Finance Assistant – Expenses and Travel Team

Advert

Finance Assistant – Expenses and Travel Team

Cardiff University’s Finance Department is recruiting a Finance Assistant to work within the Travel & Expenses (T&E) Team, ensuring a high level of service is provided to its customers.

The Travel & Expenses (T&E) team sits within the newly formed Financial Services Unit (FSU).
You will provide high quality and consistent administrative support to customers and colleagues of the Travel and Expenses Service and wider Finance team completing a range of routine tasks to meet operational requirements.

The post is fast paced and requires excellent customer service skills.

The post is full time (35 hours per week) and open ended.  Standard shift pattern: Monday to Friday

Salary: £23,700 - £24,533 per annum (Grade 3)

This role is eligible to be offered on a blended working basis, meaning that as well as spending time working on campus you can also choose to spend some time working from another location, e.g. your home. The University is committed to offering this flexibility, wherever the role and business need allows, supporting work-life balance.

As the biggest university in Wales – and a major employer, with more than 7,000 staff – we are an ambitious and innovative university located in a beautiful and thriving capital city. We can offer you the chance to work in a vibrant organisation, with great benefits and opportunities for progression.

Date Advertised: 21 March 2024

Closing date: 4 April 2024

Please be aware that Cardiff University reserves the right to close this vacancy early should sufficient applications be received.

Cardiff University is committed to supporting and promoting equality and diversity and to creating an inclusive working environment. We believe this can be achieved through attracting, developing, and retaining a diverse range of staff from many different backgrounds.  We therefore welcome applicants from all sections of the community regardless of sex, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, trans identity, relationship status, religion or belief, caring responsibilities, or age.  In supporting our employees to achieve a balance between their work and their personal lives, we will also consider proposals for flexible working or job share arrangements.

Applications may be submitted in Welsh, and an application submitted in Welsh will not be treated less favourably than an application submitted in English.

Job Description

Key Duties

• Deal with a range of enquires from internal and external customers in a professional manner, establishing their requirements and adapting the standard responses accordingly.
• Collaborate with team members to make recommendations for developments of established processes and procedures.
• Establish working relationships with key contacts to help improve service levels.
• Undertake a variety of administrative duties to support the team and department.
• Gather and analyse data to update administrative systems with accurate information, establishing basic trends and patterns in any data submitted.
• Contribute to the success of the team, ensuring service level standards are maintained and leading others through example.

Specific Duties

• To respond promptly to requests to process pre-approved travel related bookings for visitors and staff.
• To respond promptly to requests for car hire bookings and carry out driving licence checks.
• To respond to digital and voice enquiries regarding travel and expenses within agreed timescales.
• To prepare travel related invoices for payment/reconciliation.
• To work closely with the Travel Management Company on non-standard travel booking enquires from employees.

General Duties

• Ensure that an understanding of the importance of confidentiality is applied when undertaking all duties.
• Abide by University policies on Health and Safety and Equality and Diversity.
• Perform other duties occasionally which are not included above, but which will be consistent with the role.

Person Specification

We want to employ people with a wide variety of experiences. We welcome applications from all sections of the community regardless of sex, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, trans identity, relationship status, religion or belief, caring responsibilities, or age. We are particularly seeking applications from candidates who come from backgrounds that are underrepresented at the University, including people from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities.

We are looking for a team player who will work with colleagues to provide a great service to staff and students. You don’t need to have worked for a University before; this is an opportunity to show your potential and start or continue your career at Cardiff University.

This role may be an opportunity for you to build on your experience from working in a previous administrative role or environment, showing your transferable skills and aptitude to be successful in the role. You should have an interest in managing and developing a team. You should be enthusiastic about developing your knowledge and skills to become a valued member of the team and to provide supervisory support to those under your line management.

Your application will be assessed against the following essential and desirable criteria for the role. Please copy and paste this section into a new document and give clear examples of how you can evidence meeting each criteria by writing under each one. You can draw on elements from any aspect of your life (e.g. work, home, education/qualifications or community life) as long as you focus on their relevance to the role.

Please save your supporting statement in a separate document with the title [YOURNAME - 18362BR - JOB TITLE] and attach it to your application in the recruitment system.

Please note that these are also the criteria shortlisted applicants will be assessed against at interview and/or by other means (e.g. a skills test).

Essential Criteria

Qualifications and Education

NVQ 2/GCSE level A-C or equivalent.

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

Significant experience of working in an administrative or office environment.

Proficient in using common office IT packages (e.g., MS Office).

Ability to set up standard administrative systems and procedures.

Customer Service, Communication and Team Working

Ability to communicate effectively and professionally with a wide range of people.

Ability to work as an effective team member, providing advice and guidance to other team members where necessary.

Proven ability to deal with escalated requests for information or service, resolving customer issues where appropriate.

Planning, Analysis and Problem Solving

Ability to plan, prioritise and organise own workload within established time scales.

Ability to use initiative in solving problems and responding to queries ensuring compliance with standard procedures and practices.

Other

A willingness to undertake further training and development.

Desirable Criteria

A-Levels or equivalent.

Experience of working within a travel booking environment.

Experience of working in a Higher Education environment.

Fluency in Welsh, written and oral.

Job Category

Admin / Clerical