Organisation: Government of Western Australia
Job Title: Finance Officer, Department of Aboriginal Affairs
Location: East Perth
Re: Finance Officer (Position #24076)
To whom it may concern,
With strong experience in financial positions gained over a varied work history, I am now seeking a new
challenge that will allow me to draw on the skills I have developed throughout my career. The position of
Finance Officer with the Government of Western Australia’s Department of Aboriginal Affairs is a great
match for the strengths and transferrable skills that I bring to a role. Holding a demonstrated record of
achievement and seeking a position where I can be challenged and extended, I have a range of strengths
that meet the abilities and knowledge sought by the selection criteria for this position.
Possessing the benefit of an extensive work history encompassing a number of different financial
accounting and management, I have developed skills and knowledge relevant to the various aspects of the
advertised vacancy. In my current role as an Accounts Officer with Clough Ltd, an international public
company, I am engaged primarily to assist the company to reconcile a large backlog of corporate
multicurrency bank accounts; in this position I regularly undertake roles including bank reconciliation and
month end reporting. A previous position with Alcoa as a Cost Analyst saw me performing costing,
reporting and budgeting functions. An example of the work I performed in this role was to review and
check the accuracy of data before creating journal entries. In this position I also assisted in the compilation
of Pay As You Go (PAYG) transactions and Fringe Benefits Tax and Luxury Car Tax reporting to the Australian
Taxation Office.
A past position with the United Kingdom's National Health Service (NHS) saw me engaged in budgeting and
forecasting activities, providing figures to enable forecast of incomes as a percentage of expenditures.
Budgeting activities were also a component of my role as an Administration and Finance Officer with the
Australian Red Cross. I am familiar with the audit process, having assisted with internal audits and prepared
and filed documents for external audit during my tenure at Alcoa.
I have demonstrated the soundness of my numeracy skills in multiple positions, most particularly my role
with Alcoa which required me to produce costing models based on data entered in to a module. This data
needed to be entirely accurate, to allow proper reporting on required journal entries. Another display of
my strong numeracy skills is demonstrated in my role at Clough Ltd, where I am currently dealing with a
very high volume of bank transactions requiring complete accuracy in my work to allow reconciliation to be
performed.
My past roles have seen me develop experience in using a range of software applications, including SAP
and Oracle. Additionally, I have relied heavily on Microsoft Excel in several previous roles, including at Alcoa
where Excel based modules were used to create data files for uploading into Oracle, and at Synergy as a
billing officer I used Excel to perform analysis of electricity meter readings. In 2012 I undertook formal
training in the form of the Excel Level 3 (Advanced) qualification.
In my role with the NHS I was part of the implementation team that was in charge of rolling out the
introduction of Oracle to the whole of NHS finance operations. Responsible for providing training in the
procurement function, my well-developed verbal and written communication skills were called upon to
develop written training materials then deliver training workshops to groups of staff. Working
autonomously to a deadline by which all training needed to be completed, I was responsible for scheduling
training, coordinating the required travel and delivering the material I created. By effectively working
independently to achieve the tasks assigned to me, I contributed to the wider implementation team
objective of having the Oracle system successfully rolled out in accordance with required timeframes.
This training delivery project with the NHS was an opportunity to demonstrate my well-developed
interpersonal skills, as I travelled the country dealing with diverse groups of staff. My role as a billing officer
at Synergy also saw me relying on good interpersonal and communication skills as I fielded calls from
customers with account enquiries. Frequently dealing with disgruntled or frustrated customers, I was able
to use effective communication skills to communicate with sensitivity in order to find a resolution to the
customer’s query or complaint.
Particular positions during my career have required me to work closely with others in a team environment
in order to achieve outcomes. At Synergy, I worked as part of a large team of billing officers. This role
required me to operate with a high degree of cooperation and communication with my fellow billing team
members, as well as to work closely with other teams in areas such as the legal and customer service
departments. In this environment the billing team worked together to achieve team goals of work output
and quality, towards which each member contributed. My current role at Clough Ltd sees me working
within a team of eight accounts staff sharing a high workload. Working effectively with other team
members to assist each other and redistribute tasks dependent on time availability, my team is achieving
processing of a high volume of accounts payable and bank reconciliations.
Able to identify opportunities for system improvements and implement positive changes, I was
instrumental in driving the solution to a flaw in the iProcurement function of the Oracle system when this
was rolled out to the NHS. Recognising that online expense claims were not being accepted for staff who
had recently changed work locations due to a discrepancy between the system’s record of their location
and the location provided on the expense claim, I worked with other departments to drive a solution.
Creating a new layer of reporting, I implemented a system of monthly notification from the network of
Human Resource Managers to the finance team to allow changes in work location to be recorded on the
Oracle system. In this way the problem of online expense payments was solved and the accuracy of NHS
staffing records improved.
I am confident that my extensive abilities and knowledge in the financial field well equips me for the role of
Finance Officer. Please find attached my resume which further outlines my skills and experience. Thank you
for your time in considering my application, I look forward to speaking with you to discuss the strengths I
can bring to this position.
