Finance Administrator

Job summary

The Business Support team provide a support service to the district’s operations. As a key member of the team, you will play a crucial role in the Business Support function and/or projects, helping it run smoothly by providing financial, administrative, logistical and operational support, using Microsoft Office applications and bespoke software to process and monitor financial information. You will liaise with colleagues, suppliers, customers and members of the public, collating and disseminating information. As part of the team, you will also provide office reception cover.

Job description

Key responsibilities & accountabilities

• Provide day-to-day administrative support such as arranging meetings, maintaining accurate records, data input and liaising with colleagues as required.
• Raising/reviewing purchase orders and recording goods received notes
• Process purchase/sales invoices and credit notes promptly and accurately in line with Forestry England policies.
• verify and process new suppliers' requests and any amendment requests, providing guidance as required
• Monitor and manage the finance inbox, ensuring that customer/supplier correspondence is dealt with professionally and in a timely manner.
• Assist in the budget monitoring process for the areas that you support.
• Assist in month end, quarterly and year end tasks for the areas that you support.
• Monitor and manage the general enquiries inbox, dealing with queries/requests promptly and professionally. Liaising with other colleagues / stakeholders as required.
• Monitoring reports from other teams and making sure any supporting information is collected and collated
• Assist in the generation of financial reports as directed.
• Give support and guidance to colleagues on FE systems, policies and processes.
• Support in the preparation and distribution of project documents and reports.
• Contribute to the ongoing development of processes within the Business Support function.
• Comply with the FE Health & Safety policy
• Provide cover and support to other members in the team as required.
• Any other tasks, reasonably requested by your line manager.
• Assist in organising meetings, travel arrangements, bookings and other networking events
• Support for communication outputs as and when required

General

• Occasional travel to other sites in the district will be required, potentially with overnight stays to attend meetings/training

Person specification

Skills, knowledge & experience

Essential professional and technical experience

• Relevant experience working in a busy office environment.
• Experience in working in a transaction processing team or related finance function.
• Proven ability to work with high accuracy and attention to detail.
• Excellent communication skills, written and spoken.
• Experience in supporting colleagues in a team environment.
• Competent IT user with experience in MS Office suite of applications, in particular good working knowledge of Microsoft Excel including ability to export, sort and filter data and utilise formulae
• Experience in using accounting software and other bespoke IT applications.

Desirable professional and technical experience

• Ability to analyse data.
• Experience supporting creating reports/presentations.

Qualifications

Essential

• A GCSE in Maths and English or functional skills equivalent.
• Competent IT user with experience in MS Office suite of applications.

Desirable

• A level or level 3 equivalent qualification.
• Finance qualifications such as AAT or willingness to work towards or qualified by experience
• Qualification in First Aid or be willing to be trained as a First Aider.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £26,959, Forestry Commission contributes £7,810 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

How to apply…

You will be asked to write a 200 word statement on your relevant experience and career history, along with a personal statement of no more than 500 words. You will be assessed on both during sifting. More details about how to apply are listed on the application form.

You will be assessed on experience and strength based questions during your interview.

The Behaviours being assessed at interview are –

• Working together
• Delivering at pace
• Managing a quality service

“If candidatespass the interview but are not the leading candidate they can be placed on a reserve list. We may offer candidates on the reserve list for this role the opportunity to be considered for other roles at the same or lower pay bads.”

Successful candidates will undergo a criminal record check and the government baseline personnel security standard check.

If you require any reasonable adjustments, please email [email removed].

If you're planning to use AI to support your application, please ensure you've read our guidelines here first.

Read more about our application process and working with us on the Forestry England website.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Medical

Succes