Accountant Level 2 (External Funding Team)

Role Responsibility

We are looking for an experienced candidate to fill an additional Accountant Level 2 (KR10) post within Kent County Council’s External Funding Team, within the Finance Directorate. This role is based in Maidstone, but please note that due to Coronavirus, the successful post holder will initially be expected to work from home. This post is full-time, on a fixed term basis, initially for 12 months.

KCC’s External Funding Team

The External Funding Team is an industry specialist service providing financial management support to externally funded projects and partnerships within KCC, the South and East UK and across Europe.  The team currently have over 40 active projects through a variety of funding programmes, both EU and domestic, as well as approximately six more funding applications in progress.  Additionally, the team manage the External Funding Register for KCC, the Euroaccount, Pump Priming Reserve and the supply of foreign currency.

 The role

This role involves tasks relating to external fund bids, budget management and the provisional of timely and accurate financial information. Please see attached job description for full details. Examples of tasks that would be undertaken include:

 Completing grant claims for active externally funded projects using designated electronic claim platforms.

Coordinating, preparing for and responding to audits and article inspections (internal and externally commissioned) of claims/projects/partnerships.

Working with internal and external budget/project managers in preparing bids for external funds as well as the on-going budget management during project delivery phase.

Collaborating with European (Joint Secretariat) and Member State organisations for the roll out of the funding programmes. Where KCC is the Lead Partner/Accountable Body, provide training to project teams and partner organisations when bids are approved. 

Contributing at partner meetings and Steering Committees relevant to the projects supported. 

Enforcing and enhancing the internal procedures for registering bids and supporting the corporate year end closedown processes for project funds, ensuring correct accounting guidance and procedures are applied.

Suitable applicants must have a working knowledge of EU funding regulations, be able to work with a good level of accuracy and possess good written and verbal communication skills. They must have excellent Excel skills, be able to meet strict deadlines and respond promptly to urgent requests for information.  Some foreign travel may be required following the lifting of travel restrictions.      

Application

To apply for the role, please see full details on the KCC jobs website: https://jobsearch.kent.gov.uk/

The closing date for applications is Wednesday 16th December 2020.

Please note that candidates will be shortlisted to undertake a brief task related to external funding accountancy. The candidates with the highest scores after completing the task will be invited for interview.

This post is considered by KCC to be a customer-facing position. The Council therefore has a statutory duty under Part 7 of the Immigration Act (2016) to ensure that post holders have a command of spoken English/Welsh sufficient for the effective performance of the job requirements. The appropriate standards are set out in the Job Description/Person Specification.

Contact Details

For more information, please contact Mellisa Jeynes (mellisa.jeynes@kent.gov.uk, Senior Accountant, External Funding Team) or Anthony Kamps (anthony.kamps@kent.gov.uk, Revenue Finance Manager Growth, Environment, Transportation & Waste and Strategic & Corporate Services).

About the Company

Please note – if you are interested, please apply as soon as possible as the closing date for this advert may be earlier than stated should a number of suitably qualified candidates apply.