Student Accounts Officer - Bournemouth, United Kingdom - Kaplan International

Kaplan International

Verified Company

Bournemouth, United Kingdom

2 weeks ago

Posted by:

Tom O´Connor

beBee Recruiter

Description

Students Accounts Officer (English or Mandarin Speaking)

Location:
Hybrid - Work from home 2 days and Bournemouth based office 3 days

Are you an experienced professional in customer-facing credit control or customer account management and looking to work in an energetic and exciting company? We have the ideal job for you

About Kaplan International Pathways

Kaplan International Pathways, a division of Kaplan Inc., offers international students a wide range of flexible study options - from university preparation programmes in the UK, Australia, USA and Japan through to full degree programmes in Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia.

Through our academic partnerships with leading universities, our expertise in student recruitment, our exceptional teaching and a focus on customer service and pastoral care, each year we are proud to welcome thousands of students from more than 100 countries onto our programmes.

As a commercially successful business which has experienced strong growth in recent years, there are excellent opportunities for long-term career progression.

In the UK, we operate 9 campus-based colleges in partnership with Bournemouth University, University of Glasgow, University of Liverpool, Nottingham Trent University, University of Nottingham, University of Brighton, University of Essex, University of York and University of West of England, Bristol and an off-campus college in London offering pathways to 7 leading well-ranked UK universities.

About the Role

You will be a key member of our finance team with responsibility for administering accurate collection and student account management processes.

You will be given responsibility for student debt for accounts originating from China and a couple of our colleges.

You will ensure that the student ledger is accurate; outstanding debtor balances are chased on time with repeated follow-ups, if needed; key business partners are kept up to date with debt status and any trends you identify and you will escalate issues and concerns where necessary.

The role does require you to be able to travel around the United Kingdom and meet face-to-face with students.

Main responsibilities and functions

Preparing monthly collections processes within prescribed guidelines. Follow
Liaising with relevant Staff and Senior Managers at Colleges to support collection of monies outstanding as required
Finance meetings with Students during peak enrolment times
Reviewing accounts for debt and credit write offs in partnership with College Directors
Updating student accounts where there are agreed changes to a student's study plan
Support with processing refunds
Investigating and clearing of old outstanding balances
Liaising with internal and external parties to resolve queries as necessary
Preparing and monitoring payment plans for bill payers (students, parents, agents)
Fostering and maintaining good business relationships with all stakeholders (internal and external)
Identifying and recommending process improvements related to own work

About you

Essential:

Fluent in both English and Mandarin
Some knowledge of and experience of working with accounting principles
Ability / desire to work in a high volume, transactions orientated environment
Ability to demonstrate organizational savvy in getting things done through formal and informal networks
Team player with flexibility to work additional hours to complete the task if required, or help out other team members

- "Client" focus

Excellent, polished communication skills (oral and written) with clients and both financial and nonfinancial staff
Ability to manage challenging conversations well
Extremely accurate and detailfocussed
Intermediate excel skills (including pivot tables, vlook ups and sumifs)

Desirable:

Language skills
Accounting experience to be able to demonstrate comfort with numbers
Specific credit control experience is desirable.
Strong interest in processes and systems
Initiative to identify improvements and drive to deliver change
Foreign languages, in particular Arabic and Spanish, but any additional languages are of interest

What we can offer

You will be a key member of our finance team, working within a team of three student account officers who are responsible for collecting debt from students studying at colleges across the UK.

You will build strong relationships with colleagues across the business, from admissions to colleges.

You will be based in our Bournemouth College but will form part of the Operational Finance team which sits within our head office finance department.

The role will report directly into our Students Accounts Manager who reports into our Head of Operational Finance.

We also offer: