Senior Finance Assistant

Senior Finance Assistant

Location: Hybrid / Halifax

Department: Finance

Contract type:  Permanent 

About the role 

We’re looking for a Senior Accounts Assistant to join our Finance team!

As part of our Finance team, you will be responsible for supporting the organisations transactional finance processes, encompassing our company values and contributing to a continuous improvement culture. 

Working to team KPI’s to ensure accuracy and adherence to the organisation's policies, controls and SLAs, whilst building and maintaining excellent working relationships with both internal and external key stakeholders.

Activate Group is a growing UK business with 1,000+ team members nationwide. This is an exciting opportunity to build a long-term career with a company that values its people and offers genuine development and progression opportunities. 

Key responsibilities 

• Process sales invoices accurately and on time across 3 entities, ensuring the correct customer, reference and VAT treatment are applied.
• Provide purchase ledger support, including checking supplier invoices for correct coding and obtaining the appropriate approvals before processing.
• Assist with the weekly payment runs, including preparing payments, obtaining approvals and producing exception reports for items that cannot be paid.
• Manage the disbursement of funds on behalf of clients, ensuring payments are accurate, authorised and fully documented.
• Reconcile invoices against bespoke claims management systems to confirm that work has been correctly billed and paid.
• Calculate commission fees accurately in line with agreed terms and ensure they are invoiced or deducted correctly.
• Complete bank reconciliations, matching receipts and payments to invoices, bills and remittances, and investigating unallocated items.
• Prepare nominal ledger reconciliations, identifying and correcting discrepancies in a timely manner.
• Maintain accurate data and trackers in Microsoft Excel to support billing, payments and reporting.
• Assist with the preparation of weekly cash flow reporting, highlighting unusual or unexplained movements.
• Assist with the preparation of month-end reports and support the wider month-end close process.
• Provide ad hoc reports and analysis as requested by the finance team and the wider business.
• Resolve queries from clients, repairers, suppliers and colleagues, responding to emails professionally and within agreed timescales.
• Maintain the asset register for 2 entities

Skills and experience 

Essential:

• Experience in an accounts or finance administration role.
• Working knowledge of Xero, Sage 200 or similar accounting systems (raising invoices, credit notes and bills; reading supplier and customer ledgers).
• Confident with Microsoft Excel and Outlook, including working from a shared mailbox.
• Accurate and methodical, with the ability to reconcile figures and spot errors.
• Able to manage a high volume of queries, prioritise and follow work through to completion.

Desirable:

• Understanding of insurance claims or the vehicle repair sector.
• AAT level 3 Qualified or above

Benefits 

We believe in rewarding our people for the great work they do. When you join Activate Group, you can expect: 

• 33 days holiday, including bank holidays 
• Personal health cash plan – claim back the cost of everyday healthcare such as dental and optical check-ups 
• Enhanced maternity, paternity, adoption and shared parental pay 
• Life assurance at three times your basic salary 
• Free breakfasts and fresh fruit 
• A birthday surprise for everyone  

What you can expect from us 

At Activate Group, we want everyone to have the tools and support they need to do their best work. We’re an innovative business that continuously reviews and improves our systems, processes and ways of working, making sure they support our teams to do their jobs effectively. 

Every role at Activate Group is aligned to our wider business vision and purpose – making someone’s bad day better. You’ll understand how your role contributes to the bigger picture and how your work helps deliver excellent outcomes for customer and partners. 

We believe work should be enjoyable. We make time to celebrate success, recognise achievements and bring people together at team events and company-wide celebrations. We’ll also support your ongoing development through regular feedback and career planning. 

Whether you’re based in one of our contact centres in Halifax, Peterborough or Huddersfield, working at an Activate Accident Repair (AAR) site, or working from home, you’ll be part of a supportive culture where people are encouraged to succeed. 

A bit about us 

Activate Group is a fast-growing business approaching 1,000 team members nationwide. 

We work with some of the UK’s largest fleets and insurance companies, supporting drivers that have been involved in road incidents through our contact centres in Halifax, Peterborough and Huddersfield. 

We manage every step of the repair journey - repairing vehicles at our own Activate Accident Repair (AAR) body shops, as well as through a UK-wide network of trusted independent repair partners. 

We also work with the UK’s largest vehicle manufacturers, supporting their approved repair programmes, and deliver innovative technology solutions to fleets, vehicle repair centres and dealerships. 

Our purpose & values 

Our purpose underpins everything we do: Make someone’s bad day better 

Our values define how we work with our team members, customers and suppliers: 

• Make it happen – Be accountable. Take the initiative, work fast, and do a great job. 
• Strive for better – Be bold. Challenge the norm - make small improvements often. 
• Win together – Be a team player. Win together, learn together, respect each other.