Financial Accountant

Join us at EIT:

At the Ellison Institute of Technology (EIT), we’re on a mission to translate scientific discovery into real world impact. We bring together visionary scientists, technologists, engineers, researchers, educators and innovators to tackle humanity’s greatest challenges in four transformative areas:

• Health, Medical Science & Generative Biology
• Food Security & Sustainable Agriculture
• Climate Change & Managing CO₂
• Artificial Intelligence & Robotics

This is ambitious work - work that demands curiosity, courage, and a relentless drive to make a difference. At EIT, you’ll join a community built on excellence, innovation, tenacity, trust, and collaboration, where bold ideas become real-world breakthroughs. Together, we push boundaries, embrace complexity, and create solutions to scale ideas from lab to society. Explore more at www.eit.org.

Your Role:

EIT Oxford is seeking a highly skilled and detail oriented Financial Accountant to support the Financial Controller in ensuring the financial integrity of the organisation. The Financial Accountant will play a key role in the preparation of financial statements, statutory reporting, reconciliations, and financial controls, ensuring compliance with UK financial regulations and best practices.

Your Responsibilities:

• Assist in the preparation of statutory financial statements, ensuring accuracy and compliance with UK accounting standards.
• Support the annual statutory audit process, including preparation of audit files, analysis, and responding to auditor queries.
• Support property valuations, impairment assessments and related accounting adjustments, including preparation of supporting schedules and reconciliations.
• Prepare and submit monthly CIS returns, ensuring accurate reporting, reconciliation and compliance with statutory deadlines.
• Prepare VAT returns for assigned entities, including reconciliation of VAT control accounts, review of supporting transactions and investigation of discrepancies, for review and approval prior to submission.
• Maintain accounting records for investment properties, PPE, capital expenditure and associated lease arrangements in accordance with FRS 102.
• Review financial information received from external property managers, ensuring completeness, accuracy and appropriate accounting treatment.
• Complete monthly balance sheet reconciliations, ensuring timely resolution of reconciling items and preparing commentary where necessary.
• Ensure compliance with financial policies, internal controls, and regulatory requirements.
• Support Group financial reporting requirements and ensure data accuracy.
• Support the Financial Controller in implementing and monitoring financial controls and risk management procedures.
• Work to deadlines to ensure timely month end and year-end financial close processes, proactively communicating any delays and ensuring financial data integrity is maintained.
• Process and reconcile corporate allocations, transfer pricing adjustments, R&D recharges, and tax provisions.
• Support financial accounting and reporting across multiple group entities, ensuring accuracy, consistency and compliance with relevant accounting standards
• Assist and maintain the risk register, updating identified risks regularly and communicating new and growing risks to relevant management.
• Maintain procedural documentation covering all tasks.
• Work closely with the accounts payable and accounts receivable teams to ensure assist with financial transaction processing.
• Assist in cash flow management, ensuring accurate forecasting and timely remittance of funds.
• Ensure compliance with financial policies, internal controls, and regulatory requirements.
• Assist in financial system improvements, including ERP enhancements (Oracle Fusion preferred) and reporting automation.
• Collaborate with other departments, to support budgeting, forecasting, and financial analysis.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives to enhance efficiency and financial reporting accuracy.
• Support ad hoc financial projects and analysis as required by the Financial Controller and Finance Director.

Essential Skills, Qualifications & Experience:

• Part-qualified or finalist accountant (ACA, ACCA, or equivalent) with strong knowledge of UK accounting standards and financial regulations.
• Strong excel and analytical skills.
• Experience in financial reporting, statutory accounts preparation, and audit processes.
• Strong technical accounting skills and experience in balance sheet and income statement reconciliations.
• Experience in transaction processing and maintaining financial controls within a complex organisation.
• Proficiency in ERP systems (Oracle Fusion preferred) and strong Microsoft Excel skills.
• Ability to work to tight deadlines while maintaining accuracy and attention to detail.
• Strong analytical skills, with the ability to interpret financial data and provide clear insights.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills to liaise effectively with internal and external stakeholders.
• Ability to manage multiple tasks, prioritise workload, and work independently.
• Experience working within a fast-paced, high-growth, or technology-driven environment is an advantage
• Experience in property accounting, including investment properties, fixed assets, capital expenditure or lease accounting.
• Practical experience preparing VAT returns and CIS submissions.

Essential Skills, Qualifications & Experience:

• Experience of working in a multi-national environment would be advantageous.

We offer the following benefits:

• Enhanced holiday. Our annual leave allowance is 25 days plus 8 bank holidays and an additional 3 days between Christmas and New Year. You will also have the opportunity to purchase an additional 5 days annual leave in January and July.
• Pension - Employer contribution 7.5%, minimum employee contribution 5%
• Life Assurance.
• Income Protection
• Private Medical Insurance as standard for you, your partner and any dependents. Including hospital Cash Plan
• Employee discounts
• Electric car scheme
• Nursery Salary Sacrifice scheme
• Cycle to Work Scheme
• Family Planning
• Neurodiversity support including advise and assessments
• Coaching & Therapy services

Working Together – What It Involves:

• You must have the right to work permanently in the UK with a willingness to travel as necessary. In certain cases, we can consider sponsorship, and this will be assessed on a case-by-case basis.
• You will live in, or within easy commuting distance of, Oxford (or be willing to relocate).