Accounts Payable Specialist in Belfast

A privately owned UK firm of pensions experts with clients throughout the UK, serviced from offices in London, Belfast, Glasgow, Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol and Leeds. The 3173 Group of companies includes Dalriada Trustees Limited (Dalriada), one of the UKs largest professional pension scheme trustee companies. Spence & Partners provides full pension actuarial, consulting, investment consulting and administration services that provide simply smarter solutions for trustees, employers and members.

The 3173 Culture: Our primary aim is to provide interesting, worthwhile and healthy careers for all our people; we believe that this emphasis sets us apart from our competitors. We are defined by our ethos and by our goal: Our ethos is an individual and collective commitment achieved through carefully balancing responsibility with freedom and flexibility, all of which is underpinned by a willingness to work interdependently. When we get this balance right, it is how we do our best work. We look after our staff first and foremost, but for a commercial purpose, which is to deliver great service profitably. By focusing on our goal, we provide the best outcomes for pension scheme members, trustees, and employers.

About the role: This is an excellent opportunity for an Accounts Payable Specialist who is ready to take the next step in their finance career. This role offers clear scope to broaden your technical experience, gain exposure to management accounting and progress your professional qualifications, all within a supportive and collaborative finance team. Initially, your focus will be on delivering an accurate, efficient and well controlled accounts payable service across our group of UK businesses. Over time, the role will expand to include wider assistant accountant responsibilities such as accounts receivable, management accounts preparation and balance sheet reconciliations. You will report directly to the Group Financial Controller and work closely with colleagues across finance and the wider business. This is a hands-on role in a fast moving, commercial environment, suited to someone who enjoys building relationships, taking ownership and contributing to continuous improvement. We actively support professional development and will fully fund a recognised qualification such as IATI, alongside a structured study leave package, to help you grow as the business grows.

Responsibilities:

• Manage the end to end accounts payable process, ensuring invoices and expenses are accurately approved, coded, posted and paid within agreed terms.
• Maintain strong ledger controls through regular supplier statement reconciliations, bank reconciliations and nominal ledger reviews.
• Ensure client related expenses are captured promptly and recharged accurately in line with contractual arrangements.
• Support monthly management reporting, including intercompany reconciliations, spend analysis and variance commentary.
• Process employee expenses and company credit card transactions in line with policy, ensuring accuracy and compliance.
• Contribute to cashflow reporting, budgeting and forecasting activities to support informed commercial decision making.
• Work collaboratively with finance colleagues and stakeholders across the business to resolve queries and improve processes.
• Identify, highlight and escalate financial risks or issues where appropriate, using sound judgement and attention to detail.

Essential Criteria:

• Experience in a busy commercial finance or accounts environment, ideally within professional services or a client focused organisation.
• Relevant academic background, either a degree in finance, accounting or business, or A levels with GCSE Maths and English.
• Practical experience across a broad range of accounting activities, including accounts payable, accounts receivable, journal postings and ledger reconciliations.
• A good understanding of core accounting principles and awareness of sound accounting and regulatory practices.
• Strong numeracy skills and high attention to detail, with a consistent focus on accuracy and quality.
• Confident user of accounting software and the Microsoft Office suite, particularly Excel.
• Ability to work effectively under pressure with a positive, proactive and flexible approach.
• Strong communication skills, with the ability to build effective working relationships at all levels.
• Fluency in English and eligibility to work in the United Kingdom, with the ability to commute to office and client sites as required.

Location: Belfast
Working hours: Monday to Friday, 37.5 hours per week with additional hours as and when required. Our Company is committed to work life balance and our flexi-working policy and opportunity for remote working enables individuals to maintain that balance. All roles are subject to a six-month probationary period and all prospective employees are required to complete an Access NI check. As part of the pre-hire process the successful candidate will be subject to reference checking security vetting. 3173 is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Applying with a disability or long-term health condition? As part of our belief that we benefit from the differences among us, we are committed to increasing the representation of disabled colleagues and want to remove any barriers or challenges that get in the way of candidates with a disability or long-term health condition from applying to work with us. As part of this commitment, we guarantee to automatically interview anyone with a disability who meets the minimum criteria. If there is support or an adjustment that we can provide to enable you to be at your best during the recruitment and selection process, we encourage you to advise us in good time so that we may make suitable arrangements. We understand that being open with us may feel uncomfortable so please only share with us the information that you are comfortable to share, and rest assured that we will use this only to provide you with the right support. Any information you give us will be treated completely confidentially. To discuss this further please call and ask to speak to a member of the People team.