Purchase Ledger Clerk - Job Description

Purchase Ledger is a very important role within the accounting environment. Part administration and part accounts. A good Purchase Ledger Clerk, is a methodical and accurate person, who naturally enjoys attention to detail. The job does have an aspect of routine and data entry. It is a very good starting point of entry into the accounting field and will certainly give you a flavour of what is in store.To give you a little idea of what might be expected from a Purchase Ledger Clerk, I have detailed below a job specification from the NHS, this is for a supervisor but very similar in many ways.

MAIN DUTIES/RESPONSIBILITIES
Main duties of Purchase Ledger Supervisor are, responsible for the day to-day running and co-ordination of accounts payable department. The responsibilities of the Purchase Ledger Supervisor are to plan the daily work load, ensure that the chain of events from receiving an invoice or expense claim to payment are met with speed and accuracy.
Responsible for accounts payable for all four contact centres, to ensure all invoices are registered on the system, then workflowed to the appropriate delegated signatory for authorisation and matched on the system promptly to enable payment.
Ensure that all relevant documentation related to payment of invoices is accurate and attached before payment is made, such as purchase orders and delivery notes, bank details and company addresses.
First point of contact with all creditors who may have queries regarding outstanding invoices, or staff / non staff expenses.
Delegate workload to each member of the purchase ledger team when appropriate.
Involved in the interviewing and selection process of future accounts payable staff
Ensure all batch payments are accurate and match to payment information recorded on invoice register.
Ensure all invoices are correctly coded both nominal and VAT, authorised and paid within creditors time restrictions.
Update all supplier statements on a weekly basis, liaise, negotiate, retain copy invoices when necessary and ensure information is maintained and filed.
Issue workflow emails regarding outstanding invoices being held by Departments.
Responsible for all Employee and Non Employee Expenses including registering, calculations, coding and mileage are correct and receipts are present before preparing for payment. When the new e-expenses system is implemented, the post holder will be expected to become a "super user" and act as first point of contact for queries regarding the new system.
Reconcile weekly batch payments against our invoice register and batch headers with the NSS (shared service centre) total payments.
Ensure all supplier account details such as account number, sort code and account name are up to date and maintained.
Raise Petty Cash Cheques for each Contact Centres.
Raise one off cheques when required. Keep cash flow spreadsheet update and ensure balance is kept within our budget, recommend top up’s to Finance Director if funds appear low.
Update “Gross value of Batches” spreadsheet with any chaps and weekly batch total information and also ensure figures are kept accurate and up to date.
Ensure chaps (same day payments) are authorised by the appropriate signatory, sent to the Paymaster General Office and received at their office within the deadline of 12.00pm same day.
Responsible for ensuring the relevant CMV form and associated documentation is received in respect of own vehicle business mileage claimants.
Review source data for input to the general ledger eg. journals, accruals, prepayments, statistical journals.
Financial coding of documents.
Reconciliation of recharge accounts, control accounts, suspense accounts and associated follow up and corrections.
Assist with preparation of year end transactions.
Responsible for daily posting of input to the Cedar system.

Obviously, this is for the NHS, other companies differ and software changes from company to company, you may need to research this role in more depth before you embark on a career in Purchase Ledger.