Gníomhach

Leibhéil Eile Oideachais

Máirt Iúil 21 2026

Aoine Lún 7 2026

Buan

1

Financial Controller

Financial Controller with Mount Anville Sacred Heart Education Trust [MASHET]

Mount Anville Montessori, Junior School and Secondary School are located on the Schools’ Campus, Mount Anville Road, Dublin 14. The Schools are regarded as one of Ireland’s leading girls’ schools, with a proud history dating back to 1853. The Secondary School is a Catholic Voluntary School, the Montessori Junior School is a Catholic Private Junior School. Both schools are under the patronage and trusteeship of the Mount Anville Sacred Heart Education Trust, continuing the rich educational tradition of the Society of the Sacred Heart.
Guided by the motto In Te Confido and the values of faith, respect, compassion and excellence, Mount Anville is committed to nurturing confident, capable and socially responsible young women who are prepared to make a positive contribution to society.
At the heart of Mount Anville is a vibrant and inclusive learning community where academic achievement, personal growth and student wellbeing are equally valued. The schools are renowned for their high standards of teaching and learning, strong pastoral care structures, and extensive opportunities across sport, the arts, leadership and service. Staff are passionate about creating an environment in which every student can flourish, while collaboration, innovation and professional excellence are encouraged and supported throughout the school community.

The Role
Reports to Chief Executive, MASHET
Is Located in Dublin 14
Term: Full Time
Its focus is to lead, manage and safeguard high-quality financial stewardship with MASHET and across the two Mount Anville Schools by delivering robust governance, consistent management reporting, and strong financial controls. The Financial Controller will provide timely insight and challenge to Principals and Boards of Management, Finance Committees and the Trust, strengthen value-for-money and compliance (including audit readiness), and support sustainable planning for operating and capital needs—ensuring financial decisions align with the organisation’s ethos, statutory obligations, campus development plan and long-term viability.
Key Accountabilities
1. Financial Oversight & Compliance
• Develop and maintain a group-wide financial control framework ensuring alignment with Department of Education requirements, Charities Regulator standards, and audit best practice.
• Oversee preparation of statutory financial statements following SORP and coordination of external audits.
• Ensure adherence to procurement, internal control, tendering, and expenditure policies.
• Support the Patron’s annual and multi-year financial planning and projections and submission to oversight bodies.
• Review, enhance and embed a “minimum controls standard” across all schools (segregation of duties, approvals, delegated authorities, month-end close discipline, audit trail requirements).
• Own the Patron-level finance policies suite (procurement, expenses, credit cards, petty cash, fee collection, reserves, investments if applicable).
• Implement a rolling internal control testing plan (light-touch internal audit approach) and track remediation actions to closure.
• Own the end-to-end fees/income assurance process: billing calendar, reconciliations, arrears visibility, hardship/discount governance, bad-debt policy.
• Strengthen compliance and reporting (claims, evidence packs, deadlines, audit readiness).

2. Management Accounting & Reporting
• Develop and maintain a comprehensive management accounting framework for MASHET and across both schools — providing regular, relevant, and actionable financial insights to Boards and Principals.
• Produce monthly and quarterly management accounts for each school, consolidating results into Patron-level summaries and variance analyses.
• Prepare and interpret budget vs. actual performance reports, identifying emerging financial risks or opportunities.
• Develop key performance indicators (KPIs) for cost management, income diversification, and operational efficiency.
• Provide financial commentary and recommendations to inform decision-making by the Patron and schools’ leadership.
• Support strategic planning and forecasting processes through scenario modelling, cashflow projections, and multi-year planning.
• Lead on the implementation of standardised financial reporting templates and tools (e.g. dashboards, consolidated management packs).

3. Payroll and pensions oversight
• Oversee payroll governance (even if processed externally): controls, reconciliations, exceptions, approvals, and reporting to Boards.
• Ensure compliance for pensions and statutory deductions, and support future changes (e.g., auto-enrolment impacts) through scenario modelling and communication packs.

4. HR & IT Services Management
• Provide governance oversight of outsourced/third-party HR services (where applicable), ensuring delivery aligns to organisational priorities, policies, statutory obligations, and required service standards.
• Monitor HR service performance and risk, including responsiveness, quality of advice, case handling, documentation accuracy, and follow-through on agreed actions; escalate issues and drive resolution.
• Support workforce reporting and compliance, ensuring timely provision of core HR metrics (e.g., headcount, turnover, absence), maintenance of appropriate HR records, and adherence to GDPR and data retention requirements.
• Oversee HR-related spend and contracts (e.g., outsourced HR provider, HR systems, occupational health/EAP), ensuring value for money, transparent renewals, and procurement compliance.
• Coordinate HR process improvement, working with school leaders to standardise core processes (recruitment administration, onboarding/offboarding, absence management administration, training records, policy updates) and improve user experience.
• Provide governance oversight of outsourced IT services, ensuring alignment to organisational priorities.
• Monitor performance, risk, and cyber assurance; escalate and drive resolution of service issues.
• Oversee IT spend, renewals and procurement to ensure value for money and compliance.
• Ensure continuity, resilience and integrity of core systems and data.
• Agree and oversee delivery of a pragmatic IT improvement roadmap and stakeholder engagement.

