Welcome to the Accounts Department!
With over 180 staff across six offices, there are a lot of people, a lot of functions and a lot of things going on at Romero every day.
From our dedicated claims department fighting to get claims paid, to our broking team finding the best deals for our clients, to our existing business team delivering exceptional client service. There are people in so many different disciplines that it can be difficult to keep up.
So we’ve gone around Romero and each department is giving us a snapshot into a day in the life of what they do.
We’re starting off with our Accounts department, who keep us on the financial straight and narrow, making sure everyone gets paid when they should!
First up, Accounts Assistant Sonia takes us through her day:
Start the day on a positive vibe, knowing it will be busy but I am in control and very organised.
By 9.30 the office is at full capacity, coffee and tea drinking is well on it’s way to keeping the energy going, everybody has had a bit of banter and caught up on the gossip but now it’s time for some real work to kick in.
I start with allocating payments that have come into the bank that day, we all “muck in” and share this out on a day by day basis.
Usually this is pretty straight forward and everything is allocated and processed fairly quickly, but some mornings can turn into a “Thursday” (an in accounts joke) where every item has a query and further investigation is needed before we can allocate funds.
Once the banking is on it is then time (time?! What’s that ) to chase all of the payments for outstanding invoices.
Throw into the mix reconciling insurer accounts, both large and small, (this is probably the most time consuming and stressful job in the accounts department – but that is just my personal opinion) dealing with insurer queries, liaising with account handlers to get insurer account queries resolved as quickly as possible and processing daily finance, the morning flys by at incredible speed.
As soon as Matt announces “that’s lunch” we know 12pm is upon is and it’s time for people to go on allocated lunches, running, or pilates. Between 12-2 is probably the most quiet time in accounts and due to 80% of the department consuming Mackerel for lunch it is probably the most smelly department!
Jokes aside, the rest of the day can throw anything at us as we are busy on the phones trying to keep our debtors down, or quietly reconciling our individual insurer accounts and chasing clients who have fallen into arrears with their Close Brothers loan agreements.
There is never a dull moment and before we know it it’s time to pack up, head home and get ready to do it all again the next day!
Next up, we chat to Sue, our Accounts Director
I’m usually the first person in the dept as I like to “open up shop” and get the daily bank payments printed off and ready for the team to start allocating funds against the client accounts, then they can start on their credit control. The last thing we want is to be chasing clients who have already paid.
My day consists of doing the BPL banking (one of our sister businesses) and processing all their GBP and transferwise payments onto bankline . I also check/process all the insurer/client/finance/producer and supplier payments which equates to about 800+ payments onto bankline a month. I also pay out expenses and chase up private mileage payments.
I process discounts for all companies and also go through the debtors reports every Friday, chasing everyone up that has missed invoicing/setting an activity etc. I also deal with queries from my team/staff/clients/insurers and can get up to 30+ emails per day.
It’s a very busy dept and no two days are ever the same and even after 13 years I still find that I keep learning something new. It’s always been a challenging role but I have a great team and the support from management is amazing.
I’m really happy at Romero in my department
And last but not least, David Heath, our Finance Manager
There’s probably no such thing as a typical day. Much of my role revolves around a series of tasks which recur on a daily, weekly, monthly or longer basis.
The fundamentals of the job revolve reporting on the financial performance of the group for various purposes: E.g. Management Accounts, Annual Accounts and Regulatory Returns for our friends at the FCA. I also attempt to predict, using a slightly cracked and foggy crystal ball, how the various companies within the group will perform in the future.
The financial side of HR, payroll and pensions administration also falls within my remit.
I generally keep out of the broking side of the business, as an accountant I’m probably one of the least qualified people in the group to advise on these matters, the exceptions being some file reviews for the Club Insure Scheme (another of our sister businesses) and I will offer my views on the adequacy of BI cover if suitable accounts are provided.
Then there’s all the stuff that lands on my desk which no one else want or knows how to deal with… and finally most importantly working with the rest of the Accounts and Finance team to ensure all accounting transactions are properly processed!
Hopefully that's given you an insight into part of what we do...
If you’d like to chat to us more about Romero, or how our fantastic teams can support you or your business, drop us a line and we’d love to catch up.
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