Finance Assistant- Internship

Colas Ltd are a global civil-engineering contractor specialising in highway infrastructure – some of our current projects include a £20mil bridge construction scheme over a motorway in Dover and a £16mil town centre bus boulevard scheme in central Swindon. We have a unique opportunity for a Finance intern to join us on a paid fixed term contract. This would suit individuals either fresh out of school/college looking to go straight into industry focusing on finance, or alternatively, a graduate who needs to do a 12 month placement as part of their finance degree.

We have two finance internships available, you will have an overview of the positions, and then move to a specific role.

PI002 : Financial Controller Assistant

PI003 : Creditors Financial Analyst Assistant

PI002 : Financial Controller Assistant

Cash performance

• Produce the weekly debtor ageing report
• Reconcile the clients’ outstanding per project
• Calculate the WIP of each project based on the cost-based progress revenue method (IFRS 15)
• Reforecast expected cash outflows weekly
• Calculate the Cash Conversion Cycle for each legal entity
• Monitor intercompany debtors

Data integrity

• Run controls on resources not receipted in the cost capture tool
• Run controls on PO raised on the wrong WBS element
• Run internal controls/audits on the use of WBS elements
• Audit every week the project filing for securing the commercial position

Project performance

• Ensure all recharge projects have no balance at month-end
• Support Cost Control by monitoring project resources, cost capture, and cost reallocations
• Produce the management report on the month-end CVR position
• Update the corporate R&O register when required

Budget process

• Support the budget process by coordinating its preparation
• Prepare activity forecast with projects
• Review final project positions with compensation event and cost forecast assumptions
• Monitor overhead evolution against forecast
• Provide help with compiling the budget package

PI003 : Creditor Financial Analyst Assistant

Transaction

• Monitor invoices blocked in the scanning solution
• Refine the scanning solution rules with the service provider support team
• Liaise with the scanning solution support team about OCR errors
• Match invoices with receipts (three-way matching)
• Code invoices not matched
• Push receipts not signed off before month-end

Data integrity

• Liaise with all parties regarding non-compliant invoices/documents
• Run controls on non-compliant orders
• Audit regularly each step of the subcontract management process
• Investigate each single one-shot supplier
• Update the risk matrix report on the payable process weekly

Training

• Train project teams on the resource planning tool for better cost capture
• Train project teams on the cost capture system
• Support finance and project teams training on the recent updates of the P2P process
• Support finance and project teams training on fraud prevention

Tax

• Audit the GL daily and ensure VAT codes are applied correctly
• Audit the GL daily and ensure CIS is applied correctly on subcontracts
• Run controls on the supplier database and ensure VAT codes are set accurately by default
• Run controls on the supplier database and ensure subcontractor tags are set accurately by default

To be considered for these roles you’ll need to be fresh out of school/college, or alternatively, mid-way through a university degree and looking to do a placement year - these are paid internships and will look fantastic on your CV for a future career in finance.

Personally, you’ll be eager to learn, reliable, hard-working, organised and comfortable working to deadlines as either part of a team or individually. You’ll have a specific training plan devised to increase your skills, knowledge and understanding of the activity. We are highly selective. You’ll be commutable to Birmingham Business Park in Solihull and comfortable beginning your career on the UK minimum wage.

Colas Ltd are a UK subsidiary of the global Colas Group, which operates in over 50 countries worldwide and employs over 55,000 people including over 1500 in the UK across multiple sites. We are specialists in highways construction and have been involved in large scale UK and international construction projects within the highways, airfields and marine sectors as well as offering highways maintenance services and manufacturing our own innovative surfacing products. We hold a ‘Gold Investor in People’ award for continuously developing and rewarding our employees, offering excellent career potential.

Colas is fully committed to promoting equality and diversity and maintaining a culture of fairness, transparency and respect for all employees, clients, communities, suppliers, contractors and other stakeholders. Colas aims to be inclusive, meet diverse needs and promote awareness and ownership in the workplace and the communities in which we serve.

Colas values the strength and differences that a diverse workforce brings to the organisation and believes that by harnessing these differences, we will foster a productive environment where equity and mutual respect are intrinsic, where talents are being fully utilised and organisational goals are met.