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Senior Accounts Officer x2
£29,150 - £32,750 per annum
Team information
The Finance, Portfolio and Performance (FPP) team is critical to supporting a thriving Parliamentary democracy. We play a leading role in delivering the House of Commons’ Strategy and corporate priorities through business and financial planning, analysing performance, and supporting the delivery of projects and programmes across Parliament. Equally important are the financial services, systems, accounting, reporting and Members’ services that we provide to keep the House of Commons Service working effectively and efficiently on a day-to-day basis.
Job description
Job information
The Financial Services Team will engage with a range of stakeholders at all levels to ensure that financial processes run efficiently and that people can easily follow them. Financial Services covers a broad range of functions, types of activity include; purchasing, income, cash and treasury management, and grants management, and processes that impact individuals directly such as expenses and reimbursements. The Financial Services Team partners with system users and business areas, to help them with standard financial processes and general operational queries. They will support and deliver data processing and transactional activity fundamental to the accounting processes and supporting the flow of resource around the organisation.
The Accounts Payable Team within Financial Services will ensure invoices and requests for payment are appropriately processed, ensuring the House’s obligations are duly met. This team provides key finance services for the House of Commons, including supplier management, payments processing and supporting compliance with IR35 and CIS tax requirements. They will work closely with the Cash Management Team to ensure that resources are available to pay owed amounts, supporting the cash flow process. This will support the maintenance of the Supplier Masterfile, ensuring details are appropriately captured, stored and disposed of.
The Accounts Receivables Team within Financial Services will ensure that money owed to the House is appropriately collected. They will create sales orders, capture requests for payments and reconcile received funds, ensuring that they are properly accounted for.
The Cash Management Team will ensure that the House has the correct funding to meet its obligations and will liaise with HM Treasury to ensure the House is funded. They will work with key stakeholders to understand the fiscal needs of the organisation and produce suitable cash flow forecasts. They will also collect and account for cash collected on the Estate and ensure it is properly recorded and deposited. The Accounts Receivable Team will also maintain the Customer Masterfile, ensuring details are appropriately captured, stored and disposed of.
The House of Commons has recently undertaken an independent review into financial management, examining key elements of financial management, including contract and programme management, to ensure the House has robust processes and controls in place to manage its finances. The jobholder will have a key role to play in supporting the implementation of recommendations following the review.
Responsibilities
The Senior Accounts Officer is responsible for supporting the outcomes of their respective teams and line management of Accounts Officers.
For Accounts Payables this includes maintaining the integrity of the payables ledger which enables accurate, timely and efficient payment of House of Commons Suppliers and reimbursements.
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Supporting and delivering all activities of the Accounts Payable Team. These activities include all supplier invoice processing, statutory compliance, payments and banking.
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Manage, monitor and maintain open items/transactional data on Payables Ledger, supporting the efficient running of the procure to pay process.
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Ensuring the accurate payment of supplier invoices, claims, expenses, and reimbursements. This includes ensuring payment runs are generated as per schedule.
For Accounts Receivables/Cash Management this includes ensuring the efficient processing of invoices, collection of money from sales, the appropriate treatment for cash collected on the Estate and ensuring the organisation is sufficiently financially resourced to meet key obligations.
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Supporting and delivering all activities of the Accounts Receivables Team. These activities include raising sales orders, facilitating customer payments, refunds and appropriate banking.
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Manage, monitor and maintain open items/transactional data on Sales Ledger and ensure a swift debt recovery process is maintained, recovering outstanding amounts owed to the House.
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Support the Cash Management processes employed by the House and the accurate returns and safe deposits of cash.
Leadership and Management
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Oversight of team members and other’s work, and developing leadership skills within and across teams. Motivating and developing staff, embedding the principles of equality, diversity and inclusion, and ensuring that the team makes a significant, positive contribution to the achievement of vision and business goals.
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An understanding of the value-adding role of Finance within the public sector, and a genuine commitment to integrating Finance as an enabling function within the business’s decision-making.
Stakeholder Engagement
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Building and maintaining key relationships, in particular developing trust and rapport. This includes managing expectation of managers and stakeholders.
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Engage and manage external service providers and third parties that can help improve financial services and operations.
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Build trusted relationships with suppliers and support supply chain management, responding to verbal and written queries from suppliers and customers.
Effective Financial Management
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Assist the team with daily administrative tasks, including management of mailboxes and ensuring our customer queries are resolved and that statements are issued and reconciled.
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Supporting effective financial controls across the organisation by promoting financial best practice and applying relevant control frameworks.
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Ensuring the accurate and timely receipting of financial information onto the Houses’ internal systems to ensure completeness of income.
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Administration of key controls, ensuring all controls are completed as per timetable.
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Verification and maintenance of customer and supplier records.
Security
Successful candidates will be required to complete pre-employment checks. This includes security vetting to Counter Terrorist Check (CTC) level or higher, as described in the job description. All successful candidates are required to pass these checks before an offer can be confirmed.
To enable meaningful checks to be carried out you will need to have lived in the UK for a sufficient period of time. To undergo a CTC, you must have normally resided in the UK for a minimum of 3 years out of the last 5 years.
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Hours
We offer a range of flexible working options and actively encourage applications from candidates expressing a wish to perform the role in a flexible working arrangement such as part-time working, job-share and compressed hours.
Net conditions full-time working hours for staff of the House are 36 hours per week. This excludes daily meal breaks of one hour. The exact daily times of attendance will be agreed with line management.
Hybrid working
Our mission is to support a thriving parliamentary democracy – and today more than ever, this means being ready to carry out our essential functions in Westminster and elsewhere. We support colleagues to deliver excellent services on the Parliamentary Estate and remotely, while the balance of location varies according to the requirements of each job role. If you are selected for an interview, please discuss the working arrangements for this role with the interview panel.
Workplace adjustments
As an inclusive employer, the House of Commons supports individuals in need of workplace adjustments. The workplace adjustment process prevents, reduces or removes problems you might face at work. Adjustments can be requested to help with obstacles relating to mental health, and physical or non-physical requirements. You can request a workplace adjustment if you have a disability and/or experience a difficulty or disadvantage in your workplace.
Application and selection process
Further details will be provided if you are successful at the initial application stage.
We may ask you to complete a test, presentation or other assessment as a part of your recruitment process.
If you are invited to interview, we will ask you a combination of competency questions and role specific questions solely based on the criteria below. Any presentation or test requirements will be clearly communicated to you well in advance of your interview.
As a Disability Confident Leader, it is important that we are able to make appropriate arrangements or adjustments where necessary in order to create a full and equal participation in the selection process. If you require any reasonable adjustments, please contact the recruitment team to see how we can meet your needs.
Skills and experience
Criterion 1
Experience of working in accounting/finance in a team dealing with a high number of transactions.
It is desirable that the applicant holds a finance qualification or part-qualification (AAT, CCAB or equivalent).
Criterion 2
Strong organisational skills with the ability to effectively prioritise your own work as well as supervise/delegate workload of the team and team members.
Criterion 3
Experience of leading staff, with ability to manage, monitor and improve staff performance, identify and provide coaching/training as necessary, whilst maintaining the principles of equality, diversity, and inclusion.
Criterion 4
Ability to communicate effectively at all levels and deliver excellent customer service through effective and efficient working.
