Finance Business Officer Review

I am responsible for approving invoices / journals, reviewing monthly & quarterly forecasts & performance, Monthly management accounts, Monitoring Deferred incomes, chairing quarterly finance review meetings, supporting with income & expenditure queries, Completing external financial returns, supporting bids & tenders, annual budgets, support services with forecasting, completing year end processes, inducting & training, VAT queries, Monitoring P-Card, Voluntary income, Payroll.

Yes, recent work on contribution / profit and types of budget are especially relevant to my role. It has also been extremely useful spending time on spreadsheets. This has always been an area I wanted to learn / develop but never had the luxury of giving it the time and space it needed.

I really enjoy learning and developing my skills. The online classes are great, and my experience of the tutors has been excellent. They really understand the demands of the apprenticeship and what it's like to juggle alongside a career. The content, pace and variety are fantastic. I would love to carry on learning and complete Level 4.

Sally has given us a clear structure to the whole programme, I know what is being covered and when and when the exams are. The resources are sent out in good time and the use of SharePoint to share information is excellent. Portfolio work is also set in advance with scheduled submission dates.

I sometimes don't get the time the apprenticeship requires due to busier periods at work, e.g. year end. However, I discuss the pressures in my monthly supervision and my line manager lets me delegate and prioritise appropriately. I don't actually need the month end gap in training, it would be interesting if others actually do need this break.

Excellent support is available. I know that I can email my tutor and she will respond. I also have regular Check in meetings to discuss my progress. There is also the understanding of what the apprenticeship involves and tutors are flexible in their approach. Paragon have been particularly supportive when I had to take an unavoidable break in learning.

I can't progress without this qualification; it's essential. As I work in the unstable Charity sector, the qualification gives me the confidence that I could potentially seek employment elsewhere if needed. It gives me confidence in my decisions and learning the technical language has been particularly useful in my role.

We do regular fundraising and awareness activities, plus marketing. I have atttended fairs and car boot sales, coffee shop Marketing events and Young Person Activity days. The finance team meet in person at least every couple of months and I go down to the head office in Watford once a quarter.

Yes

I'm proud to work for Action for Children. The work we do across the country is invaluable. I couldn't work in finance in an organisation that didn't have a positive impact. I have worked in the commercial sector previously and I love that my role helps children and families across the UK.

Be your authentic self. Action for Children is a diverse organisation with inclusion and equality at the forefront. It's a great place to work. The pay isn't as competitive but the flexible working and work / life balance pays for itself. There are lots of staff networks and support.