Assistant Management Accountant

Integrated Care System; Exeter; On-site; GBP 30,000 - 40,000; Full time

Job summary

A respected mental health trust in Exeter is looking for an Assistant Accountant to support the finance team with data requests, reconciliations, and reports. The role emphasizes teamwork, requires three years of accounting experience, and offers an environment focused on professional development and effective service delivery. Ideal candidates will demonstrate strong communication and analytical skills.

Qualifications

• Three years of accounting experience required.
• Knowledge of NHS finance and budgetary control processes.
• Ability to explain finance information to non-finance managers.

Responsibilities

• Support the finance team and managers with financial information.
• Assist with the maintenance of budgetary control systems.
• Provide guidance on the Trust's Financial Procedures.

Skills

Good communication skills

Analytical skills

IT literate including extensive use of Word and Excel

Education

GCSE Maths and English or equivalent

AAT Qualified or equivalent accounting experience

Job description

• Are you looking to start a career in one of the UKs most respected mental health trusts?
• Would you like to do a job that makes a difference every day?

We are looking to recruit an Assistant Accountant to join the Finance Department based in Exeter.

Across the finance team, we are committed to the development of every single member of staff to reach their full potential. Continuous review of a development plan, working in a blame-free and learning environment, regular finance team meetings, a planned and tailored finance induction, and action plans to improve relationships with clinicians are some of the initiatives that ensures the finance team are aligned to the trusts vision of developing expertise and excellence in patient-focused mental health services.

Providing excellent progression opportunities across the team and pro-actively managing performance, we are a hard-working and proud team with a good sense of humour. We empower staff to develop best practice and to make sure we are working in the most effective and efficient possible way.

Main duties of the job

You will have demonstrable financial experience across awide range of areas, including management and financial accounting, and be ableto confidently apply the principles of double-entry book-keeping. You need tobe comfortable handling and manipulating large datasets accurately and oftensimultaneously, and ideally your experience will have been gained in a largemulti-faceted organisation.

This role is particularly interesting due to its variednature, and the successful applicant will be expected to be able to adaptefficiently to the project nature of the work.

The role is busy and you will often be required to workunder pressure and to tight deadlines, so we expect you will be self-motivated,and be able to work independently, as well as working as part of a team.

As a team we support one another to focus on findingsolutions to some of the challenges we face and ensure that our work is of ahigh standard. This role has a wide-ranging impact, and is key to the successof the team.

If you are an energetic team player, and feelyou have the skills and values to join our friendly, outward looking, proactiveand award-winning team, we look forward to hearing from you.

About us

We provide mental health, learning disability and neurodiversity services, as well as a range of specialist & secure services for the wider south west region & nationally. We are passionate about promoting good mental health & wellbeing. We strive to use the expertise & resources within our organisation, and through our partnerships, to deliver high quality services that are safe & focused on people's recovery.

We are committed to developing a culture of coproduction, involving patients, families & carers in everything we do

Our values

We not only recruit based on qualifications & experience - we recruit individuals who possess & demonstrate the behaviours which underpin our Trusts core values. These include such attributes as showing a commitment to quality of care, improving lives of others, giving respect, dignity & compassion. We can bring those values to life in our everyday tasks by giving a smile; making time for people; challenging ourselves & others, & being open to new ideas.

We are committed to being an inclusive employer & applications are encouraged & welcomed from all sections of the community, regardless of any protected characteristics as governed by the Equality Act 2010. Part time & flexible working applications will be considered & supported, where possible. We particularly encourage applicants with lived experience of mental health conditions, neurodiversity or learning disabilities. We are a Disability Confident Leader.

Job responsibilities

Job Purpose

1. To support the finance team and operational managers in provision of datarequests, reconciliations and reports in a timely manner, ensuring financialinformation is processed in accordance with procedures and in order to provideinformation for statutory returns.

2. Assist with the maintenance, input, updating and reconciliation ofcomputerised budgetary control systems. This involves developing spreadsheetsand databases for specific purposes and undertaking enquiries on severalfinancial based systems. The post requires using a computer on a daily basiswith speed and accuracy.

