The Organisation:
 
Arts Council England is the national development agency, funder and campaigner for the arts in England.
 
With a significant budget over the next three years to enable as many people as possible to participate and enjoy great art across the country, this is a very exciting time to join them.  To do this, they need to recruit and develop skilled people, to deliver a range of support services to a range of customers across the country.
 
A restructure has meant the creation of a new support services centre in Manchester. New IT, HR and some Finance teams will be operating from offices in Manchester from April 2008.
 
The Finance Service Centre team will provide a high standard of Finance support to all Arts Council staff based in our nine regional offices and national office.

For further information please refer to: www.hays.com/jobs/artscouncil

Role specific responsibilities

• Manage purchase ledger function through Arena* and Oracle Financials, including monitoring performance against SLA targets
• Lead on month-end reconciliation work for accounts payable
• Provide full line management, coaching, support and guidance to the purchase ledger team
• Provide business process guidance and support to staff in relation to the purchase order workflow in Arena* and be involved in developing the Arena* functionality around purchase ledger
• Handle queries from suppliers and staff as required
• Prepare quarterly VAT returns and liaise with HMRC as required
• Create and maintain the purchase ledger procedures manual
• Deal with internal and external audit reviews including responding to and implementing any management letter points raised
• Contribute to the preparation of the annual accounts for relevant areas
• Engage regularly with and build a strong working relationship with the Finance and Business Support teams based in the regional offices, the corporate finance team and the procurement team 
• Act as cover for other finance roles as required 

* Arena is the Arts Council's bespoke business system.

Experience, knowledge and skills

• Experience of financial accounting and managing a purchase ledger function in a medium sized organisation
• Experience of providing detailed and ongoing information, advice and guidance to a range of audiences
• Experience of managing, motivating and supporting a small team of administrative staff
• Experience of statistical and data analysis derived from a range of reporting packages

Benefits

In addition to salary, Arts Council England offers an excellent benefits package, including; final salary pension scheme, generous annual leave, season ticket loan, Childcare vouchers and maternity and paternity provisions.