Georgina Higgens Email and Phone Number

I am working as a COINS system specialist consultant. I can provide general system support, lead implementations, or advise on module/usage reviews. Please feel free to get in touch for more details.

Following a period of three months where I temporarily managed the project team, I was subsequently asked to take over permanently.

I was the project accountant for the systems implementation team, working on moving the business from a variety of systems, onto COINS. I specialised in the plant control and fixed assets modules, however I also developed a good knowledge on all the other modules in use. I also had a lot of involvement with the system and user setup, and I configured all the forms in the system to make them company specific. I was also involved in other projects outside of COINS. This included designing and implementing the Aurora face recognition software, and the implementation of the Gane fingerprint recognition.For all of these implementations, I dealt with consultants and technical developers to get the systems setup. I then produced some comprehensive user manuals and provided end user training. Subsequently to go live we setup in internal helpdesk which I am the second line of support on.In January, I was asked to temporarily run the project team in my managers absence, which I agreed to. This included planning, overseeing different project areas and managing a team of 6 people.

I deal with all of the general accounting duties, from entering bank entries and completing bank reconciliations in sterling and euros, up to preparing the management accounts ready for submission to the directors. I also took a lead role in dealing with the auditors and produced most of the information they needed.I complete all of the monthly payroll, including the RTI submissions and auto enrolment for pensions, which I took a key role in implementing. I also do the HR for the company, this includes maintaining the system by entering new employees, training them on how to use our holiday system, ensuring all induction paperwork is completed correctly, issuing employment contracts, dealing with any disciplinary actions and ensuring probation meetings are completed. I have been dealing with all the purchase of new machinery, from producing orders to checking and maintaining all the HP agreements. I also assist in the machinery sales side of the business. This includes raising invoices, disposing of machines off the computer system, ensuring that all of the depreciation charges have gone through correctly and getting any finance paid off.One Call use Insphire, Access Dimensions for the accounting side and Iris Payroll. They use Crystal Reports which I have had training on and am competent in using.

I was the sole payroll clerk for the company so did all the processing myself, I also had to deal with international employees salaries which are based in Germany and the Middle East, and I had to process pensions.I had to complete all of the bank reconciliations, Petty Cash recs, Trade creditors Rec and GRNI recs for a selection of different currencies. I had to post a range of monthly journals, complete miscellaneous reconciliations and provide a detailed breakdown for some GL codes. I also took a major role in completing the management accounts pack for the directors, providing reconciliations, detailed cost of sales analysis and a set of sales margin reports to look into how well each sector of the company was performing. I then had to complete the final P&L’s for Germany, Middle East and Service and explain any variances.I liaise directly with the banks, post all of the bank charges, interest charges, direct debits and other payments, as well as making and posting the transfers between the intercompany accounts. I have been able to have a lot of involvement with the cash flow of the company, I complete a cash balances rec daily which shows what moneys we hold and in which currencies, details of planned upcoming payments, details on whether the borrowing facility will need to be used and if so project what interest charges will be incurred.Rotary use the Navision accounting system and Ceridian for the payroll, and we use a combination of Access and Jet for our reports.

On starting at Hallett I was told that my main concentration would be purchase ledger, credit cards and expenses. Due to the rate the company had grown, temps without proper training had been overlooking these processes and as a result there were incorrect entries and no proper controls in place. In addition the company had recently changed accounting systems, from Sage to Navision, so a large reconciliation between both systems was needed to correct everything which I managed after only receiving minimal training.I created and implemented a new expenses policy for head office and a second policy which was rolled out to the store staff we employ. I had to correct a lot of entries for the financial year, from expenses with incorrect VAT splits posted, general ledger entries which I had to do full reconciliations to find.I also took ownership of reconciling the bank accounts, which hadn’t been done correctly for some time, two of which accounts were in Euro’s.

I was the main contact for the banks, I had to reconcile all the accounts for a range of currencies, process payments in several currencies and post them onto the system as well as monitor and post the direct debits. I produced a daily cash and cash flow reports for the directors and needed to comment on any variances.I also places treasury deposits, filled out duty reclaims, managed all of the duty deferment account and obtain custom entries. I did the majority of the month end processing and reporting, from completing a range of reconciliations and maintaining the fixed asset register to producing the management accounts pack for the directors. I had a lot of contact with the auditors at year end as well and produced a lot of the paper work they needed. Another key responsibility I had was managing the accounts assistant, such as checking and signing off her work, allocating her work and helping her manage her time.

I was responsible for checking, coding and paying invoices, both UK and International. I had to match invoices to shipment reports, POD’s or manifests and update dollar purchase contracts. I dealt with suppliers via email or phone.

I was responsible for checking, logging, scanning and approving invoices, as well as placing either internal or external queries as needed. I dealt with suppliers both over the phone and by email. I also opened customer and supplier accounts, assisted credit control by allocating payments and chasing overdue invoices, updated the manual cashbook and filled in paying in books.