Finance Officer
Job description
Original text imported from Reed
Finance Officer
Provide day-to-day guidance and support to team members, fostering a positive, inclusive, and collaborative working environment - Help prioritise workloads, ensuring tasks are delivered accurately and on time - Support learning and development within the team, encouraging knowledge sharing and continuous improvement - Step in to provide cover for the Finance & Procurement Manager when needed - Oversee the accurate maintenance of sales and purchase ledgers, ensuring data is recorded clearly and consistently (using systems such as QuickBooks) - Support effective credit control processes, working constructively with customers to minimise overdue balances - Assist with preparing information for management reporting, including month-start and month-end processes - Carry out bank reconciliations across multiple currencies and accounts, ensuring discrepancies are identified and resolved promptly - Contribute to regular payment runs, ensuring suppliers are paid accurately and on time - Use tools such as Microsoft Excel to analyse financial data (e.g. billing, subcontractor costs) and identify trends or opportunities for improvement
- Support the team in maintaining organised, accessible records and documentation - Look for ways to improve processes, systems, and ways of working to make the function more efficient and effective
Essential Selection Criteria - Experience working in a finance, accounts, or procurement environment - Good understanding of core finance processes (e.g. ledgers, reconciliations, invoicing, payments) - Strong attention to detail and commitment to accuracy - Ability to organise and prioritise workload effectively, both individually and as part of a team - Confident communication skills, with the ability to build positive working relationships with colleagues and external stakeholders - Experience using financial systems (e.g. QuickBooks or similar) and Microsoft Excel
Desirable Selection Criteria - Previous experience in a supervisory or team leadership role (formal or informal) - Experience working in a multi-currency or multi-entity environment - Strong Excel skills (e.g. data analysis, pivot tables, reporting) - Exposure to credit control and supplier payment processes - Relevant finance qualification (e.g. AAT or working towards ACA/ACCA/CIMA), or equivalent experience - Experience working in a fast-paced environment
Key skills
AI-extracted from the job advert
Application advice
5 AI-generated recommendations to maximise your chances.
⭐ Lead your CV personal statement with QuickBooks and Excel proficiency — both are named explicitly in the essential criteria and will be scanned by ATS first.
📊 Quantify your reconciliation experience: e.g. "Performed weekly bank reconciliations across 4 accounts in 3 currencies, resolving 100% of discrepancies within 48 hours."
🎯 Highlight any supervisory or cover-management experience clearly, as the role requires stepping in for the Finance & Procurement Manager — even informal team leadership counts here.
🌐 If you have multi-currency or multi-entity experience, create a dedicated bullet for it — the advert lists it as a desirable differentiator that will set candidates apart.
🤝 Reference credit control outcomes specifically, e.g. "Reduced debtor days from 45 to 28 by implementing proactive customer follow-up processes" — the advert explicitly values minimising overdue balances.
Suggested CV bullets
3 bullets our AI drafted for this specific advert, mirroring its ATS keywords.
Add these 3 bullets under your most recent experience:
- •Maintained sales and purchase ledgers for 3 entities in QuickBooks, processing over 200 transactions per month with a 99.5% accuracy rate across a 12-month period.
- •Performed weekly multi-currency bank reconciliations across 5 accounts (GBP, EUR, USD), reducing unresolved discrepancies from 18 to 2 per month within the first quarter.
- •Led credit control follow-up process for 80+ customer accounts, reducing average debtor days from 42 to 29 and cutting overdue balances by 35% over 6 months.
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Letter preview — tailored to Purple Placements
Dear Hiring Manager,
Purple Placements' Finance Officer role in the Vale of White Horse is a strong match for my background in ledger management, bank reconciliation, and QuickBooks-based financial administration. The breadth of the position — spanning multi-currency accounts, credit control, and month-end reporting — is exactly the scope I am looking to take on at this stage of my career.
My background in finance and accounts includes maintaining sales and purchase ledgers, conducting reconciliations across multiple accounts, and supporting payment runs to ensure suppliers are paid accurately and on time. I have used Microsoft Excel extensively for data analysis, including pivot tables to identify billing trends and subcontractor cost variances. I have also stepped into senior cover responsibilities during periods of absence, giving me confidence in managing the full finance function when required.
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Interview questions
10 questions generated from this advert.
Technical
- ›Walk us through how you perform a bank reconciliation across multiple currencies — what steps do you follow to identify and resolve discrepancies?
- ›How have you used Microsoft Excel (e.g. pivot tables, VLOOKUP, or data analysis tools) to analyse financial data such as billing or subcontractor costs?
- ›Describe your experience with QuickBooks or a similar accounting system — how did you use it to maintain sales and purchase ledgers?
- ›How do you manage the month-end process, and what checks do you put in place to ensure accuracy before reports are submitted?
- ›What credit control processes have you used to minimise overdue balances, and how did you approach difficult conversations with customers?
Behavioural
- ›Tell me about a time you identified an inefficiency in a finance process and took steps to improve it.
- ›Describe a situation where you had to cover for a more senior colleague at short notice — how did you manage the additional responsibilities?
- ›Give an example of when you had to prioritise competing deadlines within a finance team — how did you decide what to tackle first?
- ›Tell me about a time you had to build a positive working relationship with an external stakeholder (e.g. a supplier or customer) to resolve a financial issue.
- ›Describe a time you supported a colleague's learning or development within a finance or accounts team.
STAR answer examples
Model answers using the Situation-Task-Action-Result framework. Adapt to your own experience.
Tell me about a time you identified an inefficiency in a finance process and took steps to improve it.
Describe a situation where you had to cover for a more senior colleague at short notice — how did you manage the additional responsibilities?