Finance Management Accounting Industrial Placement - STFC

Science and Technology Facilities Council

The STFC Finance Directorate seeks to recruit 2 Sandwich Students based at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) Oxfordshire.  The students will rotate around different functional areas of Finance to provide an all-round experience within a Finance Department and will also visit other UK based STFC sites. These appointments will be for 12 months in duration.

In previous years’ students have supported Audits at our UK Liaison office in CERN Geneva, at one of our Joint Venture organisations ILL in Grenoble France and on cross Research Council internal audits (working with the Government Internal Audit Agency - GIAA).  Such opportunities vary from year to year and depend on the interests and capabilities of the students.

Summary of Key Duties & Responsibilities

Strategic Planning & Financial Management:

• Assist with Strategic Planning and reporting
• Cost centre and project budget setup
• Project maintenance, monitoring of income and expenditure and forecasting
• Creation of project reports
• Revenue analysis
• Research Council, Service Level Agreement (SLA) management and grant administration
• European Commission Project time sheets

Financial Accounting:

• Creation and posting of Project and General Ledger Journals
• Creation of Sales Invoices
• Processing of travel claims
• Account code reconciliation

Asset Management and Recording:

• Carry out physical verification of assets,
• Review capital project expenditure for non-capital costs,
• Reconcile the Oracle Project Accounting module entries on capital projects with Oracle General Ledger entries
• Asset Tag and record new Capital Equipment

Governance & Audit:

• Support to the Governance team on the internal audit programme

Administrative support:

• Archiving
• Any other activities suitable for the role and experience

Following training the student is expected to be self-motivated, following policy, meeting deadlines and to work diligently through the workload assigned to them.

In order to apply for this role you must have: 

Essential Criteria:

• At university, enrolled on an undergraduate degree course and required or have requested to take a year out of studies to gain experience within industry 
• Right to live and work in the UK 
• Should be undertaking an Accountancy, Business, Economics (or similar) Degree 
• Knowledge of MS Word and Excel 
• Experience of working within a team environment 
• Experience of working to deadlines 
• Good oral communications skills 
• Strong written communication and presentation skills 
• Demonstrate good team working capabilities 
• Open minded and flexible in relation to the type of work assigned to them 
• Ability to travel to other STFC sites as required 

Desirable Criteria:

• Work experience in an office or similar environment 
• Knowledge or experience in using a Finance system (eg Oracle) 

The Science and Technology Facilities Council is a world-leading multi-disciplinary science organisation where curiosity-driven, blue-skies thinking meets practical, application-led science and engineering. Our goal is to deliver economic, societal, scientific and international benefits to the UK and its people – and more broadly to the world.

One of Europe’s largest research organisations, we’re trusted to support, enable and undertake cutting-edge projects in an amazing diversity of fields. Through world-class facilities and people, we’re driving ground-breaking advances in science, engineering, computing and technology. Our research seeks to understand the Universe from the largest astronomical scales to the tiniest constituents of matter, yet creates impact on a very tangible, human scale.

For more information about STFC, please visit https://stfc.ukri.org/

How to Apply

Online applications only for this role. Please submit your CV and a covering letter which clearly outlines how you fulfil the criteria specified along with your motivation for STFC and the role you’re applying for. Ensure that the job reference number is included in the filename description of each document uploaded. Note that failure to address the above criteria or submit your application without a covering letter may result in your application not being considered.

About UKRI

UK Research and Innovation brings together nine organisations to create an independent organisation with a strong voice for research and innovation, and a vision to ensure the UK maintains its world-leading position in research and innovation. More information can be found at www.ukri.org.

Additional Information

• Organisation: Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)
• Contract Type: Fixed Term Contract
• External Closing Date: Oct 30, 2020
• Minimum Salary: Pound Sterling (GBP) 19,734
• Hours: Full-time