Finance Specialist
About Candidate
Education/Qualification
- 2024 Professional Diploma in Accounting – AAT Qualified
- 2021 Advanced Diploma in Accounting – AAT Qualified
- 2019 Foundation Certificate in Accounting – AAT Qualified
- 2015 Arts Management Module – Foundation Degree in Dance
- 2010 BTEC National Diploma in Performing Arts
Systems used
- Microsoft Word and Excel
- Xero Advisor
- Sage 50
- Dext
Skills
- Balance Sheet Reconciliation
- Variance Analysis
- Intercompany Accounting
- Accounts Receivable and Payable
- Revenue Recognition
- Reports for internal and external stakeholders
- Debtors Management
- Payroll Management
- Payment Processing
- Internal Audit
- Finance Processes
- Financial Systems Implementation
- Budget Management
- Journal Entries (Prepayment, Accruals and Revenue)
- Fixed Asset Register Management
- VAT Submission
Career Summary
Current Employer– Fast-growing Fintech Company
Position – Finance Manager (Part-time)
Dates –December 2024 – Present
- Reporting to Company Co-Founder
- Spearheaded the Design and Implementation of End-to-End Finance Process Improvements – Resulting in More Accurate Forecasting and Enhanced Visibility Over Cash Flow, Enabling Better Liquidity Management and Decision-Making.
- Redesigned the company’s debt collection approach, integrating automated workflows and real-time reporting tools, which improved recovery timelines by 30% and significantly increased customer satisfaction scores.
- Shortened the month-end close cycle by 40% by restructuring reporting procedures, automating reconciliation tasks, and aligning cross-functional collaboration—freeing leadership to prioritise forward-looking, strategic initiatives.
- Partnered with senior leadership to identify and eliminate financial bottlenecks, delivering operational efficiencies that contributed to a leaner, more agile finance team.
- Provided hands-on support during system upgrades and implementation phases, ensuring smooth data migration, minimal downtime, and robust post-go-live support.
Previous Employer– Financial Management Platform
Position – Finance Specialist
Dates – April 2023 – October 2024
- Worked in a Team of 5 – Reported to Finance Director
- Handled both VC backed and start up client portfolios of over £5m across multiple industries
- Instantly identified £16k of unclaimed VAT refundable income for new client through additional investigations into their balance sheet
- Cultivated and built client relationships consistently scoring 100% on the NPS scoring system which led to an increase in company referrals
- Assisted CFO partners to improve month end process via variance analysis, reconciliation sheet and training of financial controls by employing best practices to support the finance team and increase the reliability for reports generated
- Closed accounts as early as WD2 through smart optimisation, implementation, and presentation of month end process to business and stakeholders. Allowing for enhanced analysis and strategic decision making to generate elevated financial reports
- Identified £12k of unpaid invoices for clients through expertise surrounding revenue and historical invoicing analysis
- Promptly implemented new financial control system in 40 days
- Reduced invoicing time by 92hrs by initiating client templates making room for effective debt management whilst improving invoice quality differentiation
- Managed payroll processes for 80 employees across 7 clients monthly
- Introduced and elevated the client account receivable process end to end resulting in a company ARR increase of £10k whilst simultaneously saving the client £55k p/a
- Expedited processes and reduced errors by presenting extensive system knowledge (Xero, ApprovalMax and Payfit) to finance operations team
Previous Employer – Software Development Company
Position – Accounts Assistant
Dates – January 2021 – January 2023
- Key user for implementation of NetSuite as a Finance Management System in 4 months, providing the ability to the business to operate in 5 different legal entities
- Led a team of 2 people to complete process improvement projects. Was responsible for data consistency and cleansing, as well as processes definition
- Praised by CEO and CFO for process improvements and reduction of aged debtors by more than 75%
- Implementation of KPIs and reports enabling decision-making processes
- Reduction of financial risks by implementing a credit control process. Complex billing process management, including SaaS and Project invoices
- Reduction of 100% in claims of payroll processing, by setting a clear communication process with multiple payroll suppliers
- Elimination of late fee penalties by improving the batch payment process to vendors
- Optimisation of the timesheet/contractor invoice process via process automation, ensuring 100% of payments to contractors on time
- Implementation of Web expenses as Expenses Management Tool, consolidating approval workflows and increasing the reliability of the process. Review of Expenses Policy
Previous Employer – Private Limited Company
Position – Finance Consultant (Volunteer)
Dates – January 2020 – August 2022
Previous Employer – Theatre and Museum
Position – Finance Officer
Dates – October 2018 – August 2020
- Responsible for monthly bank and balance sheets reconciliations (stock, debtors, and creditors)
- Billing and weekly payment runs
- Supported internal and external audits
- Reconciliation, processing and posting for bar takings, income, and fundraising
- Improvement of the cost control by setting new procedures and tooling (Pleo) for corporate credit card management
