Finance Assistant

Role Purpose

To ensure the organisation runs professionally and smoothly through maintaining its financial and accounting control functions in line with policies and requirements, and that financial information for internal and external use is available and accurate.

Role Overview

This role will be located at Salford Students’ Union. Working arrangements are hybrid. The majority of the day will be spent working on systems, and will also be a key point of contact for non-finance colleagues. The team are supported by a shared finance leadership structure operating across three Students’ Unions in Manchester. The key systems are Soldo (expenses), Approval Max (purchase orders), Square (EPOS) and Xero (accounting). The team are also working on a review of systems and may be making system changes in the coming months. There will be an opportunity in the coming months to gain experience of system and process development.

Main Responsibilities and Activities

• Accounts Payable/Receivable:
  • Processing invoices, matching purchase orders, reconciling central billing statements and following up on payments.
  • Ensuring credit notes have been authorised and properly coded (including VAT), following the process from purchase right through to payment.
  • Sales ledger and commercial services support, including raising sales invoices, debt chasing and reconciliation of the daily sales postings between the EPOS system and accounting software.
• Expenses: Managing and processing student group & employee expense claims.
• Payroll: Preparing monthly payroll information for submission to the external payroll provider, including collating casual staff time sheets and all starter and leaver information.
• Month end processes: ensuring all ledgers are closed in line with the month end timetable, contributing to month processes such as expenditure accruals.
• Balance sheet: Reconciling key control accounts including bank accounts, sales postings, credit cards, Soldo card transactions and supplier statements monthly.
• Treasury management: Bank liaison (including updating mandates, signatory details, etc), bank reconciliations, posting of bank receipts and payments.
• Audit: Responding to audit sampling transactional related requests for information.
• Systems: Ownership of key finance system processes and contributing to the development of new finance processes.
• Other finance duties: other finance duties commensurate with the level of the role.
• Liaison with managers and staff members regarding spend against budgets, and payroll enquiries.
• Liaison with finance team members regarding process improvements and new requirements.
• Working with the Student Opportunities team to ensure a high quality finance service is offered to student groups Develop and maintain relationships with colleagues throughout the Union, University and other external partners.

Person Specification

Knowledge and Experience

• Experience of working with finance and connected systems such as EPOS and expenses.
• Either AAT or qualified by experience in a transactional finance role.
• Previous experience of working in a transactional finance role supporting activities such as:
  • Purchase ledger
  • Sales ledger
  • Expenses
  • Balance sheet reconciliations

Skills and Abilities

• Attention to detail: accuracy in data input, ensuring correct accounting treatment for all financial transactions.
• Communication: the ability to communicate key finance processes to non-finance colleagues and offer a great finance service to colleagues and students.
• Organised: ability to manage own time effectively ensuring all key financial deadlines are met.
• Managing queries: ability to investigate and resolve queries from non-finance colleagues as they relate to the scope of the role.
• System focused: adapts easily to new systems and is able to troubleshoot system challenges and issues.

Values and Behaviours

• A demonstrable commitment to Salford SU’s values, mission and purpose.
• A strong commitment to championing equality, diversity and inclusion.
• Comfortable working in a democratic, student-led environment and being an enthusiastic advocate for student voice and representation.