Accounts Assistant

Job Purpose

The College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences has created a Finance Service Centre of Excellence that is focused on providing high levels of service to stakeholders and develops a culture of continuous improvement. The role holder will be expected to support the Finance Hub Team Leader in optimising and standardising the services that the Hub provides to the Schools within the College. They will have a clear understanding of the needs of the customer base and the University standard accounting and transaction management processes and will work to provide an effective and efficient service level delivery. In doing so, they will be expected to work with College administrative staff to ensure that purchase to pay, sales invoicing, journal processing and underlying data integrity are delivered in a controlled, effective and efficient manner utilising the appropriate standard University process and systems.

Main Duties and Responsibilities

1. Provision of Transaction Services to Schools within the College.
The role holder will be part of a single team working within the College Finance Function and delivering the following services to Schools:
Purchase Order Processing: ensuring that orders are placed through Agresso on a timely basis and are compliant with all internal regulations, including Procurement requirements, budgetary checks and VAT checks
Communication with internal customers to ensure that they are aware of the status of their orders
Ensure GRN processing is properly carried by end users in relation to the orders and that automatic matching of supplier invoices can take place through the central University AP function
Providing a single point of contact to users to support purchasing queries including outstanding orders, price queries, back orders and tracking of order numbers
Provide a single point of contact for the acquisition of services using purchasing cards
Process orders for travel ensuring that University regulations are complied with
Sales order processing: ensuring that sales invoices are processed on a timely basis and in compliance with documented internal controlsJournal processing: the Hub will provide journal processing services for Schools
Processing journals in accordance with the documented process of the Hub and ensuring that all internal controls are properly complied with
There will be additional services that the Hub will provide in relation to the provision of ad-hoc information e.g. for audit requests and supplier standing orders and reconciliations.
Assist in the production of this information as required

2. Provision of High Levels of Customer Service
An essential element of the success of the Finance Hub is that end users (academics and administrative staff from the Schools) receive a high level of customer service, that their requests are dealt with promptly and that they have a named, accountable individual within the team dealing with their request.
The role holder is expected to work within the Hub team to deliver on this objective. Specifically they will be the named, accountable contact for a particular area of the College.
While the Hub will be centrally located, it is likely that end users may require face to face contact in order to support their requests. The role holder will be expected to travel between the University’s campuses in order to facilitate this.

3. General Finance Office Duties
The role holder will be expected to perform the following additional office duties:
General duties relating to the office such as photocopying, answering telephone queries, assisting students and staff with finance process queries
Filing of goods received notes etc.
Opening and distribution of mail

Knowledge, Qualifications, Skills and Experience

Knowledge/Qualifications
Essential
A1 Scottish Credit and Qualification framework level 5 or 6 (national 5 or 6, Scottish Vocational Qualification level 2 or 3) or equivalent including Maths and English.
A2 Knowledge and understanding of finance process compliance and its importance.
A3 Use of Microsoft Office Packages – Word, Excel, Outlook.

Desirable
B1 Knowledge of corporate/ financial systems, policies and procedures.

Skills
Essential
C1 Excellent interpersonal & communication skills, both verbal & written, with the ability to communicate effectively with all grades of staff both internally & externally.
C2 Numeracy and the ability to understand and communicate financial information.
C3 Ability to input financial information accurately into Agresso/equivalent.
C4 Ability to organise & prioritise own workload, work with minimum supervision and to multi-task.
C5 Accurate keyboard skills with a working knowledge of accounting systems, spreadsheets & word processing.
C6 Attention to detail and the ability to challenge, ensuring policy and procedures are adhered to.
C7 Ability to work in a change environment.

Experience
Essential
E1 Ability to demonstrate the competencies required to undertake the duties associated with this level of post having acquired the necessary knowledge and skills in a similar role.
E2 Experience of working effectively in a financial environment at an appropriate level.
E3 Experience of multi–tasking, using own initiative and being customer orientated.
E4 Experience of working under pressure and prioritising workload.
E5 Experience of working in a customer focused environment.

Desirable
F1 Good working knowledge of Agresso and University financial processes.

Terms and Conditions

Salary will be Grade 4, £22,681 - £25,138 per annum.

This post is full time (35 hours p/w) and open ended.

As part of Team UofG you will be a member of a world changing, inclusive community, which values ambition, excellence, integrity and curiosity.

As a valued member of our team, you can expect:

1 A warm welcoming and engaging organisational culture, where your talents are developed and nurtured, and success is celebrated and shared.

2 An excellent employment package with generous terms and conditions including 41 days of leave for full time staff, pension - pensions handbook https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/payandpensions/pensions/, benefits and discount packages.

3 A flexible approach to working.

4 A commitment to support your health and wellbeing, including a free 6-month UofG Sport membership for all new staff joining the University  https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/staff/healthwellbeing/.

We believe that we can only reach our full potential through the talents of all. Equality, diversity and inclusion are at the heart of our values. Applications are particularly welcome from across our communities and in particular people from the Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) community, and other protected characteristics who are under-represented within the University. Read more on how the University promotes and embeds all aspects of equality and diversity within our community https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/humanresources/equalitydiversity/.

We endorse the principles of Athena Swan https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/humanresources/equalitydiversity/athenaswan/ and hold bronze, silver and gold awards across the University.

We are investing in our organisation, and we will invest in you too. Please visit our website https://www.gla.ac.uk/explore/jobs/ for more information.