Ben Harris

In my role as assistant manager, my main goal is to support the growth and development of the business support team within the business. Our department offers everything from a virtual FD role, to bookkeeping and VAT return submission process'.

As well as this, I also:

• Managed a team of junior professionals, promoting professional development.
• Analysed complex financial data, providing meaningful insights for company leadership.
• Suggested revenue-raising initiatives to support business expansion efforts.
• Provided key input in strategic decision-making meetings, influencing company direction.
• Streamlined financial procedures to improve efficiency and accuracy.

In this role, I was tasked with trying to modernise elements of the firm, to improve efficiencies and ensure we were working smarter. This ranged from, speaking and presenting to our clients to review their process' and systems and suggesting alternative accounting software (namely Xero) to developing our own internal systems for debt chasing and bookkeeping, whilst developing a digital team to help bring improvements practice-wide.

Most notable achievements include:

- Demonstrations to clients on Xero & Dext to show how their software can bring about efficiencies and the way they work.

- Produced photo and video content to clients to help with their setup on Xero.

- Segmented client base into industries by creating my own database, so I could better advise on what software to recommend.

- Saving the admin department, on average 6 hours a week by developing the system for chasing debt.

- Developing the practices' internal "bot", to reconcile banks overnight.

- Improvements through software in the bookkeeping department, making efficiencies so that staff needs were reduced by over 50%

• Prepared and distributed financial statements and reports, including variance reports, regulatory filings and related schedules.
• Prepared VAT and income tax forms for commercial and individual clients.
• Organised and carried out month-end, quarterly and year-end processes.
• Updated journal entries and accounts with Xero software and submitted using IRIS & TaxCalc.
• Analysed files and accounts for discrepancies, accurately resolving variances.

• Prepared Excel spreadsheets to track banking transactions and financial performance.
• Calculated bills owed by customers, prepared invoices and distributed statements.
• Completed daily and monthly bank reconciliations and noted any discrepancies.
• Reconciled all company accounts, including credit cards and expenses.
• Followed documentation procedures to maintain robust recordkeeping system.
• Prepared annual and monthly tax returns and tax compliance documents.

• Input sales, purchase and cash transactions.
• Processed travel expenses and reimbursements for clients.
• Uploaded bank transactions onto Microsoft NAV daily, cross-checking information to efficiently reconcile bank accounts.
• Update of company wide internal hub, with all clients information
• Compiled monthly journal entries into general ledger system.
• Prepared year-end accounts, VAT returns and personal tax returns ahead of deadlines.
• Helped with preparation of management accounts and end-month duties.