Finance Officer - initial 12 month FTC
Salary: £33,500p.a. - £38,000p.a.
Hours: 35hrs Monday to Friday
The role is responsible for all invoicing and the successful recovery of fees. It is the main finance point of contact for parents concerning fees and staff regarding school trip finances. As part of a small team, the postholder will be expected to support, when required, other members of the department.
ACCOUNTABILITY
The Finance Officer is a new role and will report to the Head of Finance.
Main Duties:
- Assist the Head of Finance in the production of monthly management accounts and schedules for the annual statutory audit;
- Liaise with the statutory auditors to provide supporting information as required.
- Preparation, distribution and ongoing support of monthly budget reports for budget holders.
- Administration and maintenance of Billing Ledger, including posting of fees and extra charges, the preparation / production of fees invoices and recording appropriate changes to billing ledger account profiles. Reconciliation of pupil information to ensure the accuracy of the billing process.
- Issue termly bills and ensure payments are received on a timely basis.
- Provide the COO with weekly reports on outstanding fees and act as a lead in the collection of outstanding fees.
- Investigate and reply to parent queries on a timely basis.
- Primary point of liaison with School Fee Plan regarding new credit requests and other parent account queries.
- Prepare fees in advance calculations as requested and issue information to parents. Maintain the Fees in Advance register.
- Work in partnership with Admissions team, providing them with details of deposits and scholarship payments received.
- Maintain deposit spreadsheet and reconcile iSAMS and iFinance deposit figures.
- Reconciliation of balance sheet control accounts, including debtors and creditors ledgers, parental deposits, House charity collections and payroll / tax balances.
- Preparation of quarterly VAT returns in the event that VAT becomes chargeable on school fees.
- Maintain spreadsheets for bursaries, scholarships & other fee remissions and ensure all fee remission is appropriately captured on termly bills.
- Monthly reconciliation of investment income, card machine takings, and direct debit donation income.
- Maintain and update the Fixed Asset Register.
- Review and advise on the financial element of school trips.
- Manage the School's prepaid Caxton Card account. Ensure Trip Leaders have been issued with a Caxton card with sufficient funds for the trip. Upon return ensure the card is returned to finance and all receipts have been uploaded to the App or scanned.
- Update the trip income and expenditure spreadsheet monthly, including posting of income and expenditure from Evolve and Caxton, to enable accurate review of trip balances and where appropriate arrange for refunds to parents via billing
- Ensure compliance with anti-bribery and corruption legislation, money laundering regulations, and associated KYC and sanctions lists.
Qualifications and Knowledge:
- Qualified by experience or an accounting qualification (ACA.ACCA,CIMA,CIPFA or equivalent)
- High level knowledge and use of Microsoft Office, Management Information Systems
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
Skills Required:
- Excellent interpersonal skills.
- Team player, ability to collaborate with individuals and teams across all areas of the school
- Ability to develop and maintain relationships with both parents and staff
- Experience of working in a charity/school/not for profit accounting statutory function
- A high degree of personal integrity; trustworthy and reliable, being able to deal with confidential information on a routine basis in a totally discrete manner.