Accounts Payable Assistant

In the Crick's Accounts Payable Team.

Part of Crick Operations.

The overall purpose of this job is to help ensure the maintenance of the Crick’s purchase ledger is accurate, secure and efficient, and support the maintenance of the Crick’s supplier list, within the Crick’s agreed processes and procedures.
Deadline for applications has passed.

Key information

Job reference
R773
Salary
From £29,500 per annum with benefits, subject to skills and experience
Applications closed
11 June 2022, 23:59 BST
Hours per week
36 (full time)
Posted 12 May 2022

Accounts Payable Assistant

Reports to: Accounts Payable Supervisor

This is a full-time, permanent position on Crick terms and conditions of employment.

           

Job Summary

The Francis Crick Institute (the Crick) is a partnership between the Medical Research Council (MRC), Cancer Research UK (CRUK), the Wellcome Trust, University College London (UCL), Imperial College London and King’s College London. It is a registered charity whose purpose is to conduct biomedical research into all aspects of human health and disease.

The position of Accounts Payable Assistant is a key role in the Accounts Payable team, part of the Finance Operations and Control team. Reporting to the Accounts Payable Supervisor, the Accounts Payable Assistants process and pay supplier invoices received by the Crick, ensuring that payments to suppliers are made promptly whilst also ensuring that all paid invoices meet the organisation’s governance requirements. The team also undertake other processing tasks including expense claims and supplier setup validations.

The role has a strong focus on customer service and on building strong relationships with colleagues in the Science and other Operations teams through excellent communication, working collaboratively to resolve queries effectively and efficiently.

The post holder does not need to be a fully or part qualified accountant, but must be able to work accurately and be a ‘self-starter’ able to work without constant supervision across a number of tasks in a dynamic and time-constrained environment, managing their own workload and contributing to the success of the Finance function as a whole.

Key Responsibilities

Specific responsibilities will include, but not be limited to:

  • Registering high volumes of purchase invoices (2000-2,500 per month), matching to purchase orders and checking the accuracy of the invoice content and coding.
  • Reviewing of staff expense claims in line with the organisation’s Travel & Expenses Policy.
  • Checking and registering non-staff expense claims for payment and ad-hoc payments.
  • Reconciliation of accounts to supplier statements.
  • Providing first line support for all Accounts Payable queries, ensuring timely resolution and communication.
  • Prepare BACS payments and ensure all remittance advice documents are sent out correctly, that rejections are dealt with and that items on hold are followed up.
  • Set up of new suppliers in Workday including associated validation checks.
  • Ensuring suppliers are paid within terms.
  • Following up on missing purchase order goods receipts and pro-actively pursuing other issues causing invoice payment delays.
  • Build and maintain strong relationships with suppliers across the organisation.
  • Support the Accounts Payable Supervisor in the overall achievement of team objectives.
  • Highlight system and control weaknesses and identify reporting and process improvements.
  • Ongoing review of Aged Creditors, highlighting and clearing old balances as required.
  • Provide ad-hoc support to the Finance team as required.

Skills & Experience

The post holder should embody and demonstrate our core Crick values: bold, imaginative, open, dynamic and collegial, in addition to the following:

Essential:

  • Experience of working in a Purchase Ledger function, with a proven track record in a similar, high volume processing role.
  • Good communication and interpersonal skills both written and oral, able to engage with people at all levels both internally and externally.
  • Ability to work accurately with attention to detail, multi-task and meet tight deadlines. Good organisational and problem-solving skills.
  • A good team worker, willing to be flexible and take on a range of activities and looking to learn and develop within the role.
  • Highly IT literate with sound MS Office skills.
  • High standard of integrity, confidentiality and discretion.

Desirable:

  • Experience of using Workday Financials.
  • Previous experience of working in a not-for-profit / charity environment.
  • Previous experience of working in an academic environment.