Finance & HR Administrator

Due to continued and sustained growth, an exciting opportunity has come up for a Finance & HR Administrator to join our company, JH Mechanical and Electrical Services.

Our company is a fast growing, family-owned company operating across the north of England who is focussed on delivering mechanical and electrical maintenance, repairs and installation contracts to a wide range of clients; including North Yorkshire Council, Teesside University, Newcastle University, Sunderland City Council, Cleveland Police, VIVO and Ministry of Defence, and over 70 schools and school trusts.

Our aim is to be the best company to work for and to work with. This role will be at the heart of our finance and administration team, reporting directly to our Head of Finance, and will be actively involved in implementing our exciting plans to develop our business administration functions to help achieve our aim.

The role will suit someone who has a Finance/HR administration background – ideally working in a small/medium sized company - who loves a varied workload, working in a fast-paced environment, and who enjoys driving through system improvements. The role would also suit someone who is looking for an opportunity to develop their skills, experience and formal qualifications; working alongside and fully supported by a management team who is strongly focussed on the development of its staff.

This role is responsible for managing the day-to-day finance and HR tasks, together with driving process improvements across the company. Finance administration tasks make up approximately 60% of the role (3 days out of 5), and the duties include reconciliation of the company bank, credit card and supplier account statements, sales invoicing and credit control; ensuring all financial transactions are accurately recorded, filed and reported in a timely manner. HR administration tasks make up the remainder of the role (2 days out of 5); this element of the role focuses on the accurate recording of employee timesheets for payroll management, together with assisting on recruitment drives, on/off-boarding procedures and maintaining personnel records.

This role requires an individual who has superior attention to detail, accuracy, speed and precision, as well as exceptional time management skills and the ability to meet tight deadlines at all times. Most importantly, the post holder must be an analytical thinker, who can analyse data and identify anomalies and/or inaccuracies and can subsequently find and implement solutions with minimal guidance.

The successful candidate must have a strong focus on coordinating and working with other team members to ensure the accurate recording and reporting of data and to meet tight financial and HR reporting deadlines; excellent teamwork and communication skills are therefore essential. The job also entails having access to sensitive information; therefore, excellent teamwork, communication skills and discretion are fundamental for success in this role.

WORKING HOURS

40 hours per week

HOLIDAYS

25 days per year (April – March) + bank holidays

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES AND ACCOUNTABILITIES

• Reports to the Head of Finance and deputises for the Head of Finance where required
• Perform bank, credit card and supplier account reconciliations in the company accounting software.
• Ensure that all financial transactions are accurately recorded, filed and reported in both the company CRM system and in Xero in a timely manner, including purchase orders, supplier invoices and sales invoices.
• Analyse business transactions to ensure they comply with company policy
• Identify, investigate and address discrepancies in all documentation
• Chase aged debt to secure payments from clients
• Process company timesheets, payroll and any associated expense claims
• Administer recruitment and onboarding tasks for the company
• Undertake HR administration tasks, including keeping BreatheHR records up to date on all personnel changes, holiday request management and off boarding processes.
• Record and track training records and certificates to ensure that any which are due to expire are identified, reported to management and rebooked, where required
• Work with the Head of Finance to prepare financial and HR reports, as required

KEY FINANCE TASKS

• Perform bank, credit card and supplier account reconciliations in Xero, ensuring the accurate recording of transactions against the correct cost centres
• Ensure that all financial transactions are properly recorded, filed and reported in both the company CRM system and in Xero; including purchase orders, to supplier invoices and sales invoices
• Follow company procedures for the set up and maintenance of customer and supplier accounts.
• Work with the Head of Finance and Contracts manager to manage the sales ledger, including raising sales invoices and assisting with dispute resolutions as required
• Implement credit control procedures to collect debts that have become overdue
• Examine financial reports and data closely to check for discrepancies
• Highlight opportunities for system improvements to prevent errors in data collection and calculations
• Manage the payroll system in the company systems, ensuring new starters are added and assigned to the correct department, tax codes are updated, wages and overtime are correct, and leavers are managed appropriately on Xero.
• Manage the company pension scheme (NEST), including enrolments and any pension queries, and submit pension contributions as appropriate to NEST and the pensions regulator as required.
• Work closely with the Head of Finance on budget and financial reporting preparation, including updates to the asset register and Work in Progress reporting
• Comply with all company policies and procedures set out in the staff handbook
• Undertake any training and development deemed necessary by the management team for you to fulfil your duties
• Any other duties deemed relevant for the role

KEY HR TASKS

Recruitment/Onboarding

• Post job vacancies on various platforms.
• Assist with the screening and shortlisting of applications against job spec.
• Coordinate and schedule interviews, including the preparation and distribution of interview packs.
• Collate and maintain a library of adverts and job descriptions
• Ensure all new hire paperwork is prepared, distributed, completed and filed correctly
• Check, send and track all references/requests, DBS and Police Vetting Checks
• Coordinate induction, onboarding and probation review schedules for new employees.
• Ensure all new hire paperwork is prepared, distributed, completed and filed correctly

Timesheet and Payroll Management

• Coordinate with the Admin team and Technical Managers and produce exception reports for sign off to ensure timesheets are recorded accurately for payroll purposes
• Manage the payroll system in the company CRM, in Breathe HR and in Xero accounts systems, ensuring new starters are added and assigned to the correct department, tax codes are updated, wages and overtime are correct, and leavers are managed appropriately on Xero.
• Manage the company pension scheme (NEST), including enrolments and any pension queries, and submit pension contributions as appropriate to NEST and the pensions regulator as required.

HR Admin

• Update and maintain current personnel information, including new starters and leavers, allocated equipment and ID documents, in accordance with General Data Protection Regulations.
• Manage employee attendance and leave records.
• Take notes for meetings as required (including investigation, disciplinary, grievance & appeal meetings, as well as general meetings)
• Assist with the ‘leaver’ process, in accordance with the checklist and ensuring that all relevant actions are completed
• Monitor the HR support email box and action as appropriate
• Manage employee benefits, such as health insurance, pension schemes, and other perks.
• Address employee queries regarding payroll and benefits.
• Maintain up to date records of training and qualifications, ensuring that training and certificates due for expiration are notified to the management team and appropriate courses rebooked

KEY SKILLS, KNOWLEDGE, AND EXPERIENCE

• AAT, ACA, ICAS or above, or working towards
• At least 2 years’ experience in a similar role
• Trustworthy and discreet
• Experience of working at a small to medium sized company
• Used to working to tight deadlines
• Proficient in Office 365, essentially with advanced Excel skills
• Able to communicate effectively with internal and external stakeholders (both written and spoken)
• A proactive approach to work and problem solving
• Extensive knowledge of Xero would be advantageous, but if not then another accounts software (ie: Sage 50 Accounts and Sage Payroll) is essential
• Experience of SimPRO or other CRM systems would be advantageous
• Experience of BreatheHR would be advantageous

EMPLOYMENT PREREQUISITES

• Accreditation checks
• DBS checks
• Professional references
• Ability to drive/have own car would be advantageous

KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

• Payroll completed at least 7 working days prior to month end
• Weekly exception report sign off for each department
• Accurate credit card payment of supplier accounts in line with agreed timescale / cashflow / monies due
• Ledger reconciliation for management accounts by working day 7