~45m ago

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Customer Services Officer (6 posts), Supplier Maintenance Officer (1 post), Payments Officer (2 post) (EA Employees & Agency Staff)

Antrim-Belfast-Belfast Office, Down-Dundonald-Dundonald Office, Armagh-Armagh-Armagh Officelead

Customer SupportCustomer Service Representative

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Quick Summary

Key Responsibilities

Management and Supervision of Staff The Accounts Payable Customer Services, Payments, and Supplier Maintenance Officers will plan, manage and delegate work within the section,

Technical Tools

Customer SupportCustomer Service Representative

Job Description

Service area: Finance Directorate – Accounting and Financial Services – Accounts Payable

Responsible to: Senior Customer Services
Senior Payments Officer, or
Senior Supplier Maintenance Officers

Job Purpose:

The Accounts Payable Customer Services, Payments and Supplier Maintenance Officers will be responsible for managing Supplier/Customer accounts, ensuring the accurate and timely payment of invoices, whilst ensuring all issues/queries have been investigated and resolved.

The post holder will be responsible for the maintenance of all supplier information in line with procedures and processes within the Education Authority (EA).

The role will involve managing the processing of payments and assisting with the development and implementation of new systems for payments ensuring all staff have been trained.

Provide specialist advice, information and support to all internal/external stakeholders such as officers within Directorates, Schools, Suppliers and other organisations on a wide and diverse range of matters relating to the Accounts Payable function.

Deputise for the Accounts Payable Senior Customer Services, Senior Payments and Senior Supplier Maintenance Officers as and when required.

Personal Specification

As the responsibilities of the post are varied and demanding the post holder should display excellent planning/organisation skills, ability to work to tight deadlines, be committed and ensure confidentiality at all times.

The post holder should be capable of working with the minimum of supervision, be flexible in their approach to educational and administrative changes which may occur from time-to-time.

Functional Links

The Accounts Payable Customer Services, Payments and Supplier Maintenance Officers will collaborate and engage with a wide range of internal/external stakeholders such as staff across all EA Directorates, Suppliers, Contractors, Department of Education, Department of Finance, HMRC and other organisations ensuring an efficient function delivery. Provision of information as requested whilst always ensuring the efficient delivery of the function at all times. The post holder will be required to interpret and implement processes and procedures, to give clear advice and make routine decisions.

Main duties and Responsibilities:

Management and Supervision of Staff

The Accounts Payable Customer Services, Payments, and Supplier Maintenance Officers will plan, manage and delegate work within the section, ensuring compliance with financial procedures/controls and adherence to all deadlines.
In collaboration with the Senior Customer Services, Payments and Supplier Maintenance Office, train new staff and monitoring their progress.
Carry out Performance and Achievement Conversations with the team.
Supervision of the team including discipline and ensuring staff welfare.
Maintaining a working knowledge of all procedures and processes relating to the Accounts Payable function.
Maintaining a working knowledge of Oracle Payables, I-Procurement and other financial systems used by the Authority.
Maintaining a working knowledge of the Construction Industry Scheme (CIS), Check Employment Status for Tax (CEST), HMRC regulations or other similar schemes that occur.

Invoice Processing and Payments

Ensuring that all invoices/orders are authorised correctly in line with EA’s Authorisation Framework.
Ensuring that all goods/services ordered and invoiced for, are in accordance with the EA’s Financial Procedures.
Ensuring that the payment of monies to individuals meets HMRC requirements.
Coding, checking and batching of all payments such as school meals, capital invoices and other general invoices.
Input of batches to Financial system and approval of same.
Identification and amendment of any imbalanced batches on the system.
Checking reports to identify errors/incorrect payments and making the correcting adjustments.
Correction of errors identified by reports, suppliers or by other organisations.
Matching and approving all I-procurement invoices for all Directorates and schools.
Processing the accurate and prompt payment of all UNITAS computer generated invoices.
Develop working relationships with smaller suppliers as you deal with their outstanding invoices and reconcile their supplier’s statement and assist the Heads of Invoicing, Payments and Other Non-Invoice Function and the Senior Customer Services, Senior Payments and Senior Supplier Maintenance Officers with queries relating to the large suppliers.
Monitor all on-hold reports ensuring that all invoices on-hold are followed up to resolve all issues to meet prompt payment targets.
Ensure that the staff travel and expenses processed by the Payment Officer Assistant have been checked and keyed to meet the deadlines for each deadline.
Preparation of smaller Group Bills on spreadsheets for authorization and processing.
Ensure that all petty cash claims are supported by eligible invoices within policy limits.
Assist with the preparation of any Emergency payments and Foreign Payments.

