Interim Finance Assistant in London

Location: London – predominantly office-based

Contract: 3 months initially, with potential for permanent appointment

Hours: 35 hours per week, Monday to Friday, 8:30am–4:00pm

Rate: £20–£24 per hour via Umbrella

Start Date: 1 October

We are currently recruiting for an Interim Finance Assistant to join a busy finance team supporting a group of various entities in London. This is initially a 3-month temporary assignment and the successful applicant will be someone who is proactive, works at pace and takes genuine ownership of their workload.

The Role

Reporting to the Finance Manager, you will play an important role within the Purchase Ledger function, processing a high volume of invoices and supporting the wider finance team with supplier queries and reconciliations. The role will involve managing approximately 100 invoices per day, alongside an existing backlog of around 50 invoices a day, so the ability to work efficiently and prioritise effectively is essential.

Key Responsibilities

• Process a high volume of supplier invoices accurately and efficiently, following internal procedures.
• Manage approximately 100 invoices per day across multiple schools.
• Work through an existing invoice backlog and ensure records are kept up to date.
• Respond to and resolve supplier and internal finance queries.
• Carry out regular supplier statement reconciliations.
• Investigate discrepancies and follow issues through to resolution.
• Work closely with colleagues across the finance function to ensure invoices and payments are processed efficiently.
• Maintain a high level of accuracy while working to tight deadlines.

About You

We are looking for someone with a proactive, can-do approach who takes ownership of their work. The key requirement is not necessarily previous experience within the education sector, but rather your ability to get things done. When faced with a problem or blocker, you should be comfortable either finding a solution yourself or proactively seeking guidance on the appropriate next step.

You will ideally have:

• Experience working within a finance, accounts payable or purchase ledger environment.
• Experience processing a high volume of invoices.
• Strong attention to detail and accuracy.
• Good organisational and prioritisation skills.
• The ability to work at pace in a busy environment.
• Strong Excel skills, including VLOOKUPs and Pivot Tables.
• Confidence dealing with suppliers and internal stakeholders.
• A strong sense of ownership and accountability.

Experience with purchase order systems would be advantageous but is not essential. Previous education or schools-sector experience is not required.

Systems

The team currently uses: iPlicit – General Ledger. Previous experience with these systems is not required, as full training can be provided.

An enhanced DBS check is likely to be required.

If you are a proactive Finance Assistant or Purchase Ledger professional who enjoys working at pace, takes ownership and is looking for a role with the potential to become permanent, we would be keen to hear from you.