Accounts Assistant

The Opportunity - Accounts Assistant

We have an exciting opportunity for an experienced Accounts Assistant to join our rapidly expanding Financial Services Practice. We aim to provide a highly personalised financial planning and investment management service. We are looking for an Accounts Assistant who is experienced at overseeing general accounts administration, bookkeeping and other accounts related day to day activities. This individual will also need to be AAT qualified, or similar, preferably with AAT level 3 or more.

This is a remote, home based role but we would require you to come into the office a few times a week initially whilst going through onboarding.

About Berkshire IFA

Berkshire IFA is a small wealth management practice specialising in the financial wellbeing of clients. Our team have over 20 years' experience in the Financial Planning industry, with some team members having worked their whole 50-year career in the wider finance industry. We specialise in pensions and family wealth planning. Our mission is to give all our client's financial security by offering the same high levels of service and giving situationally based advice, that’s entirely focused upon their individual needs and outcomes.

We are a growing company so expect the very highest level of commitment to our clients from all of our team, so we aim to support everyone in this pursuit by working to build a motivated and above all happy team of people here at Berkshire IFA.

Accounts Assistant Core Duties and Responsibilities

• Daily inputting of purchase invoices onto the Xero accounting system.
• Daily bank reconciliation of the business bank accounts, and credit card account.
• Follow up on obtaining missing invoices/receipts for any expenditure picked up on the bank reconciliation that haven’t been received into the Accounts inbox.
• Producing client engagement fee invoices on Xero in preparation for client meetings, and upload to the client file on the Intelliflo (I/O) system
• Forward receipts from Xero for paid engagement fees direct to the client, and upload to I/O.
• Produce other ad-hoc fee invoices as and when requested.
• Liaise with the Director(s) on overdue supplier invoices and make payments accordingly.
• Liaise with the Director(s) on producing the monthly cashflow forecasts.
• Run the daily/weekly fees received report from Xero, and record the provider paid fees into the Intelliflo system, and match against the provider fee statement.
• Upload provider statements into the Intelliflo system.
• Allocate provider statement line by line fees to the relevant client plans on the Intelliflo system.
• Investigate line by line fees that don’t allocate to the client plan and update missing plans/fees, accordingly, liaising with the Practice Manager to do so.
• Run the month end income procedures on Intelliflo.
• Review the monthly Trial Balance on Xero and make any necessary month end journals as required.
• Liaise with the Director(s) on monthly adjustments to the payroll and run the monthly payroll on Xero accordingly.
• Post the necessary payroll invoices to the employee files, HMRC and Workplace Pension accounts on Xero.
• Upload the monthly Workplace Pension report to the Aviva Pension Online portal.
• Monthly review and updating the fixed asset register.
• Review, calculate and journal the part exemption Vat returns on a quarterly basis, for submission to HMRC.
• Assist the Director(s) with the FCA returns.
• Liaise with the Director(s) and external Accountant on the Year end accounts preparation.
• Other administrative tasks required by the business.

What are we looking for

• Experience in similar roles: Accounts assistant/accounts payable.
• Experience of working in an Accounts Department (desirable).
• Experience in working on cloud-based accounting software - Xero (desirable).
• Experience of working on the Intelliflo system (desirable, but not essential as full training will be provided).
• Good communication skills.
• Attention to detail.
• Driven and motivated attitude.

Education, Qualifications & Training Essential

• Financial services experience preferred.
• Financial services qualifications are desirable.
• To pass probation there are a series of short compliance money laundering and basic knowledge tests.

Key Skills

• Effective and inspirational team leadership
• Understanding of the Financial Planning process
• Achieve agreed outcomes without supervision
• Prioritise and plan your teams and your own workload
• Detailed and accurate
• Articulate
• Excellent interpersonal skills, both written and verbal
• Multitask and prioritise effectively
• Good IT skills

IT Skills

• Fully competent in desktop applications (proficient in Microsoft Word, Excel and Outlook), plus Xero and other accounts software

Personal Skills

• Communication: - Ability to communicate effectively both verbally and in writing with individuals at all levels
• Team working: Ability to contribute to a team’s success.
• Professional integrity: Strength of character to explain a professional point while having empathy with colleagues, clients, and stakeholders.
• Relations with others: Active supporter and promoter of an open and constructive office which supports colleagues and clients alike.
• Flexibility: The flexibility for, and commitment to, continual development and improvement.