File Maintenance

Maintenance of the Supplier Master File data in respect of new/amended suppliers and supplier sites.
Updating the Supplier Master File data in respect of information such as BACS details and other details.
Identification of suppliers appropriate for supplier merge and/or deletion.
Creation of Purchasing Suppliers/Purchasing sites for I-procurement.

Administration

Dealing with all Accounts Payable function enquiries from schools, suppliers, Directorates, and other organisations.
Dealing with queries regarding orders, incorrect invoices, credit notes, debit notes and liaising with staff within Schools/Directorates regarding same.
Dealing with queries regarding the employment of individuals and associated tax implications.
Dealing with problems relating to the receipting of I-procurement invoices.
Dealing with the recoupment of erroneous payments.
Dealing with queries and extracting information required by internal/external stakeholders such as Audit, Schools, Directorates, Suppliers and Department of Education.
Assisting and supporting the Heads of Invoicing, Payments and Other Non-Invoice Function and the Senior Customer Services, Senior Payments and Senior Supplier Maintenance Officer as required.
Filing of all paid invoices and reports.
Reviewing Suppliers Statements and ensuring that all outstanding invoices are identified and processed accurately and promptly.
In the absence of the Heads of Invoicing, Payment and Other Non-Invoice Function and the Senior Customer Services, Senior Payments and Senior Supplier Maintenance Officers process all weekly cheque and BACS runs.

Other Duties

Comply with Education Authority policies and procedures in relation to the duties and responsibilities of the post.
Any such other duties that the Authority may from time to time require.

The list of duties is not intended to be exhaustive or exclusive. The post holder may be required to undertake various other duties as deemed necessary and commensurate with the level of responsibility of the post. The Authority reserves the right to update the Job Description to reflect the changing needs of the Function in consultation with the post holder. This job description is intended to provide a broad outline of responsibilities and reflects an initial assessment of the needs of the Directorate. As such, it is not intended to be exhaustive, and may be subject to on-going review and refinement to ensure the Directorate’s ability to meet the evolving needs of the business. Other reasonable duties may be assigned by the Director, the Assistant Director, the Accounts Payable Function Lead, the Account Payable Manager and other line managers.

Note, as the role carries regional responsibility, travel across Education Authority sites will be required in order to attend meetings, participate in projects and fulfil full range of duties and responsibility. The base location is to be agreed with the Accounts Payable Functional Lead.

In accordance with Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act (1998), the post-holder is expected to promote good relations, equality of opportunity and pay due regard for equality legislation at all times.

To view the summary of terms and conditions for this post, click here.

PERSON SPECIFICATION

NOTES TO JOB APPLICANTS

1. You must clearly demonstrate on your application form under each question, how, and to what extent you meet the required criteria as failure to do so may result in you not being shortlisted. You should clearly demonstrate this for both the essential and desirable criteria, where relevant.

2. You must demonstrate how you meet the criteria by the closing date for applications, unless the criteria state otherwise.

3. The stage in the process when the criteria will be measured is outlined in the table below.

4. Shortlisting will be carried out on the basis of the essential criteria set out in Section 1 below, using the information provided by you on your application form.

5. Please note that the Selection Panel reserves the right to shortlist only those applicants that it believes most strongly meet the criteria for the role.

