Taking good care with our finances

Taking the baton today in our spring blog relay is Wai Yee from our Finance Department - catch up on entries from other Greenpeace staff.

I've worked here in the finance department at Greenpeace for almost a year. I left a job where I was doing similar work at a University in Oxford for the last three years. I was stuck in an office (or dungeon, as referred to by other staff!) with two other colleagues and not many visitors, so coming here to Greenpeace took a little getting used to. Here I work with five other members of the finance team and see a lot more friendly faces wandering around, too.

A typical day for me will involve looking after the purchase ledger. Right now I have a load of invoices that need logging, going out for authorisation and then paying by the end of this week. The whole process starts again next week.

My in-tray at the minute is looking a bit full, with employees' and volunteers' expenses to process. Each claim gets checked before it gets paid, which can get a little repetitive but it's actually quite fun when I go through the individual's claim forms, the items go from one extreme to the other, anything from train fares, postage to banners and even chimney pipes! 

But it's really necessary for us to take good care with our finances, because our funding comes from individuals from all over the UK. We don't take money from governments or corporations, and it's important that our supporters know that we're making the most effective and efficient use of the funds that keep us going.

It's not unusual for campaigners or active supporters to drop by accounts asking for £1000 floats 'urgently' which we're always happy to do. They're doing great work to help our environment, so we need to make this as easy as possible for them. I would even offer most of them a job in accounts because when they bring back the receipts and any money left over the hardest part of the job is already done!

Once I've received some NVDA (non-violent direct action) training I hope to take part in some Greenpeace actions, so when my friends ask me what I do here I can say I work in the finance department  - but I don't just sit behind my desk all day staring at spreadsheets! Until then I have to be content hearing everyone else's action stories and watch the fun on the intranet.