5. Advisory & Support to Schools
• Provide guidance and templates for budgeting, procurement, payroll, and finance policy implementation.
• Support Principals and school administrators in managing financial queries, grant compliance, and reporting obligations.
• Deliver training to school staff and Boards on financial governance and reporting expectations.
• Take personal responsibility for own professional development and keep up to date with evidence-based practice and research
• Attend and participate in relevant staff development programmes on an ongoing basis and sharing knowledge with other staff members
• Assist in the training of colleagues where required
• Attend all mandatory training days and ensure that all mandatary training is in date

6. Strategic Finance & Risk
• Lead financial forecasting, capital planning, and scenario modelling for the Patron.
• Identify and assess financial risks across schools (e.g., liquidity, compliance, insurance exposure) and recommend mitigations.
• Maintain a finance risk register and present a quarterly “top risks and mitigations” view to the Patron Board.
• Contribute to business cases for capital projects, leases, and major operational investments.
• Establish group procurement or preferred supplier frameworks to achieve efficiencies.
• Provide quarterly finance dashboards to the Patron Board summarising each school’s financial status and emerging risks.
• Support the development of Board Finance Committees, ensuring compliance with the Education Act’s accountability principles.
• Define and implement a service level agreement between the finance function and each school: what’s centralised vs local, response times, responsibilities, escalation.
• Build a standard monthly Board pack template (P&L, balance sheet where relevant, cash, KPIs, risks, narrative commentary, actions required).
• Introduce benchmarking (cost per pupil, staff cost ratios, catering/transport/estates cost drivers).
• Ensure fundraising/donations accounting is compliant and transparent (restricted vs unrestricted funds, reporting packs).

7. People Leadership & Organisational Development
• Provide leadership, direction and support to direct reports and broader team, fostering clarity, accountability and strong management practice.
• Build a positive, high-performing management culture focused on teamwork, responsiveness, professionalism and stakeholder-centred service delivery.
• Work closely with the CEO on workforce planning, service redesign, management capability and organisational change initiatives.
• Support leaders in addressing operational performance issues, service inefficiencies and cross-functional challenges constructively and effectively.
• Promote staff engagement and visible leadership through regular communication, collaboration and participation in management forums.
• Help embed the new organisational structure and communication cascade during the implementation and stabilisation period.

8. Optimisation of Services & Engagement
• Drive continuous improvement programmes to enhance efficiency, reduce waste, and improve stakeholder experience across departments.
• Use data to identify and optimise opportunities and services and propose improvement strategies.
• Lead Lean Six Sigma or similar initiatives to streamline workflows, reduce variation and optimise resource use.
• Support function reviews and technology-enabled transformation projects.
• Build dashboards and reporting tools to give stakeholders real-time visibility into performance and opportunities.
• Build strong relationships with stakeholders to co-design optimisation solutions.
• Translate requirements into capital, equipment, and business service proposals that are financially and operationally viable.
• Support change readiness assessments and adoption plans; surface risks, resistance points, and mitigation actions early.

The Candidate
We are looking for candidates who have the following:
Qualifications Required:
• Fully qualified accountant (ACA / ACCA / CIMA or equivalent), with membership in good standing.
• Evidence of continued professional development.
Essential Experience Requirements:
• 5+ years post-qualification experience with strong management. accounting and governance exposure.
• Demonstrated experience producing Board-level management packs.
• Strong track record in financial controls, audit coordination, and policy implementation.
• Experience of budgeting, forecasting, cashflow management, and multi-year planning.
• Proven ability to work with multiple stakeholders and non-finance leaders (Boards, Principals, senior leadership).
• Advanced Excel; strong financial modelling capability.
• Experience improving reporting through dashboards/BI tools (e.g., Power BI) and/or finance systems enhancement.
• Sound understanding of procurement governance and value-for-money disciplines.
• High judgement and integrity; comfortable providing constructive challenge.
• Clear communicator—able to translate finance into practical actions and decisions.
• Structured, deadline-driven, and able to manage multiple priorities across more than one entity.
• Strong stakeholder management and diplomacy (Boards, school leadership, administrators).
The Benefits:
• Salary between €85,000– €100,000 aligned to experience
• Bonus up to 10%
• Laptop/phone
• 25 days AL
• 8% Pension
• Professional fees + CPD
• Hybrid where feasible

The Team
We are passionate about creating an environment in which every student can flourish, while collaboration, innovation and professional excellence are encouraged and supported throughout the school community. We are a close-knit team, where you will experience our values are lived.

Applications to close on Friday the 7th of August. Any application submitted after this date will be rejected.

Mount Anville is an Equal Opportunities Employer.