Kirsty Harvey

I am currently working at Babcock international on contract accounting. Whilst in this position, I have been dealing with monthly rolling forecasts, month end journals, running GL files to check the accounting position every month, cash forecasting & most importantly, building relationships with project managers to ensure there is synergy between the finance team and the project team to create a good forecast and budget for the next 10+ years.

I was working at the BMW/MINI dealership in
Bridgwater and Barnstaple. I am the sole accountant on-site
compiling together 3 sets of management accounts every
month. This includes sales ledger, purchase ledger, vehicles,
general accruals and balance sheet items plus bonuses &
more. Whilst here I have also contributed to making the
annual budget for both sites I work at.

Every week I put together a cashflow forecast for both sites. I created midmonth forecasts to show what the accounts will look like
come the end of the month, I then compiled estimate accounts
once all the cars for that month have been invoiced out. On
top of this, I did a quarterly VAT Return and monthly payroll
for both dealerships. Managing relationships was a huge
part of my job whilst working here. The accountants on-site
are seen as second in command of the dealership, therefore I
have had to build relationships with all of the managers and
colleagues in the business and I have had to solve issues
where necessary.
Whilst at this job, I really had to work to tight
timescales as the accounts are due on the 8th working day of
every month, I learnt so much about prioritising and working
to a required timescale.

I worked at IVC for 12 months. While here I was tasked with completing monthly VAT Returns for multiple veterinary clinics all over the world.

I dealt with VAT in France, Germany, Spain.

I also was tasked with doing a very large VAT Return for a group of clinics in the Netherlands. This involved a lot of work on improving the process of the VAT Return. Also looking into specific rules in the Netherlands surrounding private use of company cars and BUA (Gift and Hospitality).

I was also in charge of monthly and quarterly EC Sales for the Netherlands.

I only worked at Somerset county council for a short period, but during this time I learned a fair bit. While being here I looked after Risk. I looked at financial risks within the council and how we can mitigate these risks.

I also worked closely with the revenue team and the capital team looking at budget monitoring and had meetings with budget holders to support and challenge them where needed.

Whilst working at North Somerset Council, my job role was very varied. I was exposed to a variety of different ways of working and different teams.

I began working within the capital team for 5 days a week. For the first few months in this job role I was working on VAT and S106. As I had done VAT previously, I had a basic knowledge of it, but working at the council my knowledge expanded significant amounts. I did the VAT Return solely on my own with a manager overviewing and checking it before submission, this helped me gain a lot of confidence within this field. I was one of the main people responsible for making sure the council was compliant with MTD.

After a while, my days in the capital team dropped to 3 days a week, these 3 days I was still looking at VAT and CIL instead of S106. Two days a week, I was working for Public Health. During this time I was working on Public healths salary monitoring, corporate monitoring and occasionally having meetings with managers to discuss forecasted spend. I would upload the forecasts every month, including all the covid grants onto Agresso, our system. After about 9 months, I was moved to Adult social care for the two days a week. I then worked 2 days for adults and 3 for capital. In adult social care, I was again looking at salary monitors and revenue monitors. I was also looking at changes in costs compared to prior years to see why any changes may have be occurring. I have gained a lot of knowledge from the adult social care team since working with them. I have gained knowledge on trend analysis and have a basic knowledge of Care in the Community and S117.

While working with the council, I studied towards ACCA. I am now part qualified with only my last 3 out of 4 advanced exams to go. I am hoping to be fully qualified by January 2023.

I got offered a job at global vans and a couple of weeks later, I got offered my job with North Somerset Council, which was too good of an opportunity to miss. At global vans, I gained a bit more knowledge on industry accounting and did more bank and ledger reconciliations.

I worked for Trustford on my return from Australia. Here I was an accounts assistant, supporting the finance managers in a range of different ways. I learnt how to do accounting within an industry at ford, the motor industry. I did monthly stock checks & reconciliations for these vehicles. I posted the daily bank statements for 4 different sites. I also made weekly spreadsheets detailing the late debtors for each department at the 4 different sites.

• I worked in this hotel in the lead up to me travelling to Australia
• I worked at reception, checking in guests, making beds, talking to guests and solving any issues that may arise
• Bar my training shifts, I worked alone
• The hotel had 99 rooms and most shifts I worked, the hotel was full, and therefore I learnt how to cope with large amounts of people
• I also had sufficient fire training.

• I worked in this pub full time over the Christmas busy period
• My duties included working behind the bar, pouring and serving drinks
• During this time, I learnt how to make a variety of different drinks and gained good social skills and good customer service.

• I have gained a lot of experience and knowledge whilst at this firm
• I have learnt how to prepare small sets of accounts and I also prepare VAT Returns on a quarterly basis
• I prepare these by using systems such as Sage, CCH Accounts Production, Excel, CCH Audit Automation
• Whilst at this firm I have also been trained on how to do trust accounts
• Since working at this firm I have been given responsibility of various things, one of these includes iXBRL tagging of accounts
• I learnt to respond promptly and efficiently to clients
• I have a wide portfolio of clients and often have to communicate with them and third parties.

• I worked in this accountancy practise as an apprentice for over a year
• I gained lots of knowledge during this year
• I was completing bookkeeping using Sage & Xero
• I was also using workflomax and Receipt Bank
• Within these programs I learnt about things such as purchase and sales ledgers, fixed asset registers and more
• Alongside this work I was completing my Level 3 AAT with 3aaa college.

• I completed my work experience here in July 2015 and was asked to return for the summer holidays to work and gain more experience
• My duties consisted of doing receipt reconciliations and data entry of them onto spreadsheets.

• This was a family business and my duties included serving and speaking to customers and helping out with the stock.