Working as an accountant at Unilin: Amber, Fanny, and Vicky all do it differently

Amber, Fanny and Vicky are thriving accountants at Unilin. They all have a passion for numbers, but above all they share a drive to find the best solution for Unilin, its customers and suppliers.

The Finance Shared Service Centre handles everything to do with Unilin’s accounting. Amber, Fanny and Vicky are all in different teams at the Centre.

Fanny is a Credit Controller:  "I send payment reminders to customers, post payments in the system and work closely with our Sales colleagues to assess whether or not they can do business with a customer."

As an Accounts Payable (AP) Accountant, Vicky follows things up for our suppliers: "I manage their invoices and make sure they are paid as soon as possible. This prevents delivery problems and raw material shortages. I also process colleagues’ expense reports."

Amber is GL (General Ledger) Accountant: "Our team's responsibilities include the VAT returns, annual accounts, corporate tax returns and monthly closings of Unilin's entities. I like to know what is going on in a company. My job gives me a front row seat."

 

Accounting is about much more than processing numbers

The accountants like that their job has a direct impact on Unilin's success. The link is clear to Fanny: "I make sure our customers pay their invoices. If I didn’t, Unilin would have no money. If our customers don’t pay, we can’t buy any raw materials, manufacture products and make deliveries."

They tell us that working with numbers requires close follow-up. "It is our responsibility to make sure the whole chain works correctly. Accounting is so much more than just processing figures. We are also in close contact with customers, suppliers, auditors and colleagues from Sales and other departments."

 

Strong team spirit

When any questions or problems crop up, they are responsible for finding the solutions. Rather than do this alone, they cooperate with their direct colleagues, with colleagues from other accounting teams or departments, and of course with our customers and suppliers.

According to them, that strong team spirit is one of the things that really drives them. They find solutions together, but are also trusted to work things out independently. Vicky: "I greatly appreciate that we are given the autonomy to find solutions on our own. And if we don’t succeed straight away, we can always fall back on our colleagues. We are not all working away on our own little island here."

 

The best of both worlds

Amber: "I worked for an accounting firm before I joined Unilin, but what I did there didn’t reflect my passion for corporate tax. I enjoy my work at Unilin a lot more. My range of tasks is very varied and I like being part of a large international company. You get the best of both worlds here: a family atmosphere in an international context." Fanny is also glad she changed from a commercial position to a job as an accountant: "I really like that combination of accounting and more commercial tasks. I like nothing better than unpicking something to the smallest detail and then resolving it."

 

Family atmosphere

They chose to work at Unilin because of the job content, but also because of the human-centric corporate culture. Vicky’s choice to join Unilin had much more of an impact than she expected. "I had read on the Unilin website that employee wellbeing is a priority here. Like Unilin’s other values, that respect for its staff really appealed to me, because I didn’t experience that at my previous employer. When I started out here, I was happy to find that Unilin also lives by that rule. The appreciation expressed by a simple 'thank you', the flexible hours that allow me to take my daughter to school, the wonderful colleagues I work with ... All those little things really make a difference. They truly re-energised me. My husband also noticed it. He said it was like living with a different woman all of a sudden (laughs)."

 

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