Finance Officer

Job Description – Finance Officer

Reports to:                        Director of Finance & Operations

Location:                            London, 4 or 5 days per week, (2-3 days working from home).

 Do you have strong Accounts Receivable experience and looking for your next challenge, or are you developing a finance career and looking for progression opportunities in a growing and successful team?

This is a new role in a fast-growing organisation working with responsible businesses transforming the economy to benefit all people, communities and the planet. We strive to foster an environment where staff can bring their whole selves to work, by their own definition.

The B Corp Movement

The B Corp community is a global group of businesses who provide leadership by their commitments to manage their impact on people and planet. There are now over 4,000 B Corps in over 65 countries, including the well-known Patagonia, The Body Shop, Kickstarter, innocent, Pukka Herbs, Divine Chocolate, the Guardian and Ella’s Kitchen.

 B Lab 

B Lab was created in 2006 with the mission to inspire and enable people to use business as a force for good. B Lab UK is a registered charity, and our small team is friendly, hard-working and committed to changing how business operates.

The role:

With the growth in demand from businesses to join the movement, we have created this new role to manage invoicing and outstanding payments, liaising with new and existing B Corps as well as our account managers. The role will evolve as we grow and so could lead to opportunities to develop your career with us.

Tasks and responsibilities include: 

1. Taking ownership of all accounts receivable activities and be the first point of contact for all invoicing related queries and delivering professional communications.

2. Managing the accounts receivable email inbox and other forms of communication with our members, dealing with queries, actioning and/or forwarding as appropriate and capturing all relevant information.

3. Coordinating with other teams and Account Managers to ensure the accuracy of billing information.

4. Ensure completeness of member data such as invoicing address, contact details, pricing and credit terms in relevant database (Salesforce).

5. Raising accurate and timely invoices as required for newly certified and renewing B Corps, and other ad-hoc services.

6.   Maintain regular contact with customers, updating information, generating reminder letters and proactively calling to follow up on queries or outstanding balances.

7.      Maintain a centralised record of all relevant communications.

8.      Liaise with the outsourced Accounting service to ensure income records on financial systems are accurate and reconciled to customer records.

9.      Monitor payments and ensure outstanding debts are recovered promptly, effectively and professionally.

10.  Analyse aged debtor balances on a regular basis and focus collection activities on those overdue balances that pose the highest risk.

11.  Document and regularly review invoicing and account management procedures ensuring they are efficient, effective, and user friendly as we grow

12.  Assist with continuous improvement of systems, controls and working practices.

14.  Assist with and contribute to other financial activities and to various Team projects and activities as required.

Skills and Experience  

Essential

●       Experience in Accounts Receivable or similar role in an accounts team, covering

·        Raising invoices

·        Communicating with members/customers and resolving to their queries

·        Using a CRM, e.g. Salesforce, maintaining accurate data

·        Excellent customer service skills.

●       Great attention to detail and accuracy

●       Good problem-solving skills

●       Good spreadsheet and systems skills

●       Excellent organisational skills, proactive and use initiative to create improvements

●       Comfortable working in a fast-paced and dynamic start-up environment.

Desirable

·     Experience of Salesforce

·     Experience of Xero accounting system

·     Credit control experience

·     Developing or improving processes and systems

·     Wider bookkeeping or financial experience

Person Specification

●       Passionate about the role that business can play in creating the future that benefits all people and the planet.

●       Polite, tactful and firm manner.

●       Confidence, professionalism and perseverance.

●       Strong verbal and written communication skills. Able to demonstrate a professional manner in writing or remotely, and face to face

●       Ability to maintain confidentiality and deal with commercially sensitive information

●       Self-motivated, proactive and structured worker, happy to work independently as well as collaborate with other teams.

●       Committed to justice, equity, diversity and inclusion

●       A quick learner

·        A strong work ethic - keeping to deadlines with the ability to prioritise – a finisher of tasks

●       Eligible to work in the UK (we will not be able to provide visa sponsorship)

Salary & Benefits:

●       £30,600-32500 per annum, dependent on experience, pro rata for 4 days

●       Flexible – 4 or 5 days per week

●       28 days holiday plus bank holidays, including office closure over Christmas

●       Hybrid working, 2-3 days working from home

●       Pension and Life Assurance

●       Medical/Health and dental cover

●       Employee Assistance Programme, and Wellbeing allowance

●       Income Protection policy

●       Working in a flexible office workspace

•  2 Volunteer days per year