Assistant Accountant

As the UK's leading Social Enterprise, we move lives forward every day by building, managing and supporting thriving Communities. From new homes, social housing and student accommodation to leisure, education and Community initiatives, our work makes a positive difference to millions of People across the UK. And that takes People who care about doing the right thing. People who are ambitious, ready to grow and motivated to make a difference through the work they do. We're looking for Colleagues who bring energy, curiosity and ownership. People who enjoy being challenged, support those around them and want to keep raising the bar. Because when we perform at our best, we create more opportunities to invest in our Customers, our Communities and each other. More About Your Role As our Assistant Accountant, you'll provide a professional accounting service supporting our housing development, capital investment, fixed assets, sales and divestment activities. You'll prepare and review management information, balance sheet reconciliations and journals, while analysing financial performance and investigating variances. You'll work closely with operational and finance colleagues, providing advice and challenge, as well as supporting statutory accounts, audits and regulatory returns. You'll also help strengthen financial controls and identify opportunities to improve systems, processes and the quality of our financial reporting. Essential Criteria To be considered for this role, you'll need:

• To be a part-qualified accountant (ACCA, CIMA or ACA), or actively studying towards a recognised accounting qualification.
• Experience in financial accounting, balance sheet reconciliations, and month-end and annual reporting.
• Strong analytical experience, including investigating financial issues, interpreting data and providing recommendations.
• Advanced Excel skills and experience using financial systems.
• Experience working within financial controls, accounting policies and accounting standards. More about you You'll be comfortable working with detailed financial information and taking ownership of your workload while managing competing deadlines. You'll be able to build effective working relationships and explain financial information clearly to non-finance colleagues. Experience in housing development, capital accounting, fixed assets or property finance would be beneficial, as would knowledge of VAT, grant accounting or development-related taxation. Experience supporting audits and statutory accounts, improving financial processes and controls, or working with Unit4 Business World or a similar ERP system would also be advantageous. The role does not require a DBS check. What You'll Get We know rewarding work deserves rewarding benefits. That's why, alongside a competitive salary, you'll have access to a package designed to support you at work and beyond. You'll receive:
• Pension with matched contributions up to 7%
• Bonus scheme for colleagues at 2%
• 35 days holiday (including bank holidays) with the option to buy or sell days
• Healthcare cashback plan for everyday medical costs, with private GP and health support services available
• Comprehensive wellbeing support including counselling, flu jabs, our Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) and access to our Wellbeing Hub, supporting your mental, physical and financial wellbeing
• Access to Our Place Rewards, offering discounts and savings on groceries, travel, shopping, home products and other lifestyle purchases
• Ongoing training, professional qualifications, internal development programmes and career progression opportunities
• Recognition programmes including Star Awards and Colleague Awards, celebrating achievements and recognising great work
• Strong focus on inclusion, wellbeing and colleague engagement
• Free membership to Places Gyms
• Life Assurance to provide financial security for your loved ones, alongside access to will writing services to help you plan for the future with confidence What's next? If you meet the criteria and are ready to make the next step in your career then apply following our simple 5 minute application process, upload a CV and a supporting statement which demonstrates how you meet the requirements of the role. If you have any questions please email the recruitment team As part of our commitment to diversity and inclusion, we offer a guaranteed interview to candidates who are disabled, neurodiverse, or have served in the Armed Forces, provided you meet the essential criteria for the role. If you would like to be considered under this scheme, please indicate this in your application. If you are a Places for People customer and you're looking for support with your application, please contact our skills and employment team on Please note that we may bring the closing date forward, if we receive a large number of quality applications. If you are interested in this role we would advise applying immediately to avoid disappointment. If you are using a mobile device such as an iPad then ensure your CV is stored in the cloud, we currently support Google Drive, OneDrive and Dropbox. We understand the importance of a supportive and inclusive work culture so please talk to us at interview about flexibility you may need. We can't promise to give you exactly what you want, but we promise not to judge you for asking. For this role we are open to discussing the possibility of reduced hours, flexible start and finish times or compressed hours. If you are a recruitment agency please note we operate a PSL and do not take cold calls Safeguarding At Places for People, safeguarding is everyone's responsibility. We are committed to creating safe communities for our customers and colleagues by protecting children, young people, and adults at risk from harm, abuse, and neglect. We follow robust safeguarding policies and procedures, ensuring all employees, volunteers, and contractors uphold the highest standards of safeguarding and accountability. Our recruitment process includes pre-employment checks, including Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks where applicable, to promote a safe and secure working environment. By joining Places for People, you are expected to contribute to our safeguarding culture, following our policies and reporting concerns to protect those in our communities Armed Forces - We are proud to support the Armed Forces Covenant. Places for People will guarantee an interview for any candidate who is serving or has formerly served in the Armed Forces, as a reservist, armed forces veteran (including the wounded, injured and sick), cadet instructor and military spouse/partner and who meets the essential criteria for the vacancy. Neurodivergent – Neurodiverse individuals have highly valuable skills, and we recognise that a traditional interview process sometimes works against them and doesn't allow them to self-advocate. Neurodiverse applicants who meet the criteria for a vacancy will be guaranteed an interview.