Financial Accountant

What if your ability to transform complex financial data into clear, compelling reports could be the single source of truth that enables better, faster decisions across one of the UK's largest charities? As a Financial Accountant at Alzheimer's Society, you'll play a vital role in ensuring financial integrity and compliance as we work to end the devastation caused by dementia.

About the opportunity

As Financial Accountant within our Finance & Assurance directorate, you'll be part of a team that's transforming how we deliver financial partnership across the organisation. We're on an ambitious journey to become the Society's single point of financial truth. We aim to be trusted partners and credible experts who enable the organisation to make faster, better-informed decisions. This is a role where technical excellence meets meaningful impact. Where your accounting expertise directly enables us to focus on what matters most: transforming lives affected by dementia.

In this role, you'll focus on audit. You'll be the cornerstone of trust and credibility that gives stakeholders confidence in our financial integrity. Drawing on your audit background, you'll lead our audit activities end-to-end, prepare comprehensive audit deliverables, including consolidated financial statements and manage relationships with external auditors. You'll ensure our accounting records comply with Charities SORP/FRS102, company law and charity law. You'll prepare and review complex technical accounting adjustments, and champion robust financial controls and processes across the organisation. Your technical expertise and meticulous approach will ensure we navigate regulatory requirements with precision and professionalism.

Working in partnership with colleagues across Finance and the wider Society, you'll champion compliance in a way that enables rather than constrains our mission. You'll build relationships with external auditors and regulators. You'll support teams across directorates to understand and meet their financial obligations and proactively identify opportunities to strengthen our financial governance and control environment.

About you:

You're a qualified accountant with an audit background who brings deep knowledge of audit processes. You understand that robust financial controls build the credibility and trust that allows a charity to maximise its impact. You're comfortable preparing audit deliverables and technical accounting adjustments, and you can explain complex regulations clearly to help colleagues across the organisation make informed decisions.

You'll have:

• A CCAB qualification achieved through education, or demonstrable equivalent knowledge and experience that evidences your understanding of the role's requirements.
• Significant audit experience - ideally from practice or an in-house audit function.
• Demonstrated experience as a Financial Accountant in a large or complex organisation.
• Good working knowledge of relevant legislation and regulations.
• Experience preparing and reviewing complex technical accounting adjustments with precision and professional judgment.
• Experience championing robust financial controls and processes, with evidence of identifying control weaknesses and driving improvements.
• The ability to work effectively across departments and at all levels of the organisation. Translating complex accounting and regulatory requirements into clear, practical guidance for diverse audiences.
• Experience with cloud-based ERP systems (we use Unit4).
• A commitment to continuous improvement, bringing best practice and fresh thinking to audit and compliance delivery.
• Experience mentoring and coaching colleagues to support them in their career development.

What you'll focus on:

• Leading audit activities end-to-end - preparing high-quality deliverables, including the consolidated financial statements, managing timelines, and building constructive relationships with external auditors and regulators.
• Ensuring accounting records comply with Charities SORP/FRS102, company law and charity law. Preparing and reviewing complex technical accounting adjustments with precision and professional judgment.
• Championing robust financial controls and processes, proactively identifying weaknesses and driving improvements that strengthen our control environment and record-keeping standards.
• Building trusted partnerships across the Society, helping colleagues understand compliance requirements and making financial governance something teams engage with positively.
• Working seamlessly with colleagues across the Finance team to provide integrated, end-to-end financial partnership to the Society.
• Driving continuous improvement in financial accounting standards, using feedback, data, and sector best practice to elevate quality while role-modelling our values and a culture of accountability.

Are you ready to lead audit and compliance work that protects our reputation while enabling our teams to focus on ending the devastation of dementia? Can you bring both technical precision and collaborative partnership to ensure our financial governance is robust, respected, and genuinely enabling?

Important Dates

The deadline for applications is 23:59 on Sunday 2nd November.

Interviews will begin week commencing 10th November and will consist of two stages taking place virtually.

Dementia is the UK’s biggest killer. One in three people born in the UK today will develop dementia in their lifetime.

At Alzheimer’s Society, we’re the UK’s leading dementia charity and the only one to tackle all aspects of dementia by giving help and hope to people living with dementia today and in the future. We give vital support to people facing the most frightening times of their lives, while also funding groundbreaking research and campaigning to make dementia the priority it should be.

Together with our supporters, we’re working towards a world where dementia no longer devastates lives.

Our values make sure that our focus is clear for the challenges and opportunities ahead and remind us of what we all stand for.

Our commitment to Equity, Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging

We need to ensure the voices around our table better reflect and understand the communities we exist to serve. We strongly encourage individuals to apply who have a disability, impairment or health condition or individuals who identify as Black, Asian or from another minority ethnic background, as these groups are currently under-represented at Alzheimer's Society.  

We want everyone we work with, as a colleague, volunteer, supporter, or someone we support, to feel included and that they belong at Alzheimer's Society. 

Our Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy here along with our internal employee forum and Employee Lived Experience network groups help us promote inclusion and belonging, becoming an engaged and inclusive organisation for all our people. 

Our hiring process

During your recruitment process we want to make sure that you bring your whole self and can be at your best. We are working hard to ensure our recruitment process is as inclusive as possible, so please do inform us of your experience and anything you think we could do better by completing our candidate survey when you apply.  Please also contact Alzheimer’s Society Talent Acquisition Team via [email protected] for application support or any adjustments you might need.

To ensure fairness and consistency to select the best candidate for this role, all our applications are anonymised up until an interview has been confirmed. We recognise the benefits of AI, but if you're considering using it to submit your application, we encourage you to reflect on the value it truly adds. AI tools often lack the personal touch and authenticity that set candidates apart. We want to hear your unique perspective, experiences, and skills, so we encourage you to showcase them in your own voice.

We try to avoid closing roles early where possible, however if we receive a high volume of applications, we may close earlier than the advertised closing date. Should this occur, we will aim to provide you with at least 48 hours' notice.

We are committed to safer recruitment and ensuring the welfare of those we work with, due to the nature of some of our roles, we might need to carry out a DBS check at the relevant level.

Giving back to you

Our employees work hard every day to make a true difference in people's lives. We are proud to support them with a range of benefits, recognition and many options for working agilely, all contributing to a strong work life balance. We also have various learning programmes to support you in your development and help you grow to realise your potential and shape a career with Alzheimer's Society. 

You can also visit our Working for Us pages, which give you more information about what it’s like to be an employee at the Society.