Financial Controller

Company Overview

Project Safe Ltd was founded by experienced infrastructure professionals who identified a gap in early-stage engagement of MEPFC stakeholders within major projects. Specialising in the rail sector, we provide consultancy and managing agent services to Tier 1 contractors and operators. Our reputation has been built on successfully turning around failing projects and ensuring smooth project integration, assurance, and handover.

Role Overview

The Accounts Manager will take day-to-day ownership of the company''s finance function. It is a hands-on role covering the full transactional and reporting cycle: purchase orders and cost coding, purchase and sales ledger, payroll and CIS, VAT, credit control and the monthly management accounts. Project Safe works almost entirely under NEC contracts in rail and construction, so the successful candidate will understand how cost is incurred on site, how it is recorded against a project, and how it is recovered through the application and payment cycle.

Financial cost control and record keeping are built on Coreloops, which the business uses for projects, cost codes, change and timesheets, with Xero as the accounting system of record. Confident daily use of both is central to the role. The post is supported by the company''s external accountants, who provide technical review, cover and year-end compliance.

Key Responsibilities

Cost Control and Project Records

Raise purchase orders and ensure every order is coded to the correct project and cost code before it is issued.

Reconcile purchase invoices against orders and delivery notes for plant, materials, hire and sundries, and resolve every mismatch.

Process timesheets, checking hours against the approved allowance, rate and shift pattern for each person and project, and resolve the queries raised at the first check.

Flag and pursue discrepancies between timesheet input, approved allowances and supplier invoices.

Maintain cost codes and project set-up so that any cost can be traced from the shift or delivery that created it through to payment.

Purchase Ledger and Supplier Management

Set up suppliers and subcontractors, verifying bank details before first payment and whenever those details change.

Process and code purchase invoices received through the accounts inbox.

Prepare the weekly payment run and present it on the payment call with the directors, supported by a schedule showing supplier, amount, due date and project.

Reconcile supplier statements and manage queries, disputes, retentions and contra charges.

Sales Ledger and Credit Control

Raise sales invoices against certified values and each contract''s agreed payment terms.

Maintain the record of application date, assessment date, certified value and payment due date for every contract.

Produce weekly aged debt reporting and chase overdue accounts through to payment, escalating where necessary.

Track client retentions, including release dates and the action needed to recover them.

Payroll, CIS and Subcontractors

Prepare the monthly payroll for salaried staff, hourly paid staff and directors, including starters, leavers, tax code changes and statutory payments.

Issue the payroll summary for director approval, then submit RTI to HMRC on or before each pay date.

Administer the workplace pension, including assessment, enrolment, opt-outs and contribution uploads.

Verify subcontractors with HMRC, calculate CIS deductions, submit the monthly CIS300 return and issue deduction statements.

Maintain status determination records for off-payroll engagements, including those routed through client assignment schedules.

VAT and Compliance

Prepare quarterly VAT returns under Making Tax Digital from digitally linked records.

Apply the domestic reverse charge for building and construction services correctly across both sales and purchases.

Reconcile the VAT control account each quarter and prepare the payment or repayment schedule.

Maintain the books and records of the company''s Irish entity, including euro transactions and intercompany balances, and liaise with its accountants on Irish compliance.

Keep financial records complete and retained in line with company policy and statutory requirements.

Management Reporting and Cash

Run the month-end close and issue the management pack within ten working days of month end.

Prepare the profit and loss account, balance sheet and cash flow, with project profitability and aged debtor and creditor analysis.

Maintain and update a rolling thirteen-week cash flow forecast.

Reconcile all bank, card and finance accounts weekly, keeping bank feeds live.

Present the numbers to the directors at the monthly review and explain what they mean for the business.

Systems and Controls

Administer Xero and connected applications, including bank feeds, invoice scanning and the accounts inbox.

Maintain the reconciliation between Coreloops and the accounting system.

Maintain approval workflows so that no payment is released without documented director approval.

Document the procedure for each recurring task so the function can be covered in absence.

Challenge processes that only exist through habit and propose better ones. We would rather have a finance function that improves than one that simply keeps up.

Use AI and Microsoft Copilot in day-to-day work to reduce manual effort, and automate recurring tasks where it is safe and sensible to do so.

Required Skills and Experience

• Part-qualified ACCA or CIMA, with demonstrable study progress and the intention to complete.
• Proven experience running a transactional finance function end to end, covering purchase ledger, sales ledger, banking, payroll and VAT.
• Practical CIS experience, including subcontractor verification, deduction calculation and the monthly return.
• Confident use of a cloud accounting system, preferably Xero, alongside an operational cost control or project system.
• Strong purchase order and cost coding discipline, with the confidence to challenge a mis-coded or unsupported cost.
• Experience reconciling invoices, orders and delivery notes for plant, materials and hire.
• Accurate month-end close and management accounts preparation to a fixed timetable.
• Credit control experience, with the persistence to recover cash without damaging a client relationship.
• Clear communication: much of this role is explaining numbers to people who do not work in finance.
• A forward attitude to AI and automation, with the curiosity to test new tools and the judgement to know where they belong in a finance function and where they do not.

Desirable

• Experience of NEC3 or NEC4 contracts and the application, assessment and payment notice cycle.
• A background in construction, rail or another safety-critical supply chain.
• Familiarity with the domestic reverse charge for building and construction services.
• Experience of off-payroll working rules and status determination.
• Exposure to multi-entity or multi-currency accounting, particularly a UK and Ireland structure.
• Experience of a finance transition, system implementation or provider handover.

Benefits

• Competitive salary, dependent on experience.
• Study support towards completion of ACCA or CIMA.
• Opportunities for career progression in a growing organisation.
• Flexible working arrangements.

This is an opportunity to own a finance function rather than a corner of someone else''s. If you have the experience to run it and the appetite to improve it, we encourage you