Job Description: Part Time Finance Officer (20 hours per week)
The Finance Officer will work with the finance team to manage weekly book-keeping, keeping financial records, preparing quarterly reports, and helping with budgeting and forecasting processes, as a member of Ethical Consumer, the UK’s longest running alternative consumer organisation.
Finance Responsibilities
Using Quickbooks (switching to Xero in the next couple of years), the Finance Officer will be mainly responsible for the following tasks:
Weekly bookkeeping
Financial record keeping
Reconciling bank accounts and other accounts at the end of the month
Preparing end of quarter and year journals
Producing financial reports
Generating and processing invoices and receipts and setting up supplier payments
Supporting managing bank account transfers *after initial period*
Overseeing finance inbox
Being an active member of the Finance Subgroup and acting as backup/support for other finance tasks as required (e.g. payroll)
Maintaining Finance Handbook
Supporting co-op with financial forecasting, planning and budgeting
We are a multi-stakeholder co-operative with Investor-Members. Using the investor-member database, the Finance Officer will play a key role in managing our investors:
Processing new and further investments and issuing share certificates
Processing withdrawals
Handling Investor communications and enquiries
Running end of year mailing
Supporting with AGM
Supporting with Investor-Elections
Co-operative Responsibilities
All members share the responsibilities of running the co-operative, including taking part in the decision-making process and joining relevant subgroups to help manage e.g. subscriptions, finance, personnel, consultancy or marketing. Subgroup work is core to many members' roles.
Essential Qualities:
Good IT skills including spreadsheet management
Good numerical skills and attention to detail
Ability to write clear and concise English and condense complex information
Demonstrable organisational skills, ability to meet deadlines, multi-task and prioritise, and work on own initiative
Commitment to the co-operative way of working, good interpersonal communication skills, and ability to contribute to a co-operative decision-making process
Awareness of and an interest in ethical consumption, e.g. environment, human rights, animal welfare or politics in relation to corporations
Ability to behave in a confident and professional manner towards colleagues, customers and partner organisations
Ability and willingness to learn
Desirable Qualities:
Experience in a finance role, especially in bookkeeping
Experience of Quickbooks/Xero and databases
Experience of co-operative working
Experience working in non-profit sector
Sociocratic decision making or governance
Experience managing payroll
Experience with community shares and co-op investors
Experience of budgeting and forecasting
New staff are required to work a probationary period before they can become permanent staff and full co-op members. We are looking for someone interested in working with Ethical Consumer medium to long term.
This role is a hybrid role with regular work from our Manchester office during training. Increased remote work may be possible after probation period.
