Published: Mar 10, 2025 - The Finance Assistant ensures accurate processing, coding, and matching of invoices as per group policies. Liaises with suppliers and internal teams to resolve queries and maintain compliance with statutory requirements. Supports month-end financial activities, including reconciliations and payment approvals, ensuring efficiency and confidentiality in all transactions.

A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for Finance Assistant
1. Finance Assistant Duties
- Data Accuracy: Accurate processing, coding, and matching of invoices in accordance with group policies
- Supplier Communication: Liaising with suppliers to resolve invoicing queries in a professional manner, on a timely basis, and to comply with statutory requirements
- Interdepartmental Coordination: Liaising with procurement, commercial teams, and sales to resolve issues
- Compliance Verification: Ensuring all invoices have the appropriate approvals to be passed for payment
- Invoice Management: Coding and processing of invoices onto coins and assisting in the payment run for purchase ledger/subcontractor ledger
- Reconciliation Support: Providing assistance in the reconciliation of the supplier statements on a monthly basis
- Payment Processing: Providing assistance in the processing of the month-end subcontractor payments, ensuring all CIS and insurance details are correct and updated accordingly
- Account Setup: Opening new supplier accounts in accordance with Persimmon Plc internal control documentation
- Document Handling: Invoice scanning, journal inputting, and general coins management
- Reporting: Completion of monthly/quarterly office of national statistics
- Archive Management: Responsible for the Finance Department archives
- Journal Management: Booking daily journal entries, filing, uploading, and invoicing
- Confidentiality Maintenance: Respects and maintains confidentiality
- Compliance and Safety: Works in a safe, compliant, and ethical manner at all times
- Payment Distribution: Requesting and distributing checks to vendors
- Procurement Assistance: Preparing and gaining approval for POs
2. Finance Assistant Details
- Payment Processing: Release of payment of consultants, services, assets.
- Scheduling: Compile training schedule on a monthly basis.
- Accounting: Capturing and reconciliation of invoices and journal.
- Cost Allocation: Journals for allocation of costs for the different services offered by SGT.
- Verification: Verify receipt of goods, manage open PO.
- Investigation Support: Assisting with investigations of long outstanding POs to verify validity and accuracy.
- Billing Validation: Validate billing and ensure billing is issued timeously to debtors.
- Billing Audit: Ensure completeness of billing and provide reason for variance of debtor’s recon on a monthly basis.
- Payment Follow-Up: Follow up on long outstanding payments till completion.
- Customer Service: Attend to debtor queries within agreed SLA.
- Review Accuracy: Review debtors statement for validity, accuracy, and completeness before they are sent out.
- Expense Support: Support the expense management team.
- Expense Allocation: Ensuring information needed to allocate expense for the respective services is received on time and journaled to the correct cost centres.
- Query Handling: Handling ad hoc payment queries or requests directly from vendors and clients.
- Query Management: Logging and following up on queries, resolving or escalating to Technology Solutions within SLA target of 2 days.
- Email Monitoring: Monitor the payments email box and deal with any queries on a daily basis.
3. Finance Assistant Responsibilities
- Financial Oversight: Contribute to the overall efficient operation of the Finance department and help the company be fully aware of its financial condition.
- Leadership Support: Supporting the Financial Controller, this position will develop and grow the UK finance into an effective, highly reputable function.
- Collaborative Change: Working closely with colleagues in the European headquarters in Germany and the outsourced partners, help drive change and align policies so that the UK team and business can thrive in the largest market.
- Invoice Processing: Process supplier invoices and update accounts payable.
- Bank Reconciliation: Process entries from bank statements and complete bank reconciliations.
- Receivables Management: Update accounts receivable and assist with process management.
- Financial Reporting: Assist in the processing of balance sheets, income statements, and other financial statements according to legal, company accounting, and financial guidelines.
- Cash Flow Management: Cash flow management including assisting with forecasting cash requirements.
- Audit Preparation: Assist in the preparation of monthly/yearly closings and the annual audit.
- Reporting: Produce accurate Daily/Weekly/Monthly Reports for various people within the business at all levels.
- Stock Auditing: Produce accurate Stock Audit balances.
- Audit Analysis: Identification of audit result anomalies and resolve them through further investigation.
- Data Analysis: Data collection from outsourced contractors and internal systems to produce stock audit balances – using a variety of systems at once.
- Communication: Regular communications with field teams, store teams, buying, across the business at all levels.
- Reporting Support: Supporting with ad-hoc reporting.
