Finance Apprentice

Learning Standard: Level 3 Apprenticeship - AAT Assistant Accountant

Learning Provider: Milton Keynes College

Location: Milton Keynes Head Office

Closing date: 7th June 2023

Start date: October 2023

We have an exciting opportunity for 3 new apprentices to join our business within our Finance department. This is a Level 3 opportunity. You will be 18 or older, computer literate, customer focused and we can teach you the rest!

About Volkswagen Financial Services

Volkswagen Financial Services (VWFS) provides finance and insurance services to customers across the entire Volkswagen Group in the United Kingdom. You might imagine you’ll need a finance degree and a wardrobe full of grey suits to work at VWFS. Not true. We’re smart casual in the office, informal in how we work together and we are looking for people starting out or changing their careers with diverse skills, backgrounds and ideas to join us.

We are passionate about learning and our Apprenticeship Programmes are a great way to start your career in Finance, whether you have just completed your studies at school or looking for a change in career direction we’d love to hear from you.

What our 2 year programmes involve:

The Finance Operations teams are motivated to deliver exceptional service to our internal and retailer customer base. The teams are responsible for performing all transactional, daily tasks across the Treasury Banking, Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable processes.

During your time at Volkswagen Financial Services (UK) you will be able to develop your skills, gain experience within each of the teams, add value and contribute to the success of the organisation. Don’t worry if this sounds a little daunting – full training and support will be given to the successful candidate.

Accounts Assistant Apprenticeship

The role itself offers an insight into key teams that make up Finance Operations; Cash Processing, Customer Accounts, Accounts Payable, Bank Processing and Treasury Operations. It is a great place for you to start a career in this sector and obtain some great knowledge of how a Finance department operates.

You could be involved in:

• Ensuring Direct Debit Collection payment runs are completed daily for VWFS
• Sending New Direct Debit Instruction requests and updates to the bank daily
• Investigating and monitoring of customer account portfolios
• Processing employee expense claims
• Verifying and posting of purchase order invoices
• The daily reconciliation of SAP to enable the processing of all payment and collection runs to the retailer network
• Managing mailboxes to ensure queries are dealt within SLA
• Cashflow management
• Reconciliations of ledger and bank account balances

The learning part:

Our programmes are structured to help you unlock your potential and you’ll receive full support for your studies, including 20% of your hours on ‘off the job’ learning. Throughout the qualification you will attend training, have mentor visits and build a portfolio of evidence whilst on the apprenticeship before going through to gateway and end point assessment (EPA). The EPA consists of a showcase (portfolio of evidence), an observation and a professional discussion. The learning element is circa 15 months including EPA.

Alongside that you will have a great support network from current and previous apprentices who can relate to what you are doing. We have some great success stories of colleagues who started their career with us on similar schemes and are now driving their career forward within the business.

What you’ll get:

• Salary of £16,000 per annum with an increase to £18,000 in your 2nd year
• A discounted loan car scheme in year 2, discretionary bonus and Company Pension Scheme
• Earn whilst you learn and receive a Level 3 apprenticeship after the 2 years
• Support through our Mentoring scheme where you will be buddied up with one of our previous Apprentices
• A fun and sociable workplace to learn and grow.
• Participate in Lifeskills workshops, designed specifically for our Apprentices

What we’re looking for:

• Someone with an appetite to learn and develop
• Team player, enthusiastic and friendly
• Good written and verbal communication skills
• Passionate about wanting to progress a career in Finance
• Adaptable and flexible with the ability to work in a fast paced environment
• The ability to manage your time effectively
• Maths and English GCSE – grade C or Level 4 and above

Next steps:

Once you have hit the apply button, you will be asked to complete multiple-choice questions to supplement your application. We’ll be in touch shortly after receiving this to advise if you have been successful in reaching the next stage and will be invited to attend an Assessment Centre where there will be a competency based interview and you will partake in a group exercise.

If there is anything we can do to support you being 100% yourself during our recruitment process, please let us know and we will support you as best we can. If you have any questions regarding our Apprentice Scheme in the meantime, please feel free to contact us at recruitment@vwfs.co.uk (we welcome questions from parents or guardians too).

Milton Keynes College will also be in touch directly to discuss the role and eligibility with you.

Please note that we will close the advert early if we receive a high volume of applications - so apply as soon as you can.

Best of luck for your application!