Accounting Officer - Reading, United Kingdom - ECMWF

ECMWF

Verified Company

Reading, United Kingdom

3 weeks ago

Posted by:

Tom O´Connor

beBee Recruiter

Description

The role:

ECMWF is undergoing significant change, and this is a particularly exciting time to be joining the Centre.

ECMWF is looking for an exceptional Accounting Officer to join our Finance team.

This position will be based in Reading, UK and will be an integral part of the Finance Section in the Administration Department at ECMWF.

You will report directly to the Senior Management Accountant and be part of a highly motivated and competent team.

You will play a key part in the financial processes of ECMWF by taking responsibility for ensuring effective financial control across three duty stations, as well as managing cashflow and investment of both surplus funds and pensions.

This role supports all areas of the financial cycle, from setting the budget to preparing monthly management accounts and producing annual financial statements.

This position will be perfect for an individual who embraces change and continuously looks to improve financial controls and processes and will be an exciting challenge for the right person as the finance team embarks on many new initiatives.

About ECMWF:

ECMWF is the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts.

It is an intergovernmental organisation created in 1975 by a group of European nations and is today supported by 34 Member and Co-operating States, mostly in Europe.

The Centre's mission is to serve and support its Member and Co-operating States and the wider community by developing and providing world-leading global numerical weather prediction.

ECMWF functions as a 24/7 research and operational centre with a focus on medium and long-range predictions and holds one of the largest meteorological archives in the world.

The success of its activities relies primarily on the talent of its scientists, strong partnerships with its Member and Co-operating States and the international community, some of the most powerful supercomputers in the world, and the use of innovative technologies such as machine learning across its operations.

ECMWF has recently become a multi-site organisation, with its headquarters based in Reading, UK, a new data centre in Bologna, Italy, and new offices in Bonn, Germany.

ECMWF has adopted a hybrid organisation model which allows its staff to mix office working and teleworking.

This model provides our staff with considerable flexibility to spend time outside or away from their duty station and decide how they wish to manage their professional working time at ECMWF.

About the Finance Section:

The Finance Section is part of the Administration Department at ECMWF and has a wide-ranging set of responsibilities all related to the management and control of the finances at ECMWF.

This includes, but is not limited to, the following:

- ensuring that the highest standards of financial control are implemented and maintained across the Centres 3 sites
- providing decision-making support and analysis to all parts of the organisation through the production of timely and accurate management and financial reports
- ensuring that ECMWF meets its financial obligations under its Convention, regulations and its Council's decisions
- production of statutory financial records
- managing the relationship with the Centre's auditors
- production and implementation of the Centre's annual budget (currently with costs c.£170m)
- maintaining the finances for the Centre externally funded activities including 2 major programmes funded by the European Union

Responsibilities:

This post is crucial to the development and management of both existing and new systems of control and reporting.

The duties and responsibilities are wide-ranging and will include but are not limited to:

Financial reporting and controls

Responsibility for preparation of Annual Financial Statements of Account with particular emphasis of IPSAS compliance
ERP Financial Control and Structure Management including:
Chart of Accounts
Development and maintenance of rules, attributes and relations
Year End Rollover
Foreign Exchange rates and revaluation overview
Responsible for maintenance and compliance of both Financial Regulations and Delegation of Authority including full involvement in any proposed changes and preparation of Finance Committee/Council documents as necessary
Responsible for control and maintenance of the Finance Manual which contains the Centre's financial processes and procedures

Post Management processes and reporting

Set up process to manage all posts centrally, ideally developing systems to work with the ERP system
Develop a flexible funding model that can be used to provide guidelines to management and allow flexibility to move funding for posts within constraints of rules and regulations
Responsibility for Table of Posts and for maintaining a consolidated view of all posts

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