Organisation: Wollongong City Council
Job Title: Accounting Officer
Word Limit: 1000 words
Location: Wollongong
Please explain fully how your experience, skills, knowledge and qualifications meet each of the essential selection criteria as stated in the advertisement
Having completed my Year 12 certificate in 2003, I have gone on to tertiary study, completing the Certificate III in Financial Services, the Diploma of Finance and am currently in my second year of studying the Bachelor of Commerce (Accountancy and Finance) at the University of Wollongong.
Once I complete my Bachelor of Commerce (Accountancy and Finance), I would be very keen to go on to complete the requirements as either a Certified Practising Accountant, or a Chartered Accountant. Over my post-secondary studies, I have developed a passion for learning and development of my skills and which to continue this throughout my career.
In addition to my motivation to continue my studies consistently since 2010, whilst both working and having children, I have demonstrated my willingness to learn in my current role as Billing Clerk for Figtree Private Hospital. Part of my role is to ensure our billing is charged correctly and in alignment with each health fund’s contract with the hospital. To become more efficient within my role, I have willingly learnt the terms and conditions of 24 of the most common health funds and their contracts. This means that I can usually tell very quickly if there is an issue with billing of particular patients, and can rectify this efficiently. Health funds generally review their terms and conditions each year, making this a long term learning commitment to be successful within my role.
I possess excellent verbal communication skills and I communicate with a range of staff, including the Accountant, Executive Manager, Doctors and Surgeons and the Executive Clinical Nurse along with pharmaceutical staff. Given the complex nature of billing, I ensure my communication is clear and concise and I will often reiterate what I say to ensure understanding. On many occasions when patients phone to query their bill, they are not aware of the level of health insurance excess they need to pay. On these occasions, and sometimes with quite irate customers, I use my skills to calm the person down, and explain that we are billing them this amount because their health fund has an excess and they need to speak with their health fund about this issue.
My written communication skills have been demonstrated through my successful progression through university courses, and within those, the writing of countless papers, essays, reports and assignments. The successful completion of each course, demonstrates my success in this area.
My individual responsibilities in my current role include inpatient account billing through collection and collation of all invoices. I process between 150 and 200 accounts daily, making for a busy workplace where I need to remain highly organised and efficient. The Finance Team has 6 staff members who work together to ensure a smooth and functional financial process. We are trained to understand parts of everyone’s roles, so that we can help out if someone is away or struggling. I have a range of deadlines for sending accounts and am held accountable for these deadlines consistently. I have attained all deadlines since beginning in the role and have assisted others on numerous occasions to attain there’s as well.
I provide exceptional customer service, including both internal and external customers. I communicate with customers and often have to deal with challenging and upset patients over the phone. I try to remember that each person is in hospital because they are unwell, and may have issues that I am not aware of. This often makes people more upset than they usually are. By being open and honest with customers as well as providing solutions to their problems, I am able to provide the services required without further upsetting them in the process.
Internal customers are other departments with which I ascertain the billing requirements from. Some areas are extremely busy, and in providing them with efficient service, I can get the information I need for billing without holding them up unnecessarily. I both foster and maintain relationships across a large number of departments which also makes it easier to obtain the information I need for complex billing.
My analytical and problem solving skills are demonstrated through identification of errors produced either within the computerised billing system, or by human error. One example of this is patients who have had surgery where prosthesis of some description is used. There are such an immense number of variables within this process that it needs to be analysed and checked. If I find a problem, I go to the source and go through all of the paperwork of the department they were in to check the details of the billing and ensure it is correct before amending and sending out to the patient.
My numeracy skills are excellent and have seen me complete all of my studies so far successfully. I work with numbers every day at my current role as well as in my previous role as Finance Officer for Canberra Surgicentre. Within this role I was responsible for running reports from the accounting system along with profit and loss statements, reconciliations and health fund coding to ensure accuracy and completeness. Whilst I prefer numbers, my literacy skills have been competent in seeing me through university successfully. As mentioned earlier, I have used these skills to write countless reports, essays and assignments throughout my studies.
As billing clerk I require absolute discretion and confidentiality in patient records. The only person I can discuss patient billing with is the patient themselves, except in situations where I need to speak to a parent of a child or financial power of attorney situations. This extends to times when I receive phone calls, ensuring I can identify who I am speaking with and whether I can discuss anything with them or not. Another area is the confidentiality of the financial position of the hospital, which as part of my role, I am not allowed to discuss with anyone. When talking about my role with others, I choose my words carefully and specifically to ensure I am not breaching confidentiality.
