Finance Consultant

This is a contracted role of around 30-40 hours a month with a concentration of time around the quarter end. We anticipate this being a 2-3 year contract. We are flexible on working location but would expect the successful candidate to work from our London office at least once a month.

LCP is a leading independent consultancy that uses powerful analytics fused with human expertise to shape a more positive future. We provide market-leading capabilities across pensions and financial services, energy, health, and analytics. Our technology and analytics capabilities are fundamental to what we do, helping us power the possibilities that provide solutions for tomorrow. We strive to help our clients leverage the latest technology and analytics across a range of industries to stay at the forefront of data-driven and digital solutions.

We have an exciting opportunity for an experienced finance professional to take on a flexible, high-impact role supporting a large pension scheme. It is an opportunity to work in a hands-on capacity within a complex and interesting pension scheme environment. The focus of this role will be to streamline and deliver finance operations, including robust and timely reporting to the trustees and sponsoring employer.

What will you be doing?

• Be accountable for the financial administration of the pension scheme, working closely with other members of the executive team and the scheme’s administrators
• Coordinate the preparation of the annual Scheme budget
• Deliver quarterly cost updates to the Trustee on a timely basis
• Deliver regular cost updates and forecasts for the Sponsoring Employer
• Manage the invoice process and ensure that all invoices are promptly approved and sent for payment
• Act as the principal contact for Scheme VAT and Tax issues, working closely with the tax adviser to meet statutory deadlines
• Be the principal contact for the management of class actions, working closely with the third party adviser
• Support supplier management alongside other members of the team
• Input into the risk management framework, controls environment and assurance reporting
• Responsible for relevant Scheme policies on costs and tax
• Help the Trustee drive value-for-money in running the scheme
• Take ownership of workload management and deliver to timescales
• As the work on the pension scheme evolves, take on similar work for other pension schemes supported by LCP and/or within LCP

What skills and qualities are we looking for?

• Ability to problem solve and come up with solutions
• Ability to design and implement efficient approaches to financial tasks
• Excellent Excel skills and strong financial reporting capabilities
• Strong numerical skills
• Experience in working with external and internal auditors
• Ideally educated to degree level and qualified as a chartered accountant (e.g. ACA, ACCA etc)
• Ability to build and manage relations with clients and ensure client needs are identified and met
• Able to anticipate the changing needs of clients and be flexible on approach to meet these needs
• Good communicator, in both written and oral form and deliver presentations
• Work collaboratively and participate positively in team discussions
• Curious attitude to new ideas and technology

Experience in some or all of the following areas would be beneficial:

• Knowledge of defined benefit pension schemes, the related SORP and their financial operations
• Corporate accounting including IAS19 reporting and SOX compliance

What’s in it for you?

Take a look at our and Career stories pages to see why our people love being here! As well as joining a multi-award winning, fun, collaborative, people first organisation where your personal and professional skills will be developed to make you the best you can be, we offer an attractive benefits package designed to promote your overall wellbeing so that you are able to perform to your full potential both in and out of work. Currently our core benefits package includes:

For you:

• Hybrid working (varies by role and department)
• professional study support (where applicable)
• Access to our internal Wellbeing, LGBTQ+, Multicultural and Women’s networks

For your family:

• Life assurance, income protection, enhanced maternity/paternity/adoption and shared parental leave

For your health:

• 26 days annual leave (pro-rata for part-time working) plus bank holidays (most of which can be taken flexibly!) with options to buy &sell holiday
• Private medical insurance
• Discounted gym memberships, critical illness and dental insurance through our flexible benefits
• Eye care vouchers
• Digital GP services

For your wealth:

• Competitive pension scheme
• Discretionary bonus scheme
• High street discounts

For others:

• Volunteering opportunities

And much more!

We continuously strive to build an inclusive workplace where all forms of diversity are valued, including age, background, disability, gender, gender identity, gender expression, race, religion or sexual orientation.

LCP is committed to making our opportunities accessible to all and would welcome you getting in touch to let us know if an adjustment can be made to help with your application. This may be extra time for assessments, pre-interview site visits, interview structure or questions, or asking us about building accessibility. Whatever it may be, please get in touch via our dedicated email address - to discuss how we can support you with your application.

LCP currently holds a sponsorship license for skilled worker visas, allowing us to assist with applications aligning with the UK Government's criteria for skilled worker sponsorship. If you anticipate needing sponsorship for a skilled worker visa, we recommend reviewing the sponsorship criteria for your desired role before applying to LCP.

Recruitment agencies

LCP operates a Preferred Supplier List (PSL) for recruitment agencies which is reviewed annually. We do not accept unsolicited CVs from agencies who are not part of our current PSL. LCP only pay agency fees where we have a signed agreement in place, and the agency has been instructed by a member of our recruitment team to supply CVs via the Applicant Tracking System (ATS) for a legitimate, open vacancy. If this process is not adhered to, LCP reserve the right to contact these candidates directly and have discussions with them without paying any agency fees. We do not pay agency fees when speculative and unsolicited CVs are submitted to any employee or Partner at LCP.