Watford Community Housing
Salary: £35,000 - £40,000
37hours per week
The vacancy
We have an exciting opportunity at Watford Community Housing to join our dynamic Finance team as a Service Charge Accountant, where you will manage the service charge setting and accounting function across our portfolio, with direct line management responsibility for the Service Charge Officer. You will have great organisational, numerical, and interpersonal skills which will help us build a strong finance function.
What's the role?
The ideal candidate will be responsible for providing high quality financial information for service charge activities, ensuring the integrity of the Group's income streams for budget reporting.
You will manage the service charges process for both rental and home ownership properties and oversee the accurate and timely production of the estimates and year end statements, ensuring value for money for customers whilst maximising service charge recovery for the group.
As the key representative for service charges for our business, you will also support on the internal and external service charge audit, and lead in the implementation of changes to processes and service improvements, as well as providing an expert advisory service to the organisations service owners and budget holders.
In this role you will need to:
* Ensure a high standard of customer service
* Have the ability to continually ensure compliance with current legislation and best practice
* Be an excellent problem solver
* Have strong planning and organisational skills that are vital to meet challenging statutory deadlines in the rent and service charge calendar
* Have a strong understanding of accounting procedures and processes
* Have excellent numeracy skills and an ability to understand, analyse and manipulate information and data
What are we looking for?
You will have considerable experience of service charge management in the housing sector and be a customer-focused member of the finance function, with the ability to interact with a wide variety of people in order to deliver an effective finance income management service to all stakeholders.
Essential:
* Knowledge of service charge legislation
* Knowledge of the income and service charge processes of a Registered Social Landlord
* Experience of delivering projects related to service charge recovery
* Knowledge of Microsoft Office including Excel
* Ability to prepare clear and concise financial reports for internal and external stakeholders
* Experience managing relationships with external stakeholders
* Experience managing and developing staff
* You will need to maintain a satisfactory basic level DBS check.
Desirable:
* Part qualified professional accountant
* Knowledge of the housing sector
* Experience of Open Accounts financial system, Orchard housing system
* Experience and understanding of Registered Providers financial legislation, including reporting standards (particularly Financial Reporting Standard 102)
View full Job Description HERE
What can we offer you?
We know that people are our most valuable assets, so we offer a range of benefits including 28 days' annual leave pro rata, an employer pension contribution of up to 11%, development opportunities and access to a comprehensive employee rewards scheme.
How to apply
If this sounds like your next role, click 'apply now', tell us why you've got what it takes and send us a copy of your current CV.
The closing date is 26th October 2025, (but please note we reserve the right to close the vacancy early if we receive a large response). Interviews will take place in the week commencing 27th October 2025.