A Day in the Life of a Finance Assistant

We recently caught up with Bright Network member, Emmanuel, to chat about how his career is going. Emmanuel has been working as a finance assistant and told us about his personal experience of what a day in the life of a finance assistant is really like. Read on to learn what a finance assistant does and whether it’s the career path for you.

What does a finance assistant do?

Finance assistants have a very similar job to accountants. It’s the finance assistant’s job to help an organisation or individual with looking after and managing their finances. The decision about working for an organisation or an individual is up to you and depends on your interests and experience. The type of finances and tax that you’ll be dealing with will vary between the two. Emmanuel decided to work for an organisation and supports them with their money management. It’s his job to make sure money is smoothly moved and the company is complying with all regulations and policies both in the company and internationally.

We started by asking Emmanuel to reflect on working as a finance assistant.

Is there a project or task that has stood out to you?

One project that stood out to me is IT implementation that the company has undertaken. I played a role in this task with the transition stage and data migration.

What's the most important thing you've learned so far?

If you manage your work well, all is possible, and you’ll never fall behind and will always have to time to help. Working cohesively with your manager and colleagues will thoroughly boost your confidence and knowledge that will help you in the future.

The working conditions of a finance assistant

Being a finance assistant is typically an office-based role and mostly involves working within a finance department. When working as a finance assistant, you may be offered the opportunity for virtual work as the job lends itself well to being online, with relatively few meetings and lots of self-guided tasks - for example, audits and preparing budget information.

We asked Emmanuel about what it’s like working as a finance assistant.

What's been a highlight of working as a finance assistant so far?

A highlight of working at the company is a family-friendly atmosphere, not a day goes by at work where I go home annoyed or sad, always leaving work in a good and upbeat mood. Everyone is there to help each other.

What's one thing you didn't expect?

How intense and time pressured end of year audits are.

A typical day in the life of a finance assistant

Finance assistants work to make sure a company is working well and all finances are in order. This means working with and monitoring the incoming and outgoing flow of money. Typically, it involves working standard office hours of 9am to 5pm on Monday to Friday and taking on tasks which senior colleagues delegate to you. We asked Emmanuel to take us through a typical day in the life of a finance assistant, including the tasks associated with the job.

What does a typical day for you involve?

Main task consists of reconciliations, a bit of data analytics & reporting, management accounting and I have now dabbed into statutory accounts. There are also postings, reporting and working on cashflow.

How you could become a finance assistant

To be a finance assistant, you need a good grasp of the typical finances involved in running a business. This includes payroll, budgeting, tax management and many other areas. Therefore, having a degree in accounting or finance is a great place to start with the job. Alongside this, being very detail-oriented and having a good grasp of software like Excel can be very useful when working as a finance assistant.

We asked Emmanuel for his advice on how you can break into the finance assistant profession.

What three tips would you give to Bright Network members wanting to follow in your footsteps?

Work hard and never give up - you'll always get to your goal no matter what.

Respect your co-workers and this can help you go far.

Be open to helping others & definitely be open to criticism and tips - don’t take anything bad to heart.

Have you been inspired by Emmanuel? Are you considering working life as a finance assistant? Explore the current jobs in financial services and read our accountant job profile to learn more. Want to hear another personal experience? Learn about finance analyst and Bright Network member, Latika, and how she secured her role with Deutsche Bank in her Success Story.