Financial Reconciliation Clerk Employment Contract UK

Responsibilities reflected in the contract

• Reconcile assigned accounts and transaction sources.
• Investigate unmatched and suspense items.
• Obtain evidence and coordinate corrections.
• Prepare authorised adjustment requests.
• Record ageing ownership and resolution.

A realistic working scenario

Daily work includes matching ledger entries to bank and payroll extracts in finance software, preparing exception reports, updating approval and reconciliation records, completing handovers at shift end, and scheduling follow-ups. The Reconciliation Clerk checks supporting documents, flags out-of-tolerance balances, and escalates unresolved exceptions or suspected unauthorised disclosures to the practice or department manager for decision and FCA escalation where applicable.

Outputs to agree

• Daily reconciliation reports showing matched and unmatched items with reference IDs
• Exception log and escalation request prepared for the practice or department manager
• Updated approval and reconciliation records in the finance system and documented handover notes
• Cleared payment preparation files with accompanying supporting documents

Records and evidence

• Approval and reconciliation records in the finance or accounting system.
• Client, account, payroll, tax and payment supporting documents.
• Banking portal extracts and payment advices.
• Payroll system transaction reports and audit trails.
• Handovers, timestamped checks and exception logs.
• Work records.

Reporting relationship

Typically reports to Line Manager or Department Manager. Confirm the employer's actual reporting structure in the builder.

Authority and escalation

• The Reconciliation Clerk may access finance software, payroll systems and banking portals for authorised reconciliation tasks, prepare payment files and raise exceptions. The Employee must not authorise payments above any approval limit, change client money treatment, alter approval workflows, or close escalations. Material exceptions, suspected fraud, or suspected unauthorised disclosure must be escalated without delay to the practice or department manager for approval, FCA escalation consideration and next steps.
• Obtain approval before committing expenditure, changing contractual commitments or making regulated or staffing decisions outside the assigned role.

Tools and systems

• Finance software.
• Payroll systems.
• Banking portals.

Workplace context

• Office, client premises, remote systems or assigned work locations.

Contract priorities

• Complete reconciliations and produce daily exception reports in finance software
• Protect client, account, payroll, tax, payment, credit, claim and policy records accessed while working
• Escalate material exceptions, suspected fraud or unauthorised disclosures to the practice or department manager
• Maintain and update approval and reconciliation records and handover notes with timestamps
• Use payroll systems and banking portals only for authorised reconciliation work

Information the employer should prepare

• the accounts products and reconciliation frequency
• the systems files and data cut-offs
• the tolerance adjustment and write-off limits
• the break ownership and escalation timetable
• the close review and evidence-retention process