Business and Finance assistant apprenticeship - Ad Astra Academy Trust

Administration

• Provide a welcoming, courteous and professional first point of contact, responding to routine telephone, email and face-to-face enquiries and referring matters appropriately.
• Undertake general office duties, including preparing correspondence, scanning, filing, photocopying, maintaining electronic records, arranging post and ordering stationery.
• Enter, update and retrieve information accurately using management information, finance and office systems, in accordance with access permissions and local procedures.
• Support the organisation of meetings, visits, events and appointments, including room bookings, papers, attendance records and follow-up actions.
• Maintain orderly records and support document retention, archiving and secure disposal arrangements.
• Assist with Trust records as directed, checking information for completeness and escalating discrepancies.
• Produce routine documents, spreadsheets, reports and presentations using Microsoft 365 or other approved systems.
• Work collaboratively with colleagues across the school or trust and provide reasonable cover within the administration team when required.

Finance

• Support the processing of purchase requisitions, purchase orders, goods received records and invoices in line with the Trust’s financial procedures and delegated authority arrangements.
• Check invoices and supporting documentation for accuracy, coding, authorisation and potential duplication, referring exceptions to an authorised colleague.
• Assist with maintaining supplier records, responding to routine queries and preparing information for payment runs without independently authorising expenditure.
• Support income administration, including receipting, banking records, payment system reports and follow-up of routine outstanding balances as directed.
• Assist with reconciliations, budget monitoring and the preparation of routine financial reports, identifying and escalating differences promptly.
• Maintain complete, accurate and auditable records and provide documents for internal checks, external audit or assurance reviews.
• Handle financial and personal information securely and maintain appropriate separation of duties at all times.