Assistant Accountant
Contract: Permanent, full time (35 hours per week)
Location: Liverpool, hybrid working (minimum 3 days on site per week)
Salary: £33,951 – £35,608 per annum
About the role
At LSTM, our work changes lives across the globe. Our finance team plays a key role in budgeting, forecasting and reporting to support effective use of resources across the organisation, and we’re looking for an Assistant Accountant to join the team. You’ll provide essential operational, analytical and technical support across the Financial Services function, including budgeting, forecasting, and MI. You’ll take ownership of defined elements of finance processes such as driver updates, forecast roll‑forwards and structured MI components. The role offers opportunities to support financial reporting, consolidation activities, process improvements and strategic finance projects while working across the Finance team to support service delivery and priorities.
Key responsibilities
- Maintain and prepare structured datasets, assumptions tables and scenario parameters
- Support forecast refreshes for selected cost lines using agreed methodologies
- Build baseline forecast refreshes including roll‑forwards, inflation and trend overlays using agreed frameworks
- Undertake analysis identifying trends and movements on planning submissions, including outliers and indicator movements before review
- Coordinate planning timetables and submission status, escalating quality concerns
- Refresh and publish MI packs using stable logic and mapping
- Perform multi‑period comparative analysis (year‑on‑year, plan‑to‑forecast, run‑rate vs target)
- Draft summary insights highlighting risks and trends, key cost drivers, utilisation indicators, trend shifts, and risks
- Support production of visuals and KPI reporting in creating performance visuals (variance bridges, KPI charts)
- Prepare and post standard journals including accruals, prepayments and cost allocations
- Complete balance sheet reconciliations and resolve discrepancies
- Investigate anomalies using multi‑source cross‑checks, documenting root cause early insights
- Contribute to monthly reporting packs including metrics, bridges and driver summaries
- Maintain template libraries, cost centre mappings and FP&A data architecture
- Prepare month‑end supporting schedules for audit evidence purposes
- Support financial accounting and consolidation activities
- First‑line support for finance related queries (planning and MI queries, including interpretation of basic forecast drivers)
- Support finance managers with analysis and reporting by preparing driver‑based insight packs and risk indicators
The Ideal Candidate Will Demonstrate
- Studying towards, part‑qualified, or fully qualified CIMA/ACCA, or equivalent experience
- Experience working with financial/operational data in management accounts support
- Month‑end exposure including journals, reconciliations and variance analysis
- Strong Excel skills including lookups, pivots and basic modelling
- Attention to detail, a controls mindset, and the ability to translate data into insight
- Effective communication with both finance and non‑finance stakeholders
Additional benefits of joining LSTM
- Access to support for your career growth through a variety of internal and external learning and development opportunities
- Employee Assistance Platform offering a range of wellbeing initiatives and support, in addition to high‑street discount offers
- 30 days annual leave, plus 8 UK bank holidays, in addition to 6 Christmas closure days
- Generous occupational pension schemes including USS (Universities Superannuation Scheme) and NHS pension schemes (subject to eligibility)
- Government‑backed “cycle to work” scheme
- Affiliated, discounted staff membership to the University of Liverpool Sports Centre
- A range of enhanced family friendly policies
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