Finance & Administration Officer – part time

PPP is looking for a part time finance & admin assistant to organise the diary of the Executive Director and take on financial and general administration for this busy arts charity. This position provides an opportunity to learn about the key tools that keep a successful arts organisation functioning. 

1. Title: Finance & Administration Officer – part time

2. Based: Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Campus.  

3. Reporting to: General Manager

4. Hours of work: 18 hours across 3 or more days per week (to be agreed)

5. Remuneration: £11.50 per hour

6. Term: Fixed term to 31.07.2022 initially, with a desire to make the post permanent

7. Summary of duties: This new part-time post will provide finance and administrative support to a busy project-focused team at People’s Palace Projects, an arts research centre founded at Queen Mary University of London to advance the practice and understanding of arts for social justice.

– Place of work*: PPP office, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Campus AND  working from home (remotely).  PPP currently supports a mix of remote and in-person working, but this policy will be revised in 2022 and we reserve the right to require employees to attend the office as and when it is safe to do so. 

8. Deadline: 14th December 2021, 6pm.

Interviews will be held online on 21st December

• All candidate disclosing a disability and who demonstrate that they meet all the Essential criteria of the Person Specification will qualify for an interview.
• At the point of inviting candidates for interview, we will ask about any additional needs or adjustments that would be required to support your participation in the interview process.  
• Our monitoring of recent recruitment has shown us that relatively few applicants choose to disclose a mental health condition or neurodiversity (whether or not they consider this a disability).  We want candidates to know that PPP has current staff members at various levels of the organisation who live with mental health conditions, as well as neurodiverse staff members.

9. Detailed duties and responsibilities:

– Finance

To ensure the efficient and accurate implementation of financial routines at PPP, including but not limited to:

– Monthly cycle

• Maintain up to date financial postings in PPP’s accounting system: initially on Excel, and following training, in Agresso; 
• Coordinate the timesheets for all timesheet-paid staff on PPP’s payroll, ensuring all are submitted in good time to ensure the smooth running of the monthly payroll;
• Provide financial information to PPP colleagues promptly as and when required – particularly, financial reports to support the General Manager & Executive Director’s preparation of budgets and management accounts, and project managers’ preparation of project budgets and expenditure statements;
• Liaise with colleagues to obtain receipts and coding information for credit card purchases to ensure the smooth reconciliation of the credit card account each month;
• Process monthly expense claims for PPP’s Artistic Director;
• Carry out monthly reconciliations of payments to HMRC. 

– Weekly cycle

• Ensure that all invoices are collated for the weekly pay run, the correct documentation to support financial transactions is created, properly referenced and promptly filed.  Update cashflow when necessary;
• Prepare and, if authorised by the General Manager, issue payments via on-line transfers or PPP credit card;
• Liaise with PPP’s third-party international money payment provider, to make international payments;
• Draw up and issue invoices and credit notes; prepare floats and per diems for issue, settle floats, draw up, code and calculate expense claims for Directors and active project staff.

– Additional finance tasks

• Provide support to the Directors / Project managers with financial procedures such as insurance claims, etc 
• Support procedures for preparation of the Annual Report & Financial Statements and annual audit as required;
• Review suppliers from time to time, including running tender or comparative costing processes;
• Support bank administration processes e.g. annual account reviews

– Administration

To maintain the efficient general administration of PPP’s affairs, including but not limited to:

• Collect, open and respond to post as appropriate (in liaison with the General Manager)
• Support the Executive Director’s diary and general correspondence;
• Keep the central organisational diary (PPP Gmail calendar) up to date and update the forward planner of PPP’s activities as required
• Support the General Manager and Executive Director with personnel administration (e.g. holiday records, contracting, updating Breathe HR); contribute to the review of company policies;
• Coordinate and service Board meetings (quarterly) and correspondence as appropriate 
• Support the General Manager and project managers with compiling and maintaining information for immigration records, FEU applications, etc.
• Support the Executive Director with DBS checking processes and maintain company records of when checks fall due
• Support the General Manager in ensuring the company’s returns to Companies House, to the Charity Commission and to funders including Arts Council England and UKRI (ResearchFish) are completed in a timely and accurate manner; 
• Compile information and support the preparation of reports and returns to Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) for internal processes such as the annual insurance renewal, Paul Heritage’s Professorial Review, Research Activity report, HEIF return etc. and regular reports to Department/ School/ Faculty e.g. on fundraising activity; 
• Coordinate the office systems that support the company’s work, including incoming & outgoing email, post, filing, office furniture & equipment, IT systems, and compliance with general University systems for fire safety, security, insurance etc. Take responsibility for PPPUK’s Sharepoint filing, adding archive material as necessary and ensuring that new team members are given the correct access; ensure that databases and mailing lists are updated, backed-up and effective.

10. General

• Have an understanding of the company’s artistic programme and partners; help maintain good working relationships with current partners and funders, advocate for the work and ethos of the company
• Undertake any other duties appropriate to the general scope and responsibilities of the role as directed by the Executive and/or Artistic Director.

11. Essential skills

• Excellent use of office systems including Excel, Word, email software
• Good telephone manner
• Excellent organisational skills
• Good spoken & written English
• Ability to manage own time and workload
• Numeracy and accuracy in inputting data: basic understanding of bookkeeping and/or budget management
• Commitment to the aims, work and ethos of People’s Palace Projects

12. Desirable skills

• Financial and/or bookkeeping experience 
• Experience of / a passion for the arts as applied within the social justice field
• Ability to speak Brazilian Portuguese [NB. PPP regularly works with Brazilian artists)] 

*Our offices have been assessed in line with QMUL social distancing guidelines, and we are able to accommodate up to 10 people each working day with a minimum of 5 open windows.  We expect to maintain a balance between working from home with working in the office for the foreseeable future, with the understanding that staff who work from home will have computer equipment and, if needed, a suitable chair provided by PPP and that a desk in the office will always be available Monday-Friday subject to QMUL being open to administrative staff.  For new posts, we would like to encourage staff to work in the office, when possible, to build team relationships with colleagues.