Kerry Bloxham

Finance Assistant and SIB Rep

I spend my days raising and inputting invoices, inputting daily cash sheets, cash allocation and managing the sales ledger. I’m responsible for reconciling ledgers to relevant accounts on a monthly basis, producing month end reports, reviewing our debtors on a regular basis, supervising cash floats and giving advice to Clinical and Call Centre colleagues on benefits/exemptions and responding to queries regarding removing and adding payments/refunds – in fact anything financial! I’m also responsible for some of our purchasing.

I love how varied my work is, I really enjoy problem-solving. My biggest challenge is sometimes prioritising my workload when lots of unexpected work comes my way.

I began my career working for Social Services looking after employee expenses, then taking my Association of Accounting Technicians examinations and working for a small accountancy firm before becoming a Benefits, Credits and Tax Advisor providing advice to the public on their claims and taxes. This gave me the opportunity to train new employees and those returning from long periods of leave or where extra support was needed – definitely an eye opener as to what can happen in life, with some good and some sadly tragic circumstances. I then worked for a big finance firm working with clients on debt recovery, calculating payment plans, learning the FCA regulations but most importantly working with people. This career experience, encountering people’s varied circumstances, has given me a wider perspective and increased my empathy which (I think) means that I am seen as authentic and trustworthy. I have also worked for a nursing agency finding cover for our local hospitals and in drug and alcohol centres.

My choice of a career in finance was inspired by my ability to do most things I wanted with very little money in my teens, by carefully planning ahead and learning where I could make some savings and generate more income. I was forever being told ‘you can’t afford that’ which made me very determined to make sure my plans always worked!

I love working for Smile Together as we provide such a valuable health service in our county, helping to get people out of pain and educating patients on oral health. Plus, the activities that we do in order to have an even bigger impact in our communities, is fantastic. I was so excited to be elected as a representative on our Shareholder Impact Board. It’s great to be employee-owned and be able to have a genuine voice in how our business is run.

To someone considering working for Smile Together I would say if you’d like to work for a company that’s friendly and supportive of its employees, if you like variety and giving something back to the community, you should come and join us!

Outside of work I love to travel anywhere and everywhere but I do have a bit of an obsession with Italy! Also eating out, particularly dining at new restaurants and trying new dishes, spending time with my family and watching lots of psychological thrillers! One day I would really like to get back into Amateur Dramatics.