Assistant Finance/Control Officer

Achieving for Children is a Community Interest Company that has a public sector ethos, combined with the freedom to innovate enabling us to do things differently. As a not-for-profit social enterprise owned by three local authorities (Windsor & Maidenhead, Kingston and Richmond), we offer the freedoms of a social enterprise with the employment benefits of local government.

This exciting role sits within the Transaction and Control team, reporting to the Senior Financial Accountant and is responsible for upholding strong financial probity across the company. Through managing effective financial systems and accounting policies and procedures, the team supports the company to maintain a sound financial position that will enable it to deliver its key priorities and drive the continual improvement of services.

The Finance Function within Achieving for Children is responsible for delivering a comprehensive financial support service that is tailored towards the needs of a successful children's service organisation. The team covers all finance functions including Management Accounts, Financial Accounts, Risk Management and Transactional Processing with this role focusing on management accounts priorities.

About the role

The Assistant Control Officer post sits within the Transactions and Control team and reports to the Senior Financial Accountant. The post has a broad range of duties to ensure that Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable and General Ledgers are kept accurate and up to date so they can be relied upon for Management Information and for Year end Reporting. This includes:

• Assisting with debt recovery in line with AfC's policies and procedures
• Validating and uploading journals, and processing payment runs and emergency payments
• Assisting with the transfer, validation and reconciliation of inputs from external systems such as Payroll and Procurement Card.
• Completing ad hoc tasks in order to assist the management accounts team, including raising invoices and dealing with queries.

This post has no direct management responsibilities.

About you

• Studying towards AAT or an equivalent accounting qualification, or experience of working within a financial control role.
• Experience of using Agresso finance system accurately to input transactions and generate reports.
• Experience of debt recovery processes and customer service.
• Experience of resolving financial administration queries from internal and external customers.
• Experience of updating and maintaining spreadsheets.
• Can demonstrate an ability to perform financial calculations in line with guidance.
• An ability to plan a workload of daily, monthly and annual tasks and to manage any conflicting priorities.
• Good communication skills, including the ability to use different communication styles and techniques.
• Experience of addressing specific equality or diversity issues within your practice with colleagues/service users and taking action to solve them.

About our benefits

We are focused on creating a positive supportive environment, where you will have access to a really wide range of resources, as well as a competitive salary and all the perks to enable hybrid working. In AfC you will also have access to:

• 29 days annual leave, increasing to 33 days after 2 years and 35 days after 4 years with an additional day off in your birthday month.
• Local Government salary and pension scheme (LGPS or Teachers Pension).
• Flexible working options - helping to keep a good work life balance.
• A comprehensive Employee Assistance Programme.
• A range of staff benefits and discounts.
• An excellent learning and development offer to support your career pathway.

Important Information

Start dates: Achieving for Children have meaning successful candidates join on a set date in each month. Candidates are advised to prepare for this should a job offer be accepted to ensure eligible continuous service is not affected.

Right to work: The UK has introduced a new points-based immigration system affecting EU and Non-EU workers and sponsorship requirements. We advise checking the right to work guidance.

Equality: We particularly welcome applications from sections of the community who are currently underrepresented within our teams. Achieving for Children are committed to making our recruitment practices as inclusive as possible for everyone. We are committed to promoting equality and diversity and developing a culture that values differences.

Safeguarding: We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. We expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. This post is exempted under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and as such appointment to this post will be conditional upon the receipt of a satisfactory response to a check of police records via Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).