Job Description
Job Title: Financial and Partnership Accountant (Maternity Cover)
Location: Rhodes House in central Oxford – hybrid working with 2-3 days in Rhodes House
Contract: Fixed Term – 14 months
Hours: Full-time
Salary: £60-70k per annum
Reports to: Finance Director
We have a brilliant opportunity for a Financial and Partnership Accountant to join the Rhodes Trust in Oxford. We are looking for the successful candidate to start with us as soon as possible.
The role
An interim opportunity has arisen to cover the key specialist responsibilities of the Senior Accountant, who will be on maternity leave from mid-October 2025 to the end of October 2026. This role includes acting as the lead financial accountant, preparing financial statements under Charities SORP, and overseeing the management of the annual audit.
The Rhodes Trust’s financial year ends on 30th June, with the audit conducted in late September and clearance expected by late October. While there are several qualified accountants within the team, this position requires specific expertise in Charities SORP financial accounting.
The successful candidate will be onboarded in time to support and shadow the 2024/25 year-end process and audit, and will then lead the process for the 2025/26 year-end. This presents an excellent opportunity for a financial accountant with Charities SORP knowledge to gain substantial experience in a highly sophisticated setting.
Additional responsibilities will include quarterly reporting to our external partners and oversight of key operational elements that support the management of operational risk in a well-structured, complex, but established environment.
The role will be responsible for;
* Financial accounting, including preparation and finalisation under Charity SORP, including multi-currency group consolidation;
* Audit lead (with support from other qualified accountants and the FD) with an established auditor;
* Confidential business partnering with respect to staff costs (with an outsourced payroll);
* Review and supervision of transactional activity for the partnerships, within a strong control environment;
* Quarterly management reporting to external funding partners;
* Full participation in an established and highly competent and collaborative departmental leadership team;
* Modelling value-based leadership to junior staff;
* Any other reasonable tasks as agreed with the Finance Director;
Other
* Role modelling the Trust’s organisational values of commitment, inclusion, belonging, growth and innovation.
* Carrying out any other duties relevant to the role, as requested.
Essential Knowledge, Skills and Experience
* ICAEW/ACCA Qualified;
* Experience of the preparation of consolidated group financial statements under Charities SORP, with complex fund accounting in a multi-currency environment;
* A full understanding and experience of the processes of external audit
* Excellent interpersonal skills and can-do attitude;
* Confidence and familiarity with multi-dimensional accounting software;
* Advanced excel skills including pivot tables, vlookups, conditional formatting etc;
* Collaborative team player;
* Superb attention to detail;
* A deep commitment to the values, ethos and mission of the Rhodes Trust.
Desirable Knowledge, Skills and Experience
* Experience using Sage Intacct;
* Well versed in using expense management systems;
* Strong background in an operational environment;
* Experience with Salesforce for donor or relationship management.
About the Rhodes Trust
The Rhodes Trust is an educational charity which offers Rhodes Scholarships to exceptional students from around the world to come and study at the University of Oxford. Our mission is to build a better world through global fellowship programmes that develop and connect compassionate, innovative, and public-spirited people committed to solving humanity’s challenges.
In recent years, we have also partnered with several other remarkable organisations to create the Mandela Rhodes Foundation, the Atlantic Institute, the Schmidt Science Fellows, RISE and Oxford Next Horizons.
Benefits of working here
We are a global organisation and we use our deep connections across the world to bring together people of different backgrounds and viewpoints. We encourage our staff to challenge each other’s thinking and generate new ideas.
* 30 days annual leave (pro rata) plus 8 bank holidays
* Competitive pension scheme
* Generous family leave scheme
* Private health insurance
* Employee Assistance Programme
* Personal development opportunities
* Additional benefits, such as free access to the University's gardens, parks, libraries and museums, and University staff discounts in shops across Oxford.
* Cycle to work scheme
* Electric car scheme
If you would like to find out more, please click ‘apply’ to view the full job description and to find the link to apply. Please send us your CV and a covering letter. Please note, this advert will close on 16 July 2025 at 17:00 BST.
If you have any issues with submitting your application, please email the Recruitment team.
The Rhodes Trust is an equal opportunity employer. We warmly welcome applications from talented people of diverse backgrounds and appoint without regard to age, disability, gender, gender identity, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, pregnancy or maternity, parental status, marital or civil partner status, race, colour, ethnic or national origin, nationality, religion or belief.