Accountant - Payables - Aldar Education

About the Role
The company is seeking an Accountant Payable for our corporate office in Abu Dhabi. This is an exciting opportunity for a skilled professional to join the highly successful family of schools and to help shape the future of Abu Dhabi’s leading school group.

Since its inception in 2007 with just 250 students, the company has grown into a highly sought-after education provider, with more than 25 owned and managed premium and super-premium schools and academies in partnership with some of the world’s most prestigious institutions including Rugby School, King’s College Wimbledon, and Cranleigh. The Group now serves over 38,000 students through 5,000 educators from more than 100 nationalities to deliver world-class education across a broad range of curricula and learning pathways from nursery through to K12.

At the company, our impact goes far beyond the classroom: we are proud to contribute to the UAE’s vision for a sustainable, knowledge-based economy through premium education. With this in mind, we hire educators and industry professionals who not only embody our values and cultural ethos but also bring a genuine passion for education—qualities central to our mission of shaping the leaders of tomorrow.

If you are passionate about excellence and ready to make a meaningful impact, we invite you to apply and be part of our journey.

Responsibilities
Main Duties:

• Execute end-to-end corporate payables accounting, including invoice validation, purchase order and receipt matching, supplier account maintenance, payment support, AP reconciliations, accruals, month-end closing, audit documentation, and stakeholder query resolution.

Specific Duties:

• Receive, review, and process supplier invoices and credit notes for HQ entities, ensuring validity, completeness, correct legal entity, appropriate coding, and required supporting documentation.
• Perform purchase order, goods or service receipt, and invoice matching and follow up on quantity, price, tax, coding, or approval exceptions.
• Confirm that invoices and non-PO payment requests comply with procurement requirements, approved contracts, Group policies, and the Delegation of Authority before processing.
• Validate VAT treatment and required tax invoice information and refer complex tax matters to the Tax team.
• Prepare supplier reconciliations, investigate differences, obtain missing statements or documents, and resolve debit balances, duplicates, and long-outstanding items.
• Review accounts payable ageing, unmatched invoices, blocked transactions, payment holds, GR/IR balances, and other exceptions and coordinate timely resolution.
• Prepare payment proposals and supporting schedules, validate due dates and payment terms, and coordinate approved payments with Treasury.
• Post and reconcile supplier payments, credit notes, advances, retention balances, and other accounts payable transactions in the ERP.
• Prepare month-end accounts payable accruals, cut-off schedules, reconciliations, and closing reports in line with the approved closing calendar.
• Support prepaid expense, intercompany, employee reimbursement, and other assigned payable-related accounting activities.
• Respond to supplier and internal stakeholder queries professionally and maintain clear records of actions and resolutions.
• Prepare supporting documents and schedules for statutory audit, internal audit, ICFR testing, and other compliance reviews.
• Maintain accounts payable files and records in accordance with document-retention and audit requirements.
• Support testing and implementation of ERP, workflow, e-invoicing, and Purchase-to-Pay process enhancements.
• Identify duplicate payments, control gaps, recurring exceptions, and process inefficiencies and recommend corrective actions.
• Provide periodic accounts payable reports and analysis to the Assistant Manager - HQ Financial Operations.

Qualifications
Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, Commerce, or a related discipline.
• Professional accounting qualification or progress towards a relevant qualification is desirable.

Minimum Experience:

• Minimum 3 years of relevant accounts payable or financial accounting experience.
• Practical experience in invoice processing, PO matching, supplier reconciliations, payment preparation, accruals, and month-end closing.
• Experience with ERP-based Procure-to-Pay processes and multi-entity operations is desirable.

Job Specific Knowledge & Skills:

• Good knowledge of accounts payable accounting, Procure-to-Pay controls, VAT fundamentals, and financial cut-off requirements.
• Strong attention to detail, numerical accuracy, and document-review capability.
• Good ERP and Microsoft Excel skills.
• Ability to prioritise high transaction volumes and meet payment and closing deadlines.
• Strong ownership, confidentiality, and disciplined follow-up.
• Effective written and verbal English communication and customer-service skills.

What We Offer:
The company is a family of world-class, child-centered, and innovative schools based in the UAE. We educate students across our group of owned and managed schools and as we grow, so does our need for highly skilled, inspirational, and dedicated school and educational leaders. We offer an attractive remuneration package including a range of benefits. Our future-focused learning model includes both students and staff, so we place a special emphasis on professional development, coaching, and training.

Successful candidates will have access to a wide network of professionals and opportunities to both lead and contribute to training others as well as developing themselves.

This job description is not all-inclusive. The company reserves the right to amend this job description at any time. We are an equal opportunity employer, committed to a diverse and inclusive work environment. We are dedicated to our national development strategy and encourage UAE Nationals in their application to our company.

The company is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff to share this commitment. Offers of appointment are subject to satisfactory references and police clearance.