6. In the event of an excessive number of applications, the Selection Panel also reserves the right to apply any desirable criteria as outlined in Section 3 at shortlisting, in which case these will be applied in the order listed. It is important therefore that you also clearly demonstrate on your application form on how you meet any desirable criteria.

Section 1 - Essential Criteria

The following are essential criteria which will initially be measured at the shortlisting stage and which may also be further explored during the interview/selection stage. You should therefore make it clear on your application form how, and to what extent you meet these criteria. Failure to do so may result in you not being shortlisted.

Factor	Essential Criteria	Method of Assessment
Qualifications/ Experience	Hold an NVQ Level 3, BTEC National, 2 A Levels or equivalent or higher and have two years’ experience in an administrative role in a financial environment; OR Have four years’ experience in an administrative role in a financial environment.	Shortlisting by Application Form
Skills/ Abilities	Demonstrate by example your ability to achieve targets and objectives within a demanding and pressurised environment against challenging deadlines. Demonstrate by example your ability to provide an excellent service to a customer.
Other	The successful candidate will be required: to have access to a suitable vehicle (appropriately maintained and insured for Education Authority business) that will enable them to carry out the mobility requirements of the post in an efficient and effective manner and thus meet this essential criterion; OR be able to provide sufficient information on the application form that will satisfy the employer that he/she has access to an appropriate alternative form of transport that will enable them to carry out the mobility requirements of the post in an efficient and effective manner and thus meet this essential criterion.	Shortlisting by Application Form

Section 2 - Essential Criteria

The following are additional essential criteria which will be measured during the interview/selection stage in line with EA’s Game Changing People Model.

Factor	Essential Criteria	Method of Assessment
Knowledge	The job requirements of the Accounts Payable Customer Services, Payments and Supplier Maintenance The functions of the Education Authority, EA policies and procedures Accounts Payable Systems and control regulations
Skills/ Abilities	In line with EA’s Game Changing People Model we will look for evidence of: Ability to lead, direct, motivate a team and effectively build working relationships through effective communication. Good organisational skills and ability to organise a busy workload to deliver effective results on time. Flexibility to meet changing demands and to prioritise and delegate as required. Ability to take a responsive and customer focused approach to work. Good Excel skills to analyse data to measure performance.	Interview
Values Orientation	Evidence of how your experience and approach to work reflect EA’s ethos and values. You will find information about our Values here.	Interview

Section 3 - Desirable Criteria

Some or all of the desirable criteria may be applied by the Selection Panel in order to determine a manageable pool of candidates. Desirable criteria will be applied in the order listed. You should make it clear on your application form how, and to what extent you meet the desirable criteria, as failure to do so may result in you not being shortlisted.

Factor

Desirable Criteria

Method of Assessment

Qualification

Working towards an Accountancy qualification e.g. Accounting Technician.

Shortlisting by Application Form

Experience

Demonstrable experience working within the Accounts Payable function.

Demonstrate experience by an example of a time when you have managed other staff.

Our Values

Through the selection process we will also seek evidence that the personal values of candidates align with those of the EA. This will include evidence of commitment to equality and excellence in service delivery. These reflect our aim which is to meet the needs of all our children and young people equally, removing barriers to learning and ensuring equality of access to excellent education services so that every child can develop to his or her full potential.

DISCLOSURE OF CRIMINAL BACKGROUND

The Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups (Northern Ireland) Order 2007 defines working directly with children or young people or in specified places as ‘regulated activity’.

In the event that you are recommended for appointed to a post that involves ‘regulated activity’, the Education Authority will be required to undertake an Enhanced Disclosure of Criminal Background. Please note that you WILL be expected to meet the cost of an Enhanced Disclosure Certificate. Details of how to make payment will be sent to you at the pre-employment stage.

Further information can be accessed at NI Direct or the Department of Justice.

APPLICANT GUIDANCE NOTES

To view the applicant guidance notes, please click here.

To learn about the many great benefits of joining the Education Authority, click here

The Education Authority is an Equal Opportunities Employer.