Finance Administrator

A leading UK law firm with a network of offices from the South Coast to Scotland, working together as one national team. An innovative practice and the first top 50 law firm to achieve “Platinum Standard” Investors in People, our values and culture are not just words on our website but are the heartbeat of the firm. The lack of barriers between departments, a real lack of hierarchy, zero tolerance for arrogance makes Shoosmiths a fantastic place to work. The team Our finance team are committed to providing an efficient and accurate service to our legal advisors and to other support functions. At the centre of this is ensuring that the client and office accounts are kept up to date and invoices are produced accurately and in a timely manner. The role An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Finance Administrator to join our Finance team in the Lakes, Northampton on a permanent contract. You will be working within the local Financial Accounting team as part of a larger firm wide department, supplying an efficient and accurate administrative service for the Legal Advisers and other support functions. This is an excellent opportunity for someone preferably with previous experience within a legal finance environment, to broaden their knowledge and gain new skills. You will need to have excellent communication skills, a keen eye for detail, accuracy and flexibility and be able to manage your own workload within tight deadlines. Main responsibilities **General**: - To understand and ensure compliance with the Solicitors’ Accounts Rules in relation to all tasks. - To ensure office accounts are kept up to date accurately. - To be approachable/flexible and keen to learn **Key areas**: - **Transactional;**: - Allocating daily office receipts including CHAPS/International and Faster payments - To assist in the allocation of unclaimed monies. - Monitoring bank reconciliations resolving aged items - **Quality Management;**: - Update matters assigned to leavers in a timely manner - Review of unbilled WIP (work in progress) on SAP & Carpe Diem & clear down in a timely manner - Review & clear unbilled disbursements on SAP when necessary - Follow up and process FRS102 WIP write offs - **Support**: - Administer rate changes as per policy - The administration of cost centres, roles and approvals in GK2 - To support the Ebilling Specialist with the processing of invoices - **General Duties;**: - To ensure work is handed out to the team promptly. - Be proactive within the Finance team and be willing to make suggestions where they feel they will make more efficient processes. - To cover other team members with holidays or absence. - To assist Finance departments at other Shoosmiths sites as required. - Ensure that any problems are appropriately communicated to your Finance Manager and/or team and Legal Advisors promptly. - To provide assistance to the wider team when required. - Additional hours may be required during peak times including month end, quarterly and year end. - This list is not exhaustive, and duties include various other tasks as directed Skills and qualifications - Previous legal experience within professional services and ideally at least 12 months within a similar role desirable - Preferable to have knowledge/understanding of E-Billing systems - Excellent attention to detail and accuracy essential - Good level of IT literacy ie. Excel, Outlook etc. - Ability to work under pressure and meet tight deadlines - Organised with a neat and tidy approach to working practices We appreciate that the Covid-19 pandemic has changed expectations around where and how we work. We pride ourselves on having a culture and the technology that lends itself well to agile working practices and in this role, we expect to offer a mix of office and home working. We are a values-driven business - our values are at the core of the company and we evaluate how we behave in accordance with these values. **Background Checks** Equal opportunities Our approach to our people is underpinned by our approach to diversity, inclusion and well being. Our ambition is to build a diverse and ambitious workforce that reflects all backgrounds and talents, and a workplace that is supportive and inclusive, recognises and nurtures talent, and has a strong sense of community between colleagues. This means that everyone who either applies to or works for the firm is treated equally, whatever their gender, age, ethnic origin, nationality, marital status, disability, sexual orientation or religious beliefs. < Back to available positions