Finance Officer – Central Payments Team, within P2P in Chelmsford

This position is an Anywhere Worker role with the expectation the successful worker will attend County Hall, Chelmsford one day per week.

The Central Payments Team sits within Purchase to Pay (P2P) and is responsible for processing a high volume of payments covering everything from day-to-day expenditure to high-value contracts and critical social care payments. As a small but busy Accounts Payable team, we use a range of technology solutions to maximise efficiency, including integrated three-way match automation, interfaces between line-of-business systems and data loading tools.

This role requires a strong understanding of Accounts Payable processes and controls, alongside excellent attention to detail and a commitment to maintaining the highest standards of data quality. Accuracy is essential to ensure payments are processed correctly, first time, and within agreed timescales. Beyond processing transactions, you will play a key role in identifying, investigating and resolving payment issues quickly and effectively. Taking ownership of supplier and stakeholder queries, you will work proactively with colleagues across the organisation to remove barriers to payment, prevent delays and ensure problems are seen through to resolution.

You will understand the importance of timely supplier payments in maintaining Essex County Council's reputation as a trusted and reliable customer. By ensuring payments are made accurately and on time, you will help ECC colleagues delivering vital services to its county's residents.

Purchase to Pay (P2P) aims to provide a comprehensive financial transactional and support service, maximising new and innovative technology to provide excellent customer service using a multi-skilled workforce. Finance Officers in Purchase to Pay (P2P) will contribute to the delivery of the business plan for financial transaction processing, by ensuring payment data is accurately maintained and managed within policy and legislation standards. Responding to more complex customer queries and supporting changes in technology to streamline the customer experience.

Accountabilities:

• Provides financial support in relation to ECC’s payments to both internal and external customers, contributing towards delivery of the business plan for financial transactions, in support of the wider organisational vision.
• Contribute to data management of payee records, adding, amending, and archiving data in line with GDPR.
• Provides technical support to team members and customers answering more complex queries in a professional manner in accordance with financial procedures.
• Acts as the subject matter expert for P2P processes.
• Contribute to the identification and clarification of customer needs, to deliver process and technology changes, which drive efficiency and value for money.
• Contribute to improving financial awareness and capability across the organisation, to promote the culture of empowering budget holders in line with financial regulations.
• Carries out data analysis to produce reports for P2P and external customers, to support the management of organisational performance, maximise income and ensure compliance to Financial Regulations and audit requirements.
• Contributes to service improvement projects/programmes to achieve best practice and organisational efficiency by recommending process improvements and redesign.
• Contributes to maintaining currency on legislation changes and translating these into local policy and procedure, to identify and review potential changes in technology.
• Working collaboratively and flexibly across teams within P2P to deliver a high level of service to all functions.
• Contribute to identifying risks and supporting the resolution, to minimise financial impact and loss to the organisation.

The Experience You Will Bring:

• Educated to RQF level 3 (A level) including English and Mathematics, or equivalent by experience.
• Commitment to continued personal development within a working environment.
• Knowledge of P2P systems and demonstrable accounts payable, purchase to pay and e-invoicing experience.
• Strong knowledge of accounts payable/P2P 3-way match process and regulations CIS (Construction Industry Scheme), Data Transparency and Oracle experience is preferred.
• Strong attention to detail, accuracy in data entry and organisational skills.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills, both verbal and written.
• Aptitude and willingness to work flexibly in multi-skilled Operational Teams.
• Level of good competency using Microsoft office packages including, Outlook, Word and Excel.
• Ability to interpret varied information for supporting continuous improvements in service delivery.
• Ability to build effective working relationships with internal and external customers, suppliers, and partners.

Essex County Council is proud to be a Disability Confident Leader. We’re committed to interview all disabled applicants who choose to apply under our Job Interview Scheme if they meet the minimum requirements of the job. Please speak to our Recruiters if you require any reasonable adjustments during the process. We’re also committed to interview all veterans and care leavers, who meet the minimum requirements of the role for which they are applying.

At Essex County Council, we value integrity and ethical behaviour. We kindly ask that you embrace our code of conduct and the Nolan principles, including throughout the recruitment process. Your commitment to these standards helps us maintain a positive and respectful workplace for everyone.

As part of employment with Essex County Council (ECC) should your role require a DBS check you will be required to register with the DBS update service. The DBS update service ensures all registered DBS certificates are kept up to date and allows authorised parties to view the status of your certificate. This is an annual subscription, and you will be responsible for ensuring this is maintained.

Essex County Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults, and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment.