Key Program Details

<aside> 📅 Up to 18 months to complete

</aside>

<aside> ⏰ 8 hours per week

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<aside> ➡️ Requirements:

• Advanced English skills </aside>

Who is it for?

The Accounts/Finance Assistant (AFA) Apprenticeship provides ideal entry-level training for individuals starting their formal finance training.

An AFA is an integral part of the team responsible for maintaining an efficient and accurate finance function within a business. The role is predominantly responsible for assisting a team of accountants with junior accounting duties. These can vary hugely depending on the team structure and size of business.

An AFA’s work could include basic bookkeeping activities, working with sales and purchase ledgers and running calculations to ensure that records and payments are correct.

Entry Requirements

Ideally, applicants will have GCSEs in English and Maths at grade A*-D / levels 9-3 before they enrol on this programme. If not, they will be required to complete Functional Skills qualifications at level 1 in these subjects in addition to the apprenticeship training.

Course Content

The Accounts/ Finance Assistant apprenticeship standard details the knowledge, skills and behaviours (KSBs) expected of a competent Assistant Accountant. The KSB are covered through 10 duties, these are:

• Duty 1 - Be aware of the organisation's needs and activities and their impact for accounting and finance.
• Duty 2 - Identify, collate and process financial and accounting data from primary sources such as business records.
• Duty 3 - Examine financial and accounting data to identify issues with quality and reliability as instructed and in accordance with guidance.
• Duty 4 - Rectify errors in financial and accounting data, escalating problems beyond their remit as appropriate.
• Duty 5 - Reconcile transactional data to minimise the chance of errors in financial and accounting outputs such as sales and purchase invoices, sale and purchase orders, bank statements and payroll.
• Duty 6 - Plan and review workloads with supervisor to ensure best use of time to complete allocated tasks efficiently.
• Duty 7 - Communicate with internal and external stakeholders using appropriate methods and professional language. Examples may include letters, ‘phone, face-to-face, e-mail, video call, online chat functions etc.