Finance Assistant — work simulation

This exercise asks you to do two pieces of everyday finance work inside a simulated accounting system. It is not a written exam. There is no trick to it: read the procedures, use the information in the system, and record what you would actually do.

Before you begin

  • Time: 45 minutes once you press Begin. The instructions and the worked example before that are not timed.
  • Two modules: a customer billing run to review (about 20 minutes) and supplier documents to code and decide on (about 22 minutes). You can move between them freely.
  • Permitted: a calculator, on screen or physical, and pen and paper.
  • Not permitted: the internet, notes, reference material, or any AI assistant.
  • Monitoring: the number of times this window loses focus is recorded and reported with your answers. Switching away from this window is logged.
  • Screen: designed for a laptop or desktop. It works down to tablet width. It is not intended for a phone.
  • Saving: your work is saved securely as you go. Wait for “All changes saved” before refreshing or closing the page. If your internet connection fails, changes are not saved until it returns; the clock continues.
  • You will not be shown a score, the correct answers or any feedback. Your responses go directly to the recruiting team when you finish.

Recorded by the recruiting team. Contact them before beginning if these details are incorrect.

Recorded with your invitation.

What you are being asked to do

You are the Finance Assistant at . Today is . The month just closed is .

Module A — review the monthly billing run

The system has generated 28 draft sales invoices from contract data. Work through them using the Billing Run Review Procedure in the Policies section, and record one action against every invoice: approve it, amend and approve it, hold it with a query, or void and exclude it from the run.

Most of the run is correct. Leaving a correct invoice alone is as much part of the job as catching a wrong one, and is marked as such.

Module B — code and decide on supplier documents

Twelve documents are waiting in Bills to Approve. For each one, record the account code, the tax rate, the net, VAT and gross as they should be recorded, and your decision. Where you do not post a document, you must say why.

Using the system

  • Policies holds the two procedures you need. They are company procedures, and they are available throughout.
  • Contacts holds customer and supplier records. Several of the checks require you to look there.
  • Chart of Accounts lists every account code and what it is for.
  • Tax Rates lists the rates you can select.
  • You can move between modules and items in any order, and change an answer at any time before you submit.
  • Review and submit lists anything you have not completed before you finish.

Entering figures

Type amounts in pounds and pence. Commas and pound signs are accepted and ignored: 1,234.56, £1234.56 and 1234.56 are all read the same way.

The procedures you will be working to

Read these before you start. They are the two company procedures the work is done against, and they are the same documents you will find under Policies in the left-hand menu throughout the test. Nothing here is timed.

These set out how does things: its thresholds, its coding destinations and what each decision means. They do not tell you how VAT works. That part is yours.

Worked example

These two items have already been completed correctly, so that you can see how the controls work before the clock starts. This page is not timed. Nothing here needs an answer.

Pressing Begin starts the 45 minute clock

It cannot be paused. At zero, the assessment ends automatically. Only responses saved before the deadline are recorded. You can return to these instructions during the test from the left-hand menu.

All changes saved 45:00

Your assessment has ended

The recruiting team will review your responses. You do not need to send a results file.

Finance Assistant assessment

Checking your invitation…