4. Finance Assistant Accountabilities
- Analytical skills: Prepare, examine, and analyze accounting records, financial statements, and other financial reports to assess accuracy, completeness, and conformance to reporting and procedural standards.
- Management skills: Manage timely monthly closing process and reconciliations.
- Reporting skills: Handle financial, management reporting functions and monthly closing.
- Analytical skills: Prepare financial reports, monthly audit schedules, and variance analysis compared to budget, forecast, previous month, and previous year.
- Planning skills: Prepare forecast and yearly budget for review.
- Administrative skills: Perform general administrative duties including documentation, filing, billing, collections, and payments, etc.
- Billing skills: Prepare bills and invoices for customers.
- Payment processing skills: Prepare payment vouchers and vendor cheques.
- Verification skills: Validate and process local/overseas expense claims.
- Compliance skills: Prepare and submit quarterly GST returns.
- Financial management skills: Prepare weekly cashbook and cash flow projections.
- Support skills: Provide financial accounting support and analyses to business units.
- Review skills: Review and implement accounting and financial procedures and policies to ensure compliance with accounting standards and financial policies.
- Processing skills: Set up Direct Debits and process notifications and collections.
- Customer service skills: Answer telephone queries and take card payments.
- Accounts payable skills: Involve in accounts payable.
5. Finance Assistant Functions
- Ledger Management: Purchase Ledger Management - Input all invoices & payments, process payments, and remittance advice to suppliers, allocate payments.
- Supplier Management: Deal with supplier queries and follow up on invoices internally and maintain all purchase records and scanning them.
- Record Keeping: Maintain records of all purchases, sales, and inter-company transactions and monthly reconciliation of all bank accounts.
- Inter-company Accounting: Manage inter-company transactions including issuing invoices to internal companies, processing payments to and recording receipts from other Kumon companies, maintaining a summary of all inter-company transactions, recording transactions and maintaining spreadsheets.
- Expense Processing: Process credit card and personal expense claims including verifying receipts, extracting data, and inputting into accounting systems.
- Credit Management: Process customer charges and credits, manage credit control, and aged debtor management.
- Reconciliation: Take ownership of balance sheet reconciliations for all areas of responsibility.
- Administrative Support: Carry out all other duties as directed by the senior Finance team and/or label management.
- VAT Management: Prepare and Reconcile VAT Return for submission.
- Credit Control: Look after the credit control function.
- System Implementation: Assist FD in the implementation of new systems and procedures.
- Account Preparation: Assist in preparing statutory accounts.
- KPI Development: Assist with the development of KPIs including sales reporting.
- Compliance Reporting: Control stock and compliance reporting to HMRC.
6. Finance Assistant Job Description
Accounts Payable Management: Manage the accounts payable process – monitoring courier invoice posting on accounting software.
Financial Reconciliation: Financial reconciliation process: Interacting with suppliers, checking invoices for accuracy, and reconciliation of supplier statements.
Transaction Administration: Administration of platform transactions including account top-up, requests for account redemptions or refunds, and oversight of payment disputes.
Client Onboarding: Liaise with the Sales and Customer Success teams in the on-boarding and off-boarding of clients regarding financial issues.
Operational Support: Provide operational support to other functions including Finance, Business Development, Operations, and Tech.
Process Automation: Work with the Head of Finance to automate existing processes and design/improve new financial operations.
Data Analysis: Work with existing reports, tools, and Excel dashboards.
Reporting: Prepare various reports for the commercial sales team, e.g., monthly sales journal, sales memo.
Account Management: Be responsible for the preparation of monthly management accounts.
Invoice Processing: Process invoices, payments, and month-end close for Sales Ledger / Purchase Ledger.
Reconciliation: Complete periodic reconciliations on all control accounts.
Financial Analysis: Bank accounts, cash accounts, and analysis of all revenue items and reconciliation to ledgers.
7. Finance Assistant Overview
- Analytical Skills: Works on tasks that require analytical analysis, the ability to define and report on processes, work independently with confidential information, and the ability to organize and prioritize work.
- Communication: Communicate with internal and external stakeholders and be expected to exercise sound judgment when communicating with these groups.
- Budget Management: Works with the Coordinator, Research Grants to update and report on budgets and make recommendations to ensure sustainability.
- Expense Monitoring: Monitors expenses such as, but not limited to, ordering/procurement, accounts payable, and payroll entries in the general ledger to ensure accuracy.
- Tool Development: Develop the appropriate tools and templates to best facilitate work by using a combination of spreadsheets, word processing, and database software.
