Finance Officer

Role Purpose

The Finance Officer – Purchase Ledger is responsible for accurate and timely production of all financials recordsrelating to, but not limited to, the purchase ledger.

• Reconciliation of bank accounts
• Monitoring monthly KPI’s and reconciling control accounts
• Day to day maintenance of the purchase ledger
• Driving new ideas and improvements to make purchase ledger processes more efficient
• Pursuing outstanding cash advances, expenses and supplier invoices from internal stakeholders, anddeveloping and maintaining the month end procedures

Key responsibilities and accountabilities

Goal: To ensure the accurate and complete processing of the financial records of the Fairtrade Foundation.

1. Effectively maintain the purchase ledger ensuring that supplier accounts are settled within payment terms and discrepancies are investigated and flagged to the Finance Manager as necessary.

1. Produce monthly aged creditors reports for Finance Manager commenting on accounts that have gone beyond the payment terms and/or have discrepancies ensuring issues arising are dealt with before then next report isdue.
2. Oversee and monitor the purchase ledger process and provide cover for Finance Assistant in processing purchase invoices and expenses onto, and subsequently off, the invoice register. Liaise with customers andresolve queries on invoices/payment requests.
3. Manage the foreign currency cash advances process as requested by staff. Ensure outstanding cash advance expenses and/ or cash returns are chased promptly, recorded accurately on a monthly basis.
4. Process non sterling staff expenses & credit card transactions in accordance with the expenses policy.
5. Process and reconcile other transaction streams, mainly e-shop transactions, into the finance system and the CRM (Salesforce).
6. Arrange weekly payment runs, including payroll monthly and any other ad hoc payments required, staff expenses, grants and suppliers ensuring all payments are immediately allocated in the finance system.
7. Annual audit preparation.
8. Review bank statements and prepare monthly bank reconciliations within the set target deadline, ensuring thatall entries can be identified and are accounted for.
9. Prepare other balance sheet reconciliations as required.
10. Monitor compliance with the Foundation’s financial procedures and raise any concerns with the FinanceManager.
11. Support and guide staff in the operation of financial procedures.
12. Continuously review the purchase ledger function in identifying and implementing improvements to processes.
13. Support Fundraising & Supporter Services in their use of the CRM (Salesforce) & finance system (PSF).
14. Maintain relations with suppliers, dealing with queries and concerns
15. Provide support for the Finance Manager and Head of Finance as required and undertake any other duties that may be reasonably required of the post-holder.

Experience & Qualifications

Essential:

• Part-qualified accountant or equivalent experience
• All round experience of working within a finance department / purchase ledger team
• Ability to plan and prioritise variable workloads
• Experience of preparing bank and other balance sheet reconciliations
• Experience of year end and month end procedures and preparing supporting documentation
• Experience of processing and reconciling multiple foreign currency.
• The ability to work as part of a small team

Desired:

• Experience of charity accounting

Knowledge & Skills

Essential:

• Demonstrable knowledge of purchase ledger processing

Excellent IT skills with demonstrable level of competence with Excel (vlookups, pivot tables etc) and accounting software/databases

Excellent numeracy skills with a good eye for detail

Excellent customer service skills with high level of verbal and written communication skills

High level of integrity and dependability with a strong sense of urgency and results-orientation.

Emotional intelligence coupled with resilience in order to make the right decisions, argue persuasively, follow through decisively and deliver in a timely manner.

Ability to inspire, motivate and command trust, respect, fairness and confidence.

A strong team player with a flexible approach and willingness to engage with a wide range of organisational issues working across boundaries to tackle diverse and complex issues

Desired:

Knowledge of PS Financials (PSF) (on the job training will be given)

Demonstrable level of competence with a CRM system (training on iMIS will be given)

Demonstrable knowledge of sales ledger processing

Knowledge of and commitment to Fairtrade and development issues

Fairtrade Values

We want everyone to be ambassadors for the organisation and encourage staff & volunteers to speak at events which on occasion might be during evenings and weekends, to promote diversity, equality and inclusion in everything we do, and champion our values.

Fairtrade’s global values are: ‘Accountability’, ‘Integrity’, ‘Respect’ and ‘Partnership’. These values should be embedded in your work and behaviour, and any associated policies and processes adopted consistently.

At Fairtrade we are committed to the safeguarding and protection of children & vulnerable adults in our work. We will do everything possible to ensure that only those who are suitable to work within this environment are recruited to work for us.

Review Arrangements

The details contained in the Job Description reflect the content of the job at the date the job description was prepared. It should be remembered, however, that it is inevitable that over time the nature of individual jobs will change; existing duties may be lost, and other duties may be gained without changing the general character of the duties or the level of responsibility entailed. Consequently, the Fairtrade Foundation will expect to revise this job description from time to time and will consult with the post holder as appropriate.