Finance Assistant, Accounts Payable (Apprentice)

The purpose of the Finance Assistant, Accounts Payable role is to perform duties related to the payment of company costs – specifically to suppliers, expenses to employees and tax obligations.

Responsibilities

Initial Responsibilities

• Processing supplier invoices – receiving supplier invoices, usually pdf. by email – entering all details accurately into accounts software and uploading pdf. invoice copies.
• Internal approval liaison – employee/approvers must approve invoices before they can be paid, liaison reminds approvers and keeps track of approvals.
• Supplier statement reconciliation – compare supplier statements with accounts software statement for discrepancies, e.g. missing invoices and payments.
• Reconciling supplier payments – matching supplier payments to open supplier invoices in accounts software.
• Supplier point of contact – communicating with suppliers with regards to invoices and payments, managing their expectations.

Intermediate Responsibilities

• As above, plus processing employee expenses – matching receipts to expense claims and finding discrepancies, flagging up with the employee to correct.
• Recognising and recording employee tax liabilities – e.g. employees must pay tax on expenses where they have lost the receipt or that are not standard expense costs.
• Inputting supplier bank transactions into accounts software.
• Reconciling company credit card account and inputting card transactions into accounts software.
• Setting up new supplier accounts.

End Responsibilities

• As above, plus preparing twice monthly payment run lists- collating all open invoices and preparing a list of suppliers to pay based on due date, need, reliability, etc.
• Preparing and submitting payment runs through accounts software and online banking.
• Recoding multi-part invoices- e.g. mobile phone or medical bills split across employees.
• Reconciling company spendesk card account and inputting card transactions into accounts software.
• Accrual of expected accounts payable costs.
• Assisting auditors with accounts payable requests.

Skills

Essential skills required for the role:

• Numeracy & literacy – finance is a mathematical role requiring understanding of numbers, currency, costs, % etc.
• Computer literacy – will be dealing with accounts software, online banking applications, Outlook/e-mail correspondence, etc.
• Excel proficiency – many processes require data analysis and spreadsheet manipulation.
• Self-organisation & self-motivation – you will, after sufficient training, be able to self-organise when and how your responsibilities are fulfilled, e.g. choosing when and how to process invoices.

Qualifications

Previous experience where the below standard methods and techniques was applied would be an advantage:

• GCSE’s minimum of 5 including Maths & English at Grade 5 or above and either:
• A Level in a related subject at C grade or above
• Or BTEC in Business and/or Finance at Merit or above

Work Experience

• Experience in similar business finance roles is beneficial but not mandatory.