- Stakeholder Communication: Communicates with the PHSA procurement group, PHSA research accounting group, and research personnel on any matters pertaining to accounting, budgeting, and finance.
- External Communication: Communicate with external contacts such as scientific vendors/manufacturers, UBC, and VCH financial departments and non-PHSA/BCCA research personnel.
- Budget Oversight: Monitor budgets, provides input into the development of budgets, and on enhancing efficiency for specified grants and projects.
- Financial Reporting: Summarizes monthly and quarterly financial data into reports and provides discussion on variances and discrepancies.
- Invoice Management: Receives invoices, matches documents, and allocates invoices to grants/funds by assigning codes for payment.
- Database Development: Develops and maintains a database pertaining to procurement, accounts payable, and other transactions.
- Grant Database Management: Develops and maintains a database of grant applications and related publications.
- Training: Demonstrates work methods to new, junior, and coop student staff.
8. Finance Assistant Details and Accountabilities
- Attention to Detail: Work with accuracy and attention to detail, and who pride themselves on delivering the highest standards of customer service.
- Finance Support: Support key functions of the finance department, ensuring SLA’s and month-end deadlines are met.
- Administrative Assistance: Assist with the administration of sales ledger, purchase ledger, bank reconciliation, and staff travel and expenses.
- Expense Management: Administer and maintain staff travel and expense cards.
- Fund Management: Process monthly fund upload to staff travel and expense cards and any ad-hoc requests.
- Invoice Processing: Timely and accurate processing of client invoices, including proformas and credit notes.
- Supplier Invoicing: Timely and accurate processing of supplier invoices, credit notes, including the matching of supplier invoices with purchase orders.
- Reconciliation: Complete daily reconciliation of the ledger and investigate any anomalies.
- Client Management: Set-up, amendment, and closure of client’s details on accounting package upon receiving confirmation from the implementation department.
- Regulatory Compliance: Preparation and submission of twice-yearly Duty to Report to HMRC.
- Bank Reconciliation: Accurate daily reconciliation of domestic and foreign bank accounts into accounting package.
- Month-End Closure: Complete month-end close process including foreign account revaluation.
- Transaction Reconciliation: Complete monthly reconciliation of transactions ensuring all transactions are accounted for.
9. Finance Assistant Tasks
- Accounting Support: Assist the Management Accountant.
- Revenue Management: Provide support to the IMG management accounts team, including revenue accounting and applying revenue recognition rules.
- Contract Review: Review new contracts and assist with the monthly booking and reconciliation of revenue.
- Compliance Management: Ensure the department complies with specified controls for Sarbanes-Oxley purposes.
- Revenue Control: Control of unbilled revenue accounts.
- Account Reconciliation: Assist with the monthly reconciliation of control accounts.
- Revenue Analysis: Review and follow up unbilled balances by project, liaise with sales teams, and report to the finance management team.
- Balance Sheet Management: Perform balance sheet reconciliations including ensuring accruals & prepayments are correctly accounted for.
- Financial Forecasting: Assist in preparing monthly flash forecast, variance analysis, and annual budget.
- Time Management: Post timesheets and ensure business units complete these in a timely manner.
- Audit Liaison: Liaise with internal and external auditors.
- Document Management: File/Scan all invoices and paperwork to ensure appropriate records are kept.
- Communication Handling: Handle all post/emails related to invoices and any other associated duties.
- Payment Verification: Check subcontractor payments prior to release for payment.
- Tax Compliance: Check that VAT/CIS are correctly processed.
10. Finance Assistant Roles
- Payment Reconciliation: Reconciling all online payments received.
- Document Management: Printing all invoices from the Finance email account and supplier invoices from portals.
- Invoice Approval: Reconciling and approving all supplier invoices before inputting into the finance system.
- Invoice Tracking: Chasing any missing supplier invoices.
- PO Management: Maintaining Purchase Order Process.
- PO Reconciliation: Reconciling POs to invoices and supplier statements.
- Sales Invoicing: Inputting sales invoices to finance system.
- Income Management: Updating deferred income schedule.
- Payment Processing: Creating supplier payments and emailing supplier remittances.
- Bank Transactions: Entering bank receipts and payments into the finance system.
- Expense Verification: Checking and inputting staff expenses.
- Cash Management: Processing cash back transfer requests.
- Direct Debit Management: Assisting with the processing and maintaining of Direct Debits monthly.
- Bank Reconciliation: Assisting with all bank reconciliations.