Job Description

The Renewables Senior Financial Accountant is responsible for an expanding portfolio of Institutional and Listed Funds, which primarily invest in Solar and Wind assets and have a growing international presence across the UK, Europe and Australia. While much of the day to day operations and accounting is outsourced at the asset (SPV) level, this role will be responsible for the quality of the management accounts and financial information produced at asset level and so will spend a high proportion of their time managing the performance of the external accounting teams. This will include supporting and improving information flows between teams, managing the quality of their outputs and establishing appropriate controls.

Alongside the financial management of the asset-level portfolio, the Renewables Senior Financial Accountant will also be accountable for the financial reporting of our Institutional and Listed funds. This will involve calculating and forecasting distributions, presenting financial information at Board meetings, and assisting with the financial reporting delivery to key investors.

The role sits within the Funds Finance team, reporting directly into the Octopus Renewables Financial Controller. Funds Finance is a 35-strong team which operates across the Fund Management team maintaining close operational involvement with the investment business. The Renewables team interacts with several other teams across Fund Finance and the wider business, so it is imperative that the Renewables Senior Financial Accountant is able to work closely with outsourced finance team as well as building strong working relationships with the investment teams.

Asset-level responsibilities:

• Report on the financial performance of the portfolio at monthly Customer Board meetings

• Review and challenge management accounts provided by external accountants

• Review all asset-level budgets and ensure these are appropriately signed off by the Directors

• Assist with the purchase of new assets (managing the buy-side financial due diligence) and ensure these assets are appropriately embedded into the portfolio

Portfolio-level responsibilities:
 

• Quarterly distribution calculations and cash flow forecasting
• Review and challenge management accounts provided by external accountants
• Prepare fund-level NAV calculations (for Listed funds)
• Providing financial performance analysis for the fund on a quarterly basis for Board meetings/investor reporting
• Review and challenge Fund accounts provided by external fund administrators
• Project manage the fund level audits and review of statutory financial statements and interim accounts; liaising with external auditors as required
• Ensure a robust control environment is present throughout the portfolio and, in particular, for onboarding of new assets
• Completing all AIFMD reporting
• Assist with new fund raises
• Ad hoc reports and analysis as required
• Be a valued business partner and build and maintain good working relationships with internal and external stakeholders
• Identify system improvements and take ownership of driving change across the team. This will involve working closely with external accountants to improve current processes across the portfolio.

 

What we offer

Octopus has built an exciting and inclusive high-performance culture where employees feel empowered. This means we welcome discussions around flexible working hours. We also understand the value of diversity, and we have a team dedicated to promoting gender, ethnic, socio-economic, LGBT and disability equality, to make sure we back up our words with actions. All Octopus employees are given the opportunity to develop new skills, aim higher and accelerate their careers.
 

Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

Qualifications Technical competencies: Qualified accountant (ACA/ACCA) with at least 2 years post qualification experience (preferably gained in a relevant role) Good technical knowledge of IFRS (UK GAAP knowledge also an advantage) Good knowledge of fund accounting and fund structures preferred Knowledge of SUN/Vision would be an advantage. Other qualities: Highly organised, able to plan ahead to deliver accurate information to tight reporting deadlines Excellent communication skills, with a proven ability to work well with different teams and manage a range of different stakeholders Self-motivated and aspirational, comfortable working in a fast-paced changing environment.