Assistant Accountant

Scouts NSW is part of a worldwide Movement that is all about adventure, leadership, and purpose. For more than 115 years, we've helped young people build confidence, resilience, and real-world skills.

Scouts NSW has a vision to be a vibrant, contemporary and growing Movement developing empowered and resilient youth across NSW.

Our State Service Centre is the engine room behind the action, supporting over more than 11,000 youth and a further 3,500 volunteers across NSW every day. From safety and systems to branding and training, our team helps deliver life-changing experiences for young people and we're growing.

Position Summary

The Assistant Accountant is fundamental in supporting the day-to-day financial operations of Scouts NSW Regions. This position is responsible for key areas of financial accounts payable, receivable, and daily functions of region financial management. The position is also vital in ensuring successful financial compliance, accounts receivable/payables, month-end process, and reporting for regions. Also, assisting to review internal processes and practices to make recommendations on improvements.

Responsibilities and Duties

General

• Manage accounts payable and process accounts receivable, responding to internal and external queries.
• Collate, process, and upload invoices in Xero for approval and payment, ensuring accuracy and compliance.
• Verify and process expenses and reimbursements within policy and process GST accurately and account reconciliations.
• Maintain high-quality data entry in Xero and process credit card transactions with proper approval.
• Support month-end procedures, including journal entries, reconciliations, and anomaly resolution.
• Prepare monthly balance sheet reconciliations, assist in financial reports and budgets, and ensure compliance with financial obligations.
• Respond to finance-related emails, escalating queries as required.

Daily

• Complete daily bank reconciliations (including Weel accounts).
• Review expense claims, creditor invoices, and draft receivables for coding accuracy (GST, accounts, cost centre).
• Maintain up-to-date supplier data and manage the Region Finance inbox, resolving or escalating enquiries.

Weekly

• Prepare and process weekly payment batches and liaise with approvers for timely creditor payments.
• Follow up outstanding claims, payment acquittals, and pending invoices in Weel.
• Monitor transaction coding and reimbursement ageing.

Monthly

• Prepare general ledger and balance sheet reconciliations and reconcile creditor/debtor statements.
• Administer substantiation processes and report on changes and exceptions in Xero master data files.

Other

• Maintain and update finance process documentation (receivables, payables, payments, expense management).
• Support continuous improvement initiatives and other duties as required.

Qualifications & Experience

• Tertiary qualifications in Finance, Accounting, or equivalent.
• Minimum 2 years' experience in a similar role, preferably within a not-for-profit organisation.
• Minimum 2 years' experience using Xero.
• Experience managing remote working relationships.
• Strong computer literacy, particularly in Microsoft Office Suite (Excel, Word, PowerPoint).

Knowledge, Skills & Attributes

• Understanding of multiple cost centres and project accounting (desirable).
• Working understanding of taxation and business compliance obligations.
• Excel skills and an interest in process automation.
• Proven ability to deliver outcomes independently with minimal supervision.
• Excellent interpersonal, verbal, and written communication skills.
• Highly organised with strong attention to detail, problem-solving, and deadline management.
• Ability to assess situations, identify issues, and propose effective solutions.
• Motivated, ethical, and committed to continuous improvement and achieving results.