Finance Assistant Apprenticeship in Canterbury

St Edmund’s School Canterbury is seeking to employ a school or college leaver with the interest in building a career in finance and achieving AAT status. The role of Finance Assistant will support the Accounts function and play a crucial role in managing the school’s finances, ensuring accurate and timely processing of transactions and contributing to the smooth running of the finance department.

Working week: Full-Time. The position is permanent. The usual hours of work for the post are 8:30am to 4:30pm, 5 days a week (37.5 hours net of 30-minute lunch per day).

Wage: £10.85 - £12.71. Wage rises to National Minimum Wage after 12 months if over 19 years old.

Qualification: Assistant Accounting Level 2. Duration: 14 Months. Training Provider: LMP Education. Please note; you may be considered for the level 3 qualification depending on your previous experience and prior knowledge. We will discuss this during the screening process to determine which course would be best for you.

Career progression: Following successful completion of the apprenticeship, there may be opportunities to progress within the Finance Department, including:

• Completion of AAT Level 3 and potentially higher-level accounting qualifications.
• Development into a Finance Assistant, Finance Officer or Accounts Assistant role.
• Increased responsibility for financial administration, reporting and financial controls.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Accurate and timely data entry of supplier invoices.
• Complete Monthly Reconciliations of supplier statements.
• Ensuring supplier invoices are settled in accordance with due dates via BACS payment runs, international transfers and bank transfers where applicable.
• Processing purchase orders and training new budget holders to raise purchase orders.
• Ensuring the school is utilising the most cost-effective suppliers and identify and implement cost-saving solutions.
• Produce termly fee invoices and issue them to families.
• Processing of bank receipts and reconciliation of bank accounts.
• Monitor and pursue unpaid school fees directly with families in an appropriate and timely manner.
• Undertake and achieve Level 2 AAT (starting point of Level 3 would be considered dependent on previous experience).
• Entering invoice data onto accounts purchase ledger software.
• Manage receipt of goods onsite matching delivery notes to goods received and original orders.
• Liaise with stakeholders across the school to process orders and seek approval of invoices.
• Reconciliations of pupils attending the school and raising termly invoices.
• Processing charges onto termly fee invoices.
• Ensuring the correct level of remission is applied to fee termly invoices where applicable.

Key Skills and Attributes:

• Excellent organisational and planning skills.
• Ability to prioritise workload and meet deadlines.
• Confidence with Microsoft Office including Excel spreadsheets.
• Strong attention to detail.
• Able to reason logically – with a methodical approach to tasks.
• Able to operate independently.
• Willingness to perform important but often repetitive tasks, e.g. making data entries.
• Ability to work under pressure.
• Demonstrable ‘can do’ attitude.

Education and Qualifications: Maths and English at GCSE level A-C (4-9) or functional skills equivalent.

About the employer: We are a co-educational independent day and boarding school for pupils aged 2–18, offering a warm and supportive environment that values the individual and encourages pupils to explore a wide range of opportunities, whatever their interests or strengths. Located on St Thomas Hill, just five minutes from Canterbury city centre, the School enjoys an attractive setting with far-reaching views across the city.