Graduate Finance Assistant

Job Description

Who we areAs the UKs leading social impact investor, our role isuniting capital, expertise and ideas to create better lives.Working with expert partners, we seek to understandpeoples needs first. Then, using our knowledge andcapital, we collaborate and invest with fund managerswho also want to create a better, sustainable future.They, and the social enterprises and charities theyinvest in, create the impact. Our role is to bring themost relevant experts from our network to the table,generating ideas and connecting capital to where itsmost needed.We want to give more people and communities thechance to have an impact on the issues they careabout - from housing and access to affordable financialproducts and services, to health and wellbeing,and community resilience. In this way, we createopportunities for investors and enterprises to generatesystemic social change, not just for today but forgenerations to come.What we doOur work at Big Society Capital starts with building anunderstanding of the social issue and the sustainableenterprise solutions that can bring about change. Wethen design or improve investment routes that canbring together the needs of enterprises and investors.We seed and test new solutions across a wide rangeof social issues and asset classes and scale up thosethat work by bringing in more capital alongside us. Webelieve sustainable solutions can attract the greatestcapital and ultimately grow to have the biggest impacton peoples lives. You can learn more about our socialimpact here.As a wholesale social impact investor, we investinto fund managers who in turn provide capital toenterprises that can bring about social change. Sofar, in collaboration with other investors, we havecommitted £2.4 billion* of investment. We also engagewith investors, fund managers, charities and socialenterprises to make it easier to use social investment.We focus on building four key investment systemswhere there is greatest potential for scale of impact andwhere we believe we can make the biggest difference.Alongside this we run our innovation work to find thenew big ideas for five years time. You can read moreabout our approach here. The four investment systemsare: Social and Affordable Housing, Impact Venture,Social Lending and Social Outcomes Contracts.Overall Purpose of the Role:As we bed in our exciting and pioneering listed social impact investment trust - the Schroder BSC Social Impact Trust (SBSI) - and come to implement our 2025 strategy, it couldnt be a better time to join Big Society Capital (BSC) - the UKs leading socialimpact-led investor, aiming to improve the lives of people in the UK through investment with a sustainable return.We are looking for an enthusiastic graduate to join our team as a Finance Assistant. We foster a collaborative, inclusive working environment with a culture of continuous learning, and where everyone is encouraged to bring their own creative ideas. Throughoutyour time with us, you will gain experience in finance within the social impact investment sector whilst completing the ACCA Accounting qualification.This is a unique opportunity to accelerate your Finance career as part of a lean, dynamic and supportive team, offering the opportunity to perform day-to-day financial processes whilst learning and progressing as you study for exams. Our flexible, hybridworking culture along with generous study leave will allow you the time and space needed to study whilst gaining valuable experience in a full-time role.The Finance Assistant will contribute to the mission and vision of Big Society Capital by supporting all of the organisations corporate accounting across both SBSI and BSC. The position will initially focus on supporting key finance processes includinginvestment accounting, preparing and monitoring departmental budgets, management of transactions within the BSC and SBSI treasury portfolios, production of BSC monthly management accounts, external reporting requirements and annual year-end tax reporting.It will also include some responsibility for the half yearly valuation of investments.Who you will be working with at BSC: The Finance Team currently consists of the Head of Finance, Senior AdvisorFinancial Management, 3 Senior Managers, Finance Assistant and Finance Apprentice. You will also collaborate with and learnfrom the wider BSC team, particularly the Investment Group, the Legal and Compliance team and the IT and Business Support teams.Who you will be working with outside BSC: Fund managers, Suppliers, Auditors, investees, treasury management providers, Banks, administrators, custodians, depositories.Key Responsibilities:

• Support the month end accounting process, including reporting to Senior Management.
• Support the investment drawdown processes including monitoring the mailbox, arranging drawdown checklists, payments and posting accounting entries.
• Transactional support for the Schroder BSC Social Impact Trust (SBSI) and preparation of relevant reporting files for the 3rd party Administrators.
• Review quarterly Fund reporting and Audited Accounts from BSCs investments and ensure Fund income and expenditure and valuation gains/losses are accurately recorded in BSCs accounting system. Liaison with Fund Managers as required.
• Responsibility for collating fund partnership tax returns for each fund investments and preparing relevant summaries to support BSCs year end tax reporting.
• Responsibility for management of key processes for acquisition and disposal of Treasury holdings including ensuring that custodian requirements are met and all Treasury transactions are correctly accounted for.
• Assist in liaising with auditors to ensure accurate and timely completion of the year end process.
• Assist in preparing and updating finance procedures.
• Undertake project work to support the development of BSC and the finance function, including supporting the introduction of external social impact investing products.
• Absence cover for other team members
• Perform ad hoc financial requests as needed.

Person Specification

• Essential experience

Graduatepreferably with finance, business, economics or mathematics backgroundDesirable experience

Excel experiencePrior experience in an accoun