Golf Club Finance Officer

Company Description

Welwyn Garden City Golf Club, founded in 1923, is a classic parkland course located just outside the town center and a short drive from junction 6 of the A1M. The course is known for its undulating tree-lined fairways, consistent greens, and excellent drainage that supports play throughout the year. As the only members’ club in the Welwyn and Hatfield area, the club offers a friendly, welcoming atmosphere for members and visitors. Guests can enjoy drinks on the patio overlooking the 17th fairway or dine in the upstairs restaurant with panoramic views across the course. The club is also proud to be the home of six-time Major winner Sir Nick Faldo and two-time Portugal Masters champion Tom Lewis.

Finance Officer

Reporting to: General Manager

Hours: 30 hours per week, with the opportunity for overtime where required

Salary: £15–£17 per hour, dependent on experience

About the role

Welwyn Garden City Golf Club is seeking an experienced and organised Finance Officer to take responsibility for the day-to-day bookkeeping and financial administration of the Club.

This is a hands-on role within a small team and will cover the Club’s core financial processes, including banking, purchase and sales ledger activity, payroll preparation, membership payments and monthly management accounts.

An important part of the role will also be to help modernise the Club’s finance processes. The Club currently operates a relatively traditional bookkeeping model and is looking to move towards more efficient, digital and increasingly paperless ways of working. The successful candidate will therefore have the opportunity to review existing processes, introduce improvements and document clear standard operating procedures.

The Finance Officer will initially work alongside the Club’s existing bookkeeper to ensure an effective transition and continuity of knowledge.

Key responsibilities

The Finance Officer will be responsible for:

• Managing the day-to-day bookkeeping requirements of the Club.
• Managing and reconciling the Club’s bank accounts.
• Processing supplier invoices and payments.
• Processing customer invoices, including membership subscriptions, events and other Club revenue streams.
• Preparing and administering monthly Direct Debit submissions.
• Preparing payroll using BrightPay.
• Processing invoices and supporting documentation using Dext.
• Maintaining the Club’s accounting records in Xero.
• Processing monthly journals and other routine accounting adjustments.
• Preparing monthly management accounts and associated reports.
• Assisting with the preparation of financial and management information for the General Manager and the Club’s Board.
• Liaising with the Club’s external accountants, Pomroy Associates, on accounting matters.
• Reviewing existing bookkeeping and finance processes and identifying opportunities to improve efficiency and controls.
• Supporting the transition from paper-based processes towards digital and paperless working.
• Preparing and maintaining standard operating procedures (SOPs) for key finance processes.
• Working closely with the General Manager, office administrator and wider Club team.
• Providing a limited amount of general office and administrative support where required in what is a small, collaborative office environment.

Skills and experience

The successful candidate should have practical bookkeeping and accounting experience and be comfortable taking ownership of day-to-day finance processes.

Experience of Xero is important, together with good general IT skills and confidence working with digital finance systems. Experience with BrightPay and Dext would be beneficial.

The successful candidate should also be:

• Accurate, methodical and well organised.
• Comfortable working independently and taking responsibility for deadlines.
• Able to produce reliable monthly management information.
• Confident communicating with colleagues, suppliers, customers and external accountants.
• Able to review existing ways of working and suggest practical improvements.
• Comfortable working in a small-office environment where some flexibility and general administrative support is required.
• Interested in improving processes and reducing reliance on paper-based administration.

Advantageous experience

Previous experience working within a golf club, members’ club or similar organisation would be particularly useful, as would familiarity with golf club management and membership systems such as Intelligent Golf.

Experience of helping an organisation move from traditional, paper-based bookkeeping towards digital or paperless finance processes would also be a strong advantage.

The Oppourtunity

This role would suit an experienced bookkeeper or finance professional who enjoys combining day-to-day accounting with the opportunity to improve how a finance function operates.

The successful candidate will work alongside the existing bookkeeper during the transition and will have scope to help shape more efficient, documented and digitally focused finance processes for the Club.