Finance Assistant

Location: On-site at our Glasgow office (19 Woodside Place, Glasgow G3 7QL)
Contract: Part-time: 2 days per week
Rate: £30-34,000 pro-rate, dependent on experience

East End Press is a design studio based in Glasgow, creating beautiful, sustainable and joyful homeware, stationery and decorations that are screen printed by hand on recycled cotton paper in Jaipur, India. Our growing range of products, including our best selling printed sewn garlands, greetings cards and more, is stocked in over 1,000 locations around the world as well as selling directly through our website and brick and mortar store in the west end.

We are looking for an experienced and highly organised finance assistant to manage the financial administration and book keeping of the business. East End Press operates across multiple currencies, has a US entity and works with two external warehouses. Sales are generated primarily via wholesale selling across shopify, the marketplace faire and various international trade shows. We also have an e-commerce site and physical retail shop.

The United States is our largest and fastest-growing market, and as our US sales increase, we are looking to establish, and build on, the appropriate US sales-tax registrations, reporting systems and ongoing compliance processes. All our stock is manufactured in and imported from India. The role therefore also requires practical knowledge of import VAT, customs duty, freight and customs documentation, including the management and reconciliation of C79 import VAT certificates.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Day-to-Day Bookkeeping
• Allocate and categorise all bank, card and payment-platform transactions.
• Categorise Faire payouts, including sales, refunds, platform fees, commissions, taxes and deductions.
• Split and accurately record Shopify payouts, including sales, refunds, fees, taxes and other adjustments.
• Assist with issuing customer invoices or following up overdue invoices as required.
• Investigate short payments, credit notes, duplicate payments and currency differences.
• Record customer payments against the correct invoices and currencies.
• Complete weekly reconciliations across UK, US and foreign-currency accounts.
• Reconcile PayPal, Wise, Shopify payments and other relevant payment providers.
• Investigate missing transactions and unreconciled balances.
• Keep the company’s accounting system accurate and up to date.

Suppliers and Purchase Records
• Record supplier invoices, credit notes and payments.
• Check invoice totals against purchase orders and approved costs.
• Maintain clear records of deposits, payments made and outstanding balances.
• Reconcile supplier statements as required.
• Track upcoming supplier payments and provide clear payment information to the Managing Director.
• Query duplicate, unexpected or unauthorised charges.
• Maintain organised records of invoices, payment confirmations and supporting documents. 

UK VAT and International Tax Administration
• Prepare accurate records and supporting documentation for quarterly UK VAT returns.
• Reconcile import VAT using C79 certificates and postponed import VAT statements, where relevant.
• Assist the business’ accountant with preparing for VAT returns.
• Maintain records relating to overseas VAT registrations and international tax filings.
• Track filing deadlines and ensure all requested information is provided on time.
• Establish and maintain a clear audit trail for international transactions and tax submissions.

US Sales Tax and Accounting
• Help establish the processes required to manage US sales-tax obligations as our US business grows and develop robust financial processes capable of supporting continued growth in the US market.
• Establish systems to record and report sales by state, sales channel and legal entity to identify where the business may need US state sales-tax registrations. Track sales-tax thresholds, registrations and filing deadlines• Coordinate the registration process and maintain records of registrations, filing dates and state requirements. Maintain accurate accounting records for the company’s US entity.
• Help configure and maintain the correct sales-tax processes across Shopify and other relevant platforms.
• Reconcile transactions in US dollars, including currency conversions, payment fees and exchange-rate differences.

Imports from India and C79 Certificates
• Process and accurately record invoices from Indian manufacturers and suppliers.
• Record deposits, staged payments and final balances against the correct invoices and purchase orders. • Reconcile supplier statements and if required investigate differences between purchase orders, invoices, payments and goods received.
• Download and maintain the company’s monthly C79 import VAT certificates, supplying these to the business’ accountant for quarterly vat returns
• Investigate missing or incorrect C79 entries with freight forwarders, customs agents and external accountants.
• Record customs duty, import VAT, freight, insurance, customs clearance, handling fees and other import-related costs to support the accurate calculation of product landed costs.

Retail Shop Administration
• Review and reconcile shop cashing-up records, recording and reconciling cash and card takings.
• Maintain petty-cash records and supporting receipts.
• Investigate differences between till reports, card settlements, cash records and bank deposits and support the retail team with routine finance-administration queries.

Reporting and process improvement
• Prepare reports covering cash balances, supplier liabilities, outstanding customer invoices and upcoming payments to assist with planning the ongoing cashflow of the business.
• Provide clear financial information relating to sales, tax, import costs, currency movements and warehouse charges to assist with pricing the products.
• Support the review of product margins and landed costs.
• Provide accurate records to the business owner, accountant and stock purchaser as required.
• Maintain an organised digital filing system for invoices, customs documents, C79 certificates, tax records and receipts.
• Identify recurring discrepancies and opportunities to improve financial controls. 
• Create documented processes for US sales tax, import VAT and other recurring finance tasks.

ESSENTIAL EXPERIENCE
• Experience with multi-currency bookkeeping and foreign-exchange differences.
• Strong reconciliation experience.
• Experience helping a growing business establish sales-tax systems and processes.
• Experience accounting for goods imported from outside the UK.
• Working knowledge of import VAT, customs duty and customs documentation.
• Experience using accounting software, preferably QuickBooks/Intuit
• Strong spreadsheet skills and excellent attention to detail.
• Ability to work independently and manage recurring deadlines within a part time working week.

DESIRABLE EXPERIENCE
• Practical experience with US sales-tax registrations, reporting or compliance.
• Experience maintaining records for, or working with, a US business entity.
• Experience downloading, checking and reconciling C79 import VAT certificates
• Familiarity with postponed import VAT accounting and statements.
• Understanding of freight, customs-clearance and landed-product costs.

To apply:

Please send your CV and cover letter outlining your relevant experience and availability to hello@eastendpress.com

Deadline: Thursday 3rd of September, 5pm