Accounts and Finance roles at Dick Lovett

This is a great opportunity for an Accounting Apprentice to gain real hands-on work experience in a busy Accounts team in an exciting industry.

In this role, you will be learning to understand the whole process of the accounting function in a business and in our industry. Our team will teach you the processes that surround Sales Ledger, Purchase Ledger and disciplines around VAT and banking, conducively with understanding a balance sheet.

We are looking for candidates who want to grow with us and develop an understanding of financial controls in a business. For this role, you will be working with a local college to complete the apprenticeship and at the end of the programme you will have a qualification from the Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT).

In our Central Operations team, we have a great placement opportunity each year for candidates that are undertaking a Finance or Business related degree. If you are looking to gain valuable experience as an Accounts Assistant in a fast paced and challenging environment, before completing the rest of your studies, this 12 month placement could be for you!

This is a great opportunity for an undergraduate to gain real hands on work experience in a very busy Payroll and Reporting team based in our central offices in Swindon. You will have a diverse role, that will see you work closely with various members of staff at all levels across our Group and give you the chance to develop your interpersonal, IT and accounting skills.

Your responsibilities will include supporting the day-to-day running of our Employee Car Ownership Scheme, supporting the company payroll system, monthly reports which are circulated across the Group, annual audits and analysis projects.

Working closely with the Dealership Accountant, Accounts Assistants will complete the daily accounting operations of the cashbook and responsibility of the Sales Ledger or assist with the Purchase Ledger invoicing depending on your specific role. In our Central Operations team, we also have opportunities to join us as a Payroll Accountant for the Group.

For this type of role, we look for candidates who have strong attention to detail, a good understanding of generally accepted accounting principles, and a “can do” attitude.

Responsibilities will include assisting with day-to-day operations of the Finance department related to Payroll, Sales Ledger or Purchase Ledger, invoicing, banking, reporting, and updating records as required by the Dealership Accountant or Finance Manager.

This would be a great opportunity for someone who is looking to join the Motor Industry and develop their already existing accounting skills, potentially alongside completing further qualifications to advance your career.

As the Sales Ledger Accountant, you will be responsible for the daily bank reconciliation and cash book postings, reconciling and processing daily credit card transactions and have responsibility for closing down the month end sales ledger and reconciling to the nominal control accounts.

You will also assist the Dealership Accountants and Management team in other ad-hoc duties, such as reporting or dealership projects, where required.

Naturally, we are looking for someone who has excellent numeracy and analysis skills. You will need to be computer literate and have experience of working with many systems at once and how they all tie in together.

Responsibilities of a Purchase Ledger Accountant include processing Purchase Ledger invoices, payments and finance settlements, in order to reconcile the nominal ledger and supplier statements.

You would also assist with day-to-day operations of the Finance department, including bank reconciliations, cash book posting and Sales Ledger maintenance, along with ad hoc projects.

Excellent attention-to-detail is required for this role to maintain accounting documents and records, to ensure all files are up-to-date. The ideal candidate will have experience with general office tasks, a solid understanding of generally accepted accounting principles and experience of using Excel, account reconciliation and Purchase Ledger.

As a Deputy Accountant you’ll assist the Dealership Accountant in the financial management and control of our busy dealerships. You’ll produce accounts to complete accruals and prepayments, vehicle balance sheets, nominal ledger reconciliations, and ensure all balance sheet reconciliations are fully supported and queries are cleared in a timely manner. You should have a solid understanding of generally accepted accounting principles and experience with account reconciliation.

You'll also provide accounting assistance with purchase, sales ledger and cash book posting, as well as the review of profit & loss items and liaise with the dealerships on any queries. You will also be responsible for the control of vehicle debtors and creditors including Finance commission and manufacturer bonus reconciliations, completing month-end reports for vehicles, ensuring excellent internal controls are in place, and the dealerships comply with the Group audit requirements.

If you have experience in a Deputy Accounting role previously and have a proven track record of being highly organised with strong attention-to-detail, you are just the person we are looking for. You must possess the ability to meet strict deadlines and work under your own initiative, whilst also being a team player with good interpersonal and communication skills. 

Experience within the retail automotive sector and of using Keyloop/CDK/Kerridge, would be very advantageous for this role.

The main responsibility of a Payroll Accountant is to support the day-to-day operations of payroll at Dick Lovett and ensure that employees are paid on time and in an accurate manner.

This job will include monthly and yearly reporting and administration in relation to payroll, but may also involve reporting and activities which are required from the Finance Manager.

For this role, we would look for a candidate who has previous payroll experience, who has worked in a team and a busy office environment. Having a great telephone manner would also assist you greatly in this role when communicating with team members from around the Group.

Our Dealership Accountants are responsible for the production of accurate and timely monthly management accounts and balance sheets in accordance with standard accounting practices. Responsibilities also include leading and coordinating the dealership annual budgets.

In this role, you will monitor the financial performance of each department, advise the Senior Managers of variances and produce detailed analysis when required, ensuring the fiscal integrity of the balance sheet, along with vehicle stock and parts stock check coordination. Responsibilities also include submitting Manufacturer information monthly in a timely manner and ensuring correct submission of data. The Dealership Accountant also assists with the financial forecasts with the Management Team, along with working capital forecasting.

One of the key functions of this role is to assist in ensuring all financial transactions are accurate and up-to-date, overseeing the performance of the Accounts’ team and measuring their training and progress, but also acting as a business partner to the Head of Business, assisting with driving the business forward.

Our Dealership Accountants are computer literate, analytical, great with numbers and have a keen business acumen in order to carry out all the above duties. For this role, we need someone who is a natural people person, who has management experience, including training others, to deliver a great output for their department.