3. To deputise for finance colleagues at meetings etc. when required.

4. Assist in all aspects of supplying financial information to keystakeholders including non-financial staff when requested. This will includevariance analysis, analysis of pay and non-pay, evaluating a range of options,supporting business cases, directorate performance reporting etc. This willinvolve providing and receiving complex and contentious information, some ofwhich may be sensitive.

5. Meet with relevant stakeholders on an on-going basis advising on thecurrent financial position. This may involve travel between different sites.

6. Working as a finance team, adopting a task-based approach to workload,which will be co-ordinated by Senior Accountants and Accountants.

7. To ensure every process has an accurate procedure note that can beinterpreted by both finance and non-finance colleagues.

8. To provide guidance and interpretation of the Trusts FinancialProcedures, Scheme of Delegation, Standing Orders and Standing FinancialInstructions where necessary.

9. Manage own time and workload in accordance with monthly / annual andad-hoc timetables, ensuring all deadlines are met on a timely basis.

10. To deliver informal training to work colleagues and non-finance staffon a range of subjects related to own area and a range of general procedures.

11. Contribute to the effectiveness of accounting systems, processes andprocedures and make recommendations to reduce costs and enhance value.

12. Undertake other duties as agreed with the Accountants, SeniorAccountants, Assistant Director of Finance.

13. Line management of Finance Assistants(Bands 2, 3 or 4) where relevant.

14. To attend and contribute to both the wider finance team developmentssuch as attendance of away days, the annual Budget Holders Conference etc.Separately, to contribute to non-finance communications such as the BudgetHolders Newsletter etc.

In addition to the job purpose set out above, below is the range ofassistant accountant roles across the finance department, together with a descriptionof the core role of each:

a)Assistant Accountant ManagementAccounts (assisting the ManagementAccountants and Senior Management Accountants to prepare annual budgets, processmonth end reporting and year end accounts, and to support budget holders / businesscases as required)

b)Assistant Accountant Systems (assisting the Accountant for systems to providecomprehensive systems support in relation to finance system maintenance anddevelopments to maximise efficiency and effectiveness of financial systems,processes and procedures.

c)Assistant Accountant Costing (assisting the Accountant for systems and costingto provide a comprehensive financial service in relation to activity planning,monitoring and reporting, and aiding in the implementation of Payment byResults (PBR) in the Trust).

d)Assistant Accountant FinancialAccounts (assisting the FinancialAccountant and Senior Financial Accountant to prepare monthly analysis asrequired by the Trusts financial reporting requirements, to carry out balancesheet reconciliations of the Trusts financial ledger taking remedial actionsas appropriate, process journals and salary sacrifice applications as required andto assist in the production of the Trusts external monthly returns andstatutory accounts).

e)Assistant Accountant Capital /Charitable Funds (assistingthe Financial Accountant and Senior Financial Accountant with the overallmanagement and performance of the Trusts capital and charitable fundsaccounting functions).

e) Assistant Accountant Cash Management (assisting the FinancialAccountant and Senior Financial Accountant to provide a reliable and effectiveservice in respect of income/accounts receivable, banking and accounts payablefunctions, VAT and other statutory returns).

During the recruitment and selection process, from the above list, theavailable assistant accountant role being advertised will be clearly setout. The Assistant Director of Finance,in conjunction with the Senior Accountants, reserve the right to change therole to another assistant accountant role listed above due to resourcepressures or any other reason deemed appropriate.

Person Specification

Qualifications

• GCSE Maths and English (or equivalent)
• AAT Qualified or equivalent accounting experience

Knowledge

• Knowledge of NHS finance
• Knowledge of ledger systems/accounting strategy and budgetary control processes

Experience

• Accounting experience - three years
• IT literate including extensive use of Word and Excel

Skills and Abilities

• Good communication skills both verbal and written
• Ability to explain finance information to non-finance managers
• Good analytical skills
• Ability to interpret financial information
• Manage own workload within agreed parameters and deadlines
• Logical approach to problem solving
• Regular reliable method of transport and mobility throughout the area

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.