Organisation: Department of Education and Training
Job Title: Finance Officer, Accounts Payable
Supports strategic direction
Having worked in the Department of Education and Training (DET) Accounts Payable team since March 2012, I have an excellent knowledge of the Queensland Public Sector financial administration legislation and all relevant departmental policies and procedures. This knowledge is demonstrated by the following examples
- During a routine audit, it was discovered that no daily report existed to monitor user activity within the One School system outside of normal hours. To rectify the situation, I analysed the existing browsers and selected the report that most closely resembled what was needed. With technical support, I was able to coordinate the modification of the browser so that a user access report, sorted by time, could be generated. This report is now part of the teams’ daily reporting regime and ensures that our team is acting in accord with relevant departmental policies and procedures and assisting others to do so too.
- As a team, we have criteria that must be met for the validation of new suppliers before they are entered into the One School system. In the past this validation criteria has not always been met, resulting in poor data integrity. As the supervisor of the master data team, I have developed and implemented procedures to ensure that this no longer happens and if in doubt the team refer individual cases to me to assess.
Achieves results
Due to my experience within the department and other roles, I have well developed skills in the use of word processing, spread sheeting and financial databases including, One School and SAP. This is illustrated by
- The department is in the process of developing a new system for online forms. Our team needed a form for clients to use in instances where they had suppliers that could not provide a Tax Invoice or a Statement by a Supplier form. Using Microsoft Word I have developed a comprehensive, user-friendly form, with editable fields for this purpose.
- Using my knowledge of the department’s financial databases and Excel, I have been able to develop new daily reports for our team’s activities. The production of these reports involves extracting data and then manipulating that data with charts and pivot tables. The result has been improved tools for my Team Leader and Manager to effectively analyse departmental data.
- On occasion, due to the absence of one of the other supervisors, it is necessary for a second supervisor to process payment runs and to carry out the checking of parameters and/or vetting in SAP. Although I have spent more time working in the One School system, due to my ability to understand and quickly learn financial database systems, I am able to carry out these duties whenever required.
Supports productive working relationships
Currently, I am supervising a team of seven staff in the SAP and One School master data teams. As a supervisor, I regularly conduct team meetings and provide ongoing support and training to the staff under my supervision. Additionally, I regularly communicate with other teams within the department and with clients to facilitate improved productivity. Following are two such examples
- Due to several conversations I’d had with administrators and others it became apparent to me that at least some schools were not handling the entry of GST into the financial database correctly. Initially I met with my Team Leader and we then met with the tax team to raise and discuss these issues. The tax team investigated further, establishing that there was a widespread issue that needed to be addressed. As supervisor of the master data team and with the support of my Team Leader, I implemented new procedures to ensure any problems with the taxation status of new suppliers could be picked up in the initial stages and communicated back to the relevant stakeholders promptly. We also carried out data analysis in order to find existing suppliers that had been incorrectly entered from a taxation viewpoint and closed those supplier accounts within the database. The tax team followed up on the wider issues across the department.
- On analysing the data within One School, I ascertained that there were many unresolved outstanding items. These are cases when a school has been asked to provide more details as there appears to be an existing supplier within the system with similar, but perhaps not exactly the same, details. For example, a supplier may change their ABN, due to the sale of the business, in which case the original supplier would need to closed and a new one opened, or they may change their bank account details or even the business-trading name but be operating under the same ABN. To address this issue, I developed a report to extract the relevant data from One School and developed a merge email so that I could communicate these outstanding items to the schools concerned quickly and effectively. The result is that this additional communication assists the school by giving them a helpful reminder of outstanding items and it assists my team to maintain an efficient and clean database.
Displays personal drive and integrity
Having always strived to conduct myself with integrity, I am proud that I have a record of applying the principles of employment equity, ethical conduct and workplace health and safety. This demonstrated ability is shown by the following
- A member of my team was not performing up to a reasonable standard and appeared to be spending a great deal of time on personal phone calls. Through a series of meetings and discussions with this employee, it became apparent that some mental health issues might be involved, due to stressful personal circumstances. I counselled this employee in a kind and caring manner, to seek professional advice, which they did. As a consequence, the employees’ work standard improved and resulted in less friction within the team. However, just as importantly, the employee themselves benefited greatly from improved wellbeing.
Communicates with influence
There are many occasions on which I need to communicate effectively with internal and external stakeholders to influence positive change. I have demonstrated my ability to do this through the following situation
- On coming into my current position, I could see that, as a department, we had a major problem with the way we were handling Australia Post accounts across the system. There had been an attempt previously to combine all Australia Post accounts into one central, single supplier. While this initially may have seemed like a good way to simplify supplier data, it actually resulted in a great deal of confusion as Australia Post themselves still had all of the location accounts open and active. To find a solution to this situation I liaised extensively with Australia Post and School Financial Services. It became apparent that for things to work smoothly we needed to go back to the original model of multiple accounts but also needed to implement a clear naming convention to prevent further issues. Additionally the central, single Australia Post supplier has been blocked for external use, but can still be used by our team in the situation where we have a small client needing a one off payment to Australia Post. This has resulted in a much smoother supplier relationship with Australia Post and an efficient entering and payment of invoices by all concerned.
With my proven record of providing sound operational support and advice and my demonstrated operational integrity and excellent communication skills, I know that I can make a valuable contribution in this role.
Word Limit: 2 Pages
Location: Brisbane – Inner City
