Accountant and Finance Manager

Education/Qualification

• ACCA – Exam Qualified
• 2012 – AAT Qualified
• 2003 – A Levels including Mathematics, General Studies, and Physics
• 2001 – 9 GCSEs including Mathematics and English

Systems used

• Excel
• QuickBooks
• Xero
• Sage Line 50
• Sage
• BrightPAY
• Iris
• AutoEntry
• Eventbrite
• Pixie
• Slack

Career Summary

Current Employer – Practice Accountants

Position – Accountant and Finance Manager

Dates – October 2023 – Present

Practice providing full outsourced finance function to the charity sector

• Based in the team responsible for preparing monthly or quarterly management accounts including commentary and variance analysis
• Presenting financial reports to senior management and trustees at board meetings
• Ensuring accounting methods used are compliant with Charities SORP (FRS 102)
• Managing restricted funds ensuring expenditure is correctly allocated and is in line with any agreed funder budget
• Collaborating with senior management to produce budgets
• Implementing changes to Chart of Accounts to provide more meaningful and useful data output based on reporting requirements to the charity’s funders and trustees
• Preparing cash flow statements, advising of any potential shortfalls
• Assisting with year-end statutory reporting
• Liaising with independent examiners in completion of CC32a
• Calculating and posting accruals, prepayments, and other period end journals
• Maintaining Fixed Assets Registers and monthly Balance Sheet reconciliations
• Monthly bank/credit card/PayPal/petty cash reconciliations
• Liaising with external payroll provider, highlighting any potential errors for investigation, and processing payments to employees and HMRC
• Managing Accounts Payable and Receivable, including processing of payments
• Processing expenses and supplier invoices through AutoEntry, and advising employees and volunteers on how to submit expenses (including creating a procedure to be distributed)
• Responding to ad hoc enquiries and requests for additional information from trustees, senior managers, and other stakeholders in the charities
• Identified that a client would breach threshold for cash accounting and successfully transitioned them to accruals accounting by adapting systems and management reports, ensuring accounting complied with SORP requirements
• Responsible for selecting and interviewing candidates in the recruitment of a high-level Bookkeeper for the business, and supporting the successful candidate as they settled into role
• Identify and flag expenses claims misaligned with a charity’s objectives
• Successfully onboarded new clients and efficiently brought them into a BAU state

Reason for Leaving: Redundancy

Previous Employer –  Own family’s business

Position – Company Accountant

Dates – April 2017 – present

• Preparation and submission of quarterly and monthly VAT returns
• Completion of annual confirmation statements
• Payroll data compilation for external processing / P11ds
• Review of annual accounts prepared by external accountants
• Managing Purchase Ledger, including expense and mileage claim processing and payments
• Sales Ledger including monthly aged debtor reports and customer statements
• Month-end journal entries and financial reporting
• Peer to peer investment reconciliations and bank reconciliations
• Inter-group journal entries and reconciliations
• Soley responsible for handling a VAT investigation which was triggered due to the nature of the business involving imports and exports producing regular rebates
• Ensured compliance with tax regulations and effectively liaising with HMRC to resolve any discrepancies, and communicating any minor changes to be implemented to management  

Previous Employer – Hydraulics Franchise

Position – Accounts Administrator

Dates – September 2021 – July 2023

• Preparing cash flow statements
• Daily invoicing on bespoke system
• Purchase ledger and payments / Sales ledger
• Bank reconciliations /Manual ledger reconciliations
• Reconciled petty cash and credit cards / Processed and reconciled card payments received
• Processed month end and reporting to Depot Manager
• Reconciled sales figures between the bespoke system and Sage
• Developed and implemented an Excel document to streamline the process of reconciling the monthly sales figures on the bespoke system with Sage

Previous Employer – Metal Supplier (t/o circa £5m)

Position – Accountant and Bookkeeper

Dates – August 2017 – September 2021 

• Processed monthly payroll including furlough claims and calculating holiday hours
• Produced P11ds and advising on benefit in kind
• Completed monthly VAT returns, including adjustments for C79 figures
• Assisted with preparation of annual financial accounts
• Produced cash flow forecasts ensuring optimal cash management
• Produced quarterly management accounts – managing accruals and pre-payments
• Maintained Fixed Asset Register and periodic reconciliation of balance sheet lines
• Sales Ledger, Purchase Ledger, and multi-currency bank reconciliations
• Credit card and petty cash reconciliations
• Raised related company invoices recharges and reconciliations
• Ensured correct monthly HMRC exchange rates and VAT treatment was applied to sales invoices, and all export documentation was present
• Implemented a new stock control system to more efficiently track and record levels of different grades of metals, to improve accuracy in the financial reporting

Previous Employer – Store Chain

Position – Finance Coordinator

Dates – July 2016 – July 2017

• Worked within a small Finance Team at a newly established distribution centre, designing and implementing new reporting systems
• Prepared and submitted weekly flash reports, including graphs, analysis, and detailed commentary
• Assisted in budget preparations, providing insights and assumptions
• Took ownership of the time and attendance system for 30+ new starters weekly and developed specifications for system report improvements
• Acted as the liaison between operational management and the central payroll team, managing and submitting manual weekly payroll data for over 150 employees
• Corrected General Ledger postings at period end and collaborated with Finance Teams across multiple Poundland Distribution Centres to ensure consistency in procedures and reporting

Temporary Contracts from January 2016 – July 2016

• Including a role that involved successfully implementing Sage Line 50 for the company, configuring the chart of accounts and ledgers, and ensuring the accurate transfer of opening balances from manual ledgers into the new system

Previous Employer – Logistics Company

Position – Finance Analyst

Dates – July 2014 – January 2016

Previous Employer – Food Distribution

Position – Assistant Accountant

Dates – October 2012 – July 2014

Previous Employer – Pharmacy

Position – Accounts Assistant

Dates – November 2010 – October 2012

Previous Employer – Contract Accountants

Position – Temp Accounts Administrator

Dates – September 2010 – October 2010

Previous Employer – Property Rental Agency

Position – Business Administrator 

Dates – July 2008 – September 2010