5286259 – Senior Finance Analyst

Carrington Blake Recruitment; Greater London; On-site; GBP 80,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

A recruitment agency in Greater London seeks a senior financial advisor to provide expert financial and accounting support while managing a substantial budget. The ideal candidate will be a CCAB qualified accountant with experience in large organizations and capable of leading teams to achieve high performance. Responsibilities include financial controls, budget management, and the preparation of statutory reports. This role offers a pay rate of £45.57 an hour, reflecting the seniority and expertise required.

Qualifications

• Significant post-qualification experience in a large organization.
• Evidence of relevant Continuing Professional Development (CPD).

Responsibilities

• Provide senior financial and accounting support.
• Manage and lead staff to achieve high performance.
• Ensure effective systems of financial control.

Skills

Leadership skills

Communication skills

Analytical skills

Interpersonal skills

Negotiating skills

Education

CCAB Qualified Accountant

Job description

Pay rate – £45.57 an hour (umbrella)

Job Purpose:

• Responsible for providing specialist and senior financial and accounting support to a substantial area of the council’s business, typically a major part of the budget for an overall department or a substantial defined technical area of the corporate accounting and control arrangements.
• Support all officers within their service area, providing them with high level professional advice on a very broad range of financial issues and their relation to the council’s corporate and managerial objectives.
• To provide significant and senior input to corporate financial processes such as co-ordinating major elements of the annual accounts or budgeting processes.
• To advise on and maintain appropriate financial controls and to challenge senior managers as necessary in this regard.
• To be an appropriate professional role model to junior staff in the department and to foster and champion professional development.

Principal Accountabilities and Responsibilities:

• Make a positive contribution to the delivery of the service, this will include working flexibly and positively to achieve the objectives of the council.
• Manage and lead staff to achieve high performance and effective operational delivery, including developing and improving staff capability.
• Manage a customer focused service and the effective use of resources.
• Ensure that the council’s overall vision, values and ethos are central to the requirements of the service.
• Support effective working relationships and act as an ambassador and advocate with external organisations.
• Keep up to date with developments in service delivery and best practice to ensure the service performs effectively and to the highest standards.

Duties:

• Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility and all employees are required to act in such a way that at all times safeguards the health and well‑being of children and vulnerable adults.
• Carry out duties with due regard to the council’s customer care, equal opportunities, information governance, data protection and health and safety policies and procedures.
• Undertake any other duties commensurate with the general level of responsibility of this post.
• To act as a professional role model to junior staff in the department and to senior managers across the council, keeping expert professional knowledge up to date at all times.
• To mentor and support apprentices and lead professional training for the department within own area of responsibility.
• To supervise day to day work of junior staff and to lead project teams within the department and across the council.
• To be the senior professional financial advisor in respect of a significant (e.g. gross budgets in excess of £100m) area of the council’s budget (for example, housing, schools, social care or other business areas of similar scale and complexity).
• To carry out, independently, unit costing exercises and value for money reviews in order to improve financial performance and to play a significant role in the setting and monitoring of substantial budgets.
• To be council’s professional accounting lead for a major area of technical financial accounting complexity (e.g. capital finance, collection fund etc) and to co‑ordinate complex corporate financial processes for the council.
• To appoint and manage specialist financial advisers as may from time to time be necessary for particular projects.
• To lead in statutory financial reporting within own area of responsibility, ensuring that annual accounts, government returns and similar statistical submissions are completed promptly and accurately, and that the financial implications of the information contained therein are understood and acted upon.
• To draft financial implications for formal committee reports, up to and including for Cabinet and to brief senior managers and Directors accordingly.
• To attend some committee meetings as may from time to time be required.
• To advise on and maintain effective systems of financial control and to intervene as necessary, with a high degree of professional integrity and credibility, to prevent breaches of financial control.
• To manage operational/transactional functions, for example payroll, pensions and HR management information.
• To advise managers on the implications of audit reports and of the actions to be taken in response.
• To provide senior financial analysis to support commercial and contract activities, including advising on contract terms, commercial negotiations and contractors’ financial position.

Knowledge and Qualifications:

• CCAB Qualified Accountant with significant post qualification experience.
• Evidence of significant relevant Continuing Professional Development (CPD).

Experience:

• Experience of providing financial advice and leadership in a large and complex organisation, working with a high degree of professional independence and integrity.
• Experience of advising on managing all aspects of large and complex budgets, delivering significant improvements as a result.
• Experience of preparing accounting statements and statutory statistical returns.
• Experience of contracting for services, providing financial and commercial advice to inform procurement strategy and negotiations.

Skills and Abilities:

• Manage people, performance and budgets.
• Contribute to the longer term development of the service area.
• Ability to analyse, interpret and report upon large amounts of complex financial, accounting and output information and to analyse complex business processes.
• Excellent communication skills including the ability to explain complex financial issues to non financial managers, Directors and Members, adapting style to suit the audience and the issue.
• Excellent interpersonal, negotiating and influencing skills.
• Ability to analyse and interpret legislation and regulation, and to develop strategic policy responses accordingly.
• Strong leadership skills, capable of motivating and inspiring junior staff and building effective working relationships at senior levels across the organisation and with partners.

If you think this job role is for you, please send your CV to [e-mail]