We’re looking for a Finance Credit Controller located at our Head Office in Westminster.
£35,000.00 per annum, working 35 hours per week. Benefits include 25 days Annual Leave, pension schemes, staff discounts, healthcare and career progression.
Want to feel like you have an exciting future? You’ll feel at home here.
Making you feel at home here means helping you thrive in every way. That’s why we offer a wide range of benefits, award-winning Learning & Development and a culture that welcomes all. These aren’t token gestures - we’ve thought long and hard about how best to support our team. After all, our people are doing something amazing: helping to transform lives every day.
As a credit controller you are to manage the timely collection of a portfolio of residential Care home debtors. You are also to collect care fees from self-funding and local government authority residents.
Previous experience of working within social/health care business would be advantageous but is not necessarily a pre-requisite for this role.
This role requires a valid Right to Work for the UK as Look Ahead are not a sponsoring organisation.
What you’ll do:
- Managing and leading a team of credit controllers, providing guidance, support, and performance management to achieve departmental goals.
- Developing and implementing credit control policies and procedures, ensuring adherence to regulatory guidelines and best practices.
- Evaluating and assessing creditworthiness of new and existing customers, setting credit limits, and monitoring credit exposure.
- Proactively managing the debtor ledger, ensuring accurate and timely collection of outstanding payments through effective credit control techniques.
- Reviewing and analysing aged debt reports, identifying and resolving payment issues, and initiating appropriate action to recover outstanding amounts.
- Collaborating with sales, customer service, and other relevant departments to resolve customer queries, disputes, and discrepancies in a timely manner.
- Conducting regular credit risk assessments, monitoring credit insurance coverage, and recommending changes to credit terms and limits as required.
- Developing and maintaining strong relationships with key customers, understanding their payment processes, and addressing any concerns or issues.
- Producing regular reports and management information on credit control performance, debtor aging, and cash flow forecasting.
- Chasing overdue invoices via telephone and email and Obtaining remittance advices
- Producing and issuing customer invoices
- Allocating unallocated invoices & payments in Quickbooks.
- Sending accounts to legal and processing the relevant documentation
- Liaising with internal sales teams and others as required to resolve issues
- Meeting and exceeding set credit control targets based on percentages outstanding
- Manage and maintain accurate excel spreadsheets
- Create forecasts for management team
- Month end ledger close and producing aging reports
- Ability to work as part of a team as well as individually establishing and maintaining good working relationships both internally and external to the business
- Reconciling bank statements
- Creating Weekly debt reports
This is not an exhaustive list of all the duties and responsibilities that may be required from time to time and is subject to change in accordance with the needs of Look Ahead
Main responsibilities:
- Responsible for ensuring the timely collection of cash within agreed payment terms and credit limits.
- Identify unpaid balances that are subject to dispute/query to negotiate a resolution to allow payment to be collected.
- Ensure the accuracy of invoices and resolve customer queries within agreed timescales.
- Ensure that customers operate within their credit limits using an automated dunning process.
- Ensure timely payments are made and seek support from other departments as necessary.
- Manage customer debt levels to ensure the ageing profile is within agreed tolerances.
What you’ll bring:
- Previous Credit Controller or Accounts experience
- A clear thinker, commercially focused, calm under pressure, and an excellent communicator
- Passionate about continuous improvement, with a track record of delivering leaner and more effective systems and processes in a growing business
- A High degree of commercial acumen is essential
- Intermediate level in the use of Microsoft Excel.
- Ability to work under your own initiative to meet agreed deadlines.
- Excellent communication skills
- Commercial exposure to billing as an outsourced hard services contractor
- Experience of operating within the social housing sector an advantage
About us:
Look Ahead is a dynamic, leading, not-for-profit care and support provider in London and the South East. As an organisation we deliver over 110 services, providing support to around 7000 customers each year. We work across mental health, homelessness, young people and learning disabilities so there are plenty of opportunities to grow and progress your career with us.
Look Ahead is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and adults at risk, and expects all employees, workers and volunteers to share this commitment.
If your application for this role is unsuccessful, but we feel that you would be suitable for another role, we may contact you to discuss alternative opportunities. If this occurs you would not need to submit another application for the alternative role.
We reserve the right to close this advert early if we are able to appoint to the vacancy before the advertised closed date.
We are committed to diversity and inclusion at work and are accredited with Silver in the Inclusive Employers Standard 2021. We are a proud member of the Employers Domestic Abuse Covenant and encourage applications from a diverse range of applicants of all backgrounds.