Finance Assistant

Parkside Office Professional; Watford; Hybrid; GBP 32,000 - 35,000; Full time

Job summary

Parkside Office Professional is seeking a Finance Assistant (Accounts and Billing) in Watford on a hybrid basis (3 days in office, 2 days at home). The role is Temp to Perm with immediate availability and a salary of £32,000 to £35,000 per year.

Responsibilities include purchase ledger, billing, VAT handling, reconciliations, and processing payments across Sage, Xero, Naviga, and GoCardless. Strong Excel skills and AAT level progress are desirable.

Qualifications

• Practical experience in purchase ledger, expenses, receipts and reconciliations.
• Knowledge of double-entry bookkeeping and invoicing processes.
• Experience handling reconciliation differences and payment discrepancies.

Responsibilities

• Process supplier invoices with proper approvals and coding.
• Process employee and credit card expenses with VAT treatment.
• Record bank receipts/payments in Sage and perform reconciliations.
• Maintain subscription billing and reconcile with GoCardless and Stripe.
• Monitor failed payments and resolve collection issues.
• Allocate receipts to invoices and investigate missing allocations.
• Reconcile billing, payments, and accounting records; escalate when needed.

Skills

Purchase ledger

Bank reconciliations

Excel

Communication

Education

AAT Level 3 or equivalent

Tools

GoCardless

Stripe

Sage

Xero

Naviga

Job description

Finance Assistant (Accounts and Billing) Location: Watford (Hybrid: 3 days in office, 2 days working from home)
Contract Type: Temp to Perm
Availability: Immediately available candidates only
Salary Range: £32,000 to £35,000 per annum

Role Purpose

To support the day-to-day operation of the finance function through accurate transaction processing, reconciliations, customer billing, and collections. The role maintains accurate financial records, resolves routine queries, and supports the wider finance team, managing routine work independently with appropriate review and escalation of complex matters.

Key Responsibilities

• Process supplier invoices, checking that the required approvals are in place and applying accurate nominal ledger coding.
• Process employee expenses, checking coding and uploading transactions into the finance system.
• Process credit card expenses, ensuring accurate nominal coding and application of established VAT treatments.
• Record bank receipts and payments in Sage, complete bank reconciliations, and investigate or upscale outstanding differences.
• Maintain subscription billing and collection records, ensuring that direct debit mandates in GoCardless and payment arrangements in Stripe align with invoices in the relevant billing systems, including Stripe, Naviga, and Xero.
• Monitor failed customer payments and follow the agreed process to resolve collection issues.
• Allocate customer receipts from the bank account to invoices in Naviga and investigate unallocated cash.
• Reconcile billing, payment-provider, and accounting records to bank receipts, investigating missing allocations, duplicate entries, and unexplained differences.
• Manage the finance inbox, responding to and resolving routine queries and referring matters to the appropriate colleague where required.
• Prepare national statistics survey responses, coordinating review of unusual definitions or matters requiring judgement.
• Maintain clear supporting records and follow up unresolved items to completion.
• Assist the wider finance team with duties and ad hoc projects consistent with the scope of the role.

Scope and Accountability

Manage routine processing, reconciliations, and queries independently within agreed procedures and deadlines. Escalate complex accounting or VAT matters and issues requiring approval to the appropriate finance colleague.

Person Specification

Essential Experience, Knowledge, and Skills

• Relevant practical finance experience covering purchase ledger, expenses, customer receipts, and bank reconciliations, with the ability to manage routine work with normal supervision.
• Sound working knowledge of bookkeeping, including double-entry principles and the relationship between invoices, credit notes, payments, receipts, and ledger balances.
• Experience investigating reconciliation differences, payment discrepancies, and unallocated receipts, with appropriate follow-up and escalation.
• Ability to apply established nominal and VAT coding and recognise transactions requiring technical review.
• Confidence comparing and reconciling data across accounting, billing, and payment systems.
• Practical Excel skills, including filters, lookups, SUMIFS, and duplicate checks.
• Clear written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to resolve queries with suppliers, customers, and colleagues.
• Strong attention to detail, organisation, and ability to manage recurring deadlines and competing priorities.
• Sound judgement about when to resolve an issue independently and when to seek approval or technical support.

Qualifications

• AAT Level 3 completed or in progress, or equivalent practical knowledge and experience.

Desirable Experience and Skills

• Experience in a subscription or recurring billing environment.
• Experience using GoCardless or Stripe for collections and reconciliation.
• Experience using Sage or Xero, and familiarity with Naviga.
• Experience working across multiple finance or billing systems and following up failed payments.
• Experience completing Office for National Statistics surveys or similar business returns.
• Ability to use Excel pivot tables.