Finance Director & Company Secretary

RM Recruit are supporting the British Horse Society with the recruitment of their Director of Finance and Company Secretary vacancy.

The British Horse Society is the nation’s largest equestrian charity with more than 150,000 members. With a passion for horses that is backed by knowledge and expertise, The Society makes a positive impact on the lives of thousands of horses and all those that love horses. With wide-ranging campaigns across all its charitable objectives, the Society is dedicated to improving equine knowledge, providing horse care and welfare, increasing safe off and on road access, improving equestrian safety and growing participation.

The Society are currently undergoing a period of significant growth and business transformation. With this ambitious change process in mind, they require a Director of Finance & Company Secretary who can build and improve on our established and high-functioning finance team, providing financial and governance focused direction across our organisation. These exciting projects include the acquisition and deployment of the Dynamics 365 platform, customer insight and brand development work to support revenue growth and a cultural change across The Society.

Reporting directly to a dedicated and passionate Chief Executive Officer, and playing a key role within the leadership team, the Director of Finance & Company Secretary role represents an excellent opportunity to create and deliver long term financial strategies that supports the services and causes championed by the Society. They are seeking a collaborative, confident, dynamic and engaging individual who can ensure all statutory requirements are met alongside the continual development of controls to safeguard the Society’s assets.

The Director of Finance will be a first-class communicator who can work in collaboration with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders. You will be a strong advocate for a finance team that offers a best-in-class delivery of customer focused financial services. You must enjoy hands-on management and oversee the Head of Finance and the Finance team, ensuring that they continue to provide robust financial governance and control. This will all be conjunction with growing their knowledge and capacity with the Dynamic 365 platform to meet the ever-evolving needs and strategy of the Society. The post holder will also safeguard the financial integrity of the Society, its governance, and ensure it is fully compliant with all statutory requirements. This purpose extends to the Society’s subsidiaries.

This rewarding and varied role will see you will have full participation in the formulation and presentation of the Society’s strategic and operational plans and work closely with the CEO and Board of Trustees to make the British Horse Society the best it can be.

The Society's Head Office is based near Stoneleigh in Warwickshire. Hybrid working is in place with 2-3 days per week required onsite.

Essential Criteria

• Fully Qualified Accountant
• Proven experience at a senior level in a finance role with responsibility across the whole finance function.
• Experience at a senior level as Company Secretary or equivalent
• Experienced in delivering finance system and/or ERP transformation
• Strong leadership skills and the ability to develop team members to their full potential.
• Demonstrated aptitude for strategic thinking, planning and analysis.
• Excellent financial planning, annual budgeting and forecasting skills

Desirable Criteria

• Charity sector experience particularly the nature of unrestricted, designated and restricted funds, VAT Partial Exemption, Gift Aid and the Charity SORP
• An understanding of education and qualification regulation and compliance
• Experience of Microsoft Dynamics Business Central

If you have the skills and experience to succeed in this role, we very much look forward to hearing from you. Please submit your CV, with a cover letter describing why you would be the best person to secure this role.

The British Horse Society is committed to achieving equity for all current and prospective employees and does not condone discrimination on the basis of age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, race or ethnicity, religion or belief, gender identity, or marriage and civil partnership. We aspire to have a diverse workforce because, in our view, diversity enables better organisational outcomes. We also believe that a more inclusive workplace, where people of different backgrounds work together, ensures better outcomes for all employees. We therefore strongly encourage suitably experienced people from a wide range of backgrounds to apply.

Here at the BHS, we want you to have every opportunity to be able to demonstrate your skills, ability and potential when applying for any of our roles here. Please contact us if you require any assistance or adjustments so that we can help with making the application process work for you.