Senior Financial Accountant

We have an exciting opportunity for a Senior Financial Accountant to join the Finance Team at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute (WEHI), Australia's pre-eminent biomedical research institute. Come and join us and help support our researchers as they solve some of the most complex health problems, making transformative discoveries for cancer, infectious and immune diseases, developmental disorders and healthy ageing.

It's a great time to join WEHI's Finance team as we look to leverage a significant investment in new systems to drive efficiencies and improve support to our researchers. You will have the opportunity to use your curiosity not only to learn about our medical research but also to question what we do and why within finance, implementing improvements and efficiencies. In addition, this role has a unique opportunity to support WEHI's strategy to pursue commercialisation opportunities, providing technical accounting advice and support for new transactions and partnerships as they are being developed.

About the position
Reporting to the Financial Accounting Manager, the primary responsibility for this role is to ensure the financial accounting is done in an accurate and timely and efficient manner. This role will be primarily responsible for executing month end and year end processes, annual statutory accounts, managing year end audit and providing support in the annual budget cycle.

Responsibilities
As the Senior Financial Accountant, you will be responsible for:

• Supporting the Financial Accounting Manager in delivering all accounting obligations for the Institute, whilst supporting internal stakeholders
• Managing month end and year end process
• Provide business partnering support to professional services departments
• Managing monthly journal entries and balance sheet reconciliations
• Providing technical accounting advice and support for key accounting matters across the Group
• Ensuring all accounting policies, procedures and relevant statutory requirements are up to date and adhered to
• Coordinating the year end audit including liaising with the internal stakeholders and external auditors
• Preparing the annual financial statements and related disclosures for the Institute
• Identifying opportunities and drive change to improve financial systems and reporting within Finance

About You
You are a curious, experienced Senior Financial Accountant, perhaps with an interest in science and health. You love diving into technical accounting issues, developing pragmatic solutions, implementing process improvement and simplification opportunities and have excellent attention to detail balanced with a great sense of materiality. You are highly organised and enjoy utilising new technologies to drive engagement and efficiencies. You enjoy developing relationships, love helping teams to be effective and fun to be part of and have a great way of communicating accounting issues and outcomes to non-accountants in a simple but effective way.

Benefits

• Flexible working arrangements
• Salary $110,250 + up to 17% superannuation and very attractive salary packaging options.
• New state-of-the art offices, close to Queen Vic market
• Work in a highly capable and driven finance team in a highly collaborative, fun and busy environment, with lots of learning opportunities

Terms of Appointment
This position is an ongoing role in a full time capacity. Salary is Professional Services Employee Level 8 ($110,249 - 119,330). Up to 17% superannuation and very attractive salary packaging options are available.

General enquiries can be directed to Victoria Demafeliz - ***********@wehi.edu.au
A position description is available here.

How to Apply
Please apply by uploading your CV, cover letter and a document addressing the key selection criteria in pdf format.

Application Closing Date: 2 April 2024

WEHI - Brighter together

WEHI is where the world's brightest minds collaborate and innovate to make discoveries that will help us to live healthier for longer. Our medical researchers have been serving the community for more than 100 years. We bring together people with different skills and experience who are committed to long-term discovery. Our teams of researchers are committed to solving the most complex health problems, making transformative discoveries for cancer, infectious and immune diseases, developmental disorders and healthy ageing.

WEHI is a place where people are able to shine. People who are inquisitive, who are committed, who are passionate. People who want to make a difference. And we are committed to ensuring they have the tools to flourish, personally and professionally. We are a community of researchers, students and professional service staff who work towards achieving discoveries that improve human health. We are driven by collaboration, curiosity and creativity. We are committed to making a positive difference to the lives of people in Australia and around the world. We are WEHI. We are brighter together.

WEHI's commitment to diversity and inclusion

At WEHI we strive to foster a flexible working environment that encourages individual differences and promotes collaboration and creativity. We recognise that talent does not sit within a single identifiable group in our society and that WEHI's ability to shape contemporary scientific thinking and deliver leading professional services relies on a diversity of thought within our organisation. Our action to promote gender equality has been recognised with an Athena SWAN Bronze Award from Science in Australia Gender Equity (SAGE) and we offer a range of support for women researchers.

Our commitment to celebrating diversity and addressing inequities is further demonstrated through our Diversity and Inclusion Strategy, Gender Action Plan, Reconciliation Action Plan and our WE-Pride network for LGBTQIA+ staff and students. We actively encourage applications from, people with a disability, culturally, religiously and linguistically diverse people and people with diverse genders and sexualities. Should you require support during the recruitment process due to special needs or consideration, please contact the People and Culture team.

WEHI's commitment to Indigenous employment

WEHI is working to create a future where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples will be engaged at the scientific frontier, making exciting discoveries and decisions about the future of health in this country, and part of a leading professional services workforce supporting the realisation of these discoveries. We are committed to creating a culturally safe workplace and offering career development and leadership opportunities to First Nations staff and students. We strongly encourage any Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to apply.