability for the role to: hr@edelweisshr.co.uk. If you would like to know more or have any questions, then we’d be happy to help.

We are an equal opportunities employer. We value diversity and are committed to equality and creating an inclusive culture. We welcome applications from all sections of the community and will support you to reach your full potential.

Role and Responsibilities 

Supporting the Senior Project Accountant, you will:

• Monitor expenditure against budget reports for accuracy, resolving inconsistencies or mis-postings in the source system MS Dynamics Business Central.
• Monitor committed costs against budget.
• Regularly meet with around 10 project managers to review budgets of over 50 projects, with specific on focus on a number of strategic priority projects.
• Assist project managers with ad-hoc budget queries.
• Identify and flag potential queries (such as expected under/overspend, run rate, incorrect staff time allocations) to relevant colleagues.
• Assist fundraising team with periodic financial reporting to donors and generating budgets for new donor proposals.
• Maintain appropriate filing and assist in collation of evidence for annual audit.
• Contribute ideas for process and efficiency improvements.
• Any other ad-hoc duties as specified by the Senior Project Accountant.

Personal specification

The ideal candidate will have a strong ability to build and interrogate project budgets.  You will become a trusted colleague to the finance team, project managers and fundraising team, known for your integrity, helpful nature and clear communication of financial information.  You will have an ability to discern meaning from financial data, to ask key questions to understand the situation, and to use your initiative to support your colleagues in reaching a solution. You may be interested in, begun, or have completed studies towards an accountancy qualification, in which case Blue Marine will provide financial support towards further studies.

Skills and Experience

• Working towards an accountancy qualification such as; CIMA/ACCA/equivalent, or otherwise able to evidence substantial experience in budget management. This experience could be from running your own business, helping to manage major projects, or through working with multiple budgets in an otherwise dynamic environment.
• Strong MS Office skills in Excel and Outlook.
• Excellent written, numerate and verbal communications skills.

Qualities

• Interested in the conservation of the environment and the oceans.
• Polite and cheerful can-do attitude.
• Able to discern meaning from financial data and critically analyse a situation.
• Able to communicate financial matters in a clear and concise manner.
• Thorough attention to detail and accuracy.
• Self-motivated, able to work on own initiative and with a hands-on approach.
• Able to prioritise and deal effectively with a busy workload.
• Honest and discreet when dealing with personal and confidential information.
• Able to learn quickly and adapt to developing processes and systems.