Divisional Finance Manager

The-Christie-Nhs-Foundation-Trust; Manchester; Hybrid; GBP 60,000 - 85,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

NHS Pension scheme

Salary finance schemes

Lease car scheme

Hybrid working

Job summary

The Christie NHS Foundation Trust in Manchester is seeking a CCAB/CIMA qualified senior finance leader to oversee budgeting, forecasting and financial reporting across divisions. The role focuses on strategic financial management within a dynamic NHS setting and requires strong leadership, communication and IT skills.

You will work within the Finance Directorate to provide expert financial management, drive CIP targets and support service developments, with a hybrid working pattern offering

Qualifications

• Qualified CCAB/CIMA accountant with post-qualification experience in a senior finance role.
• Experience in NHS/public sector financial regimes is preferred.
• Strong IT skills and proficiency with financial systems.
• Ability to manage budgets, forecast effectively and communicate financial information clearly.

Responsibilities

• Provide leadership to the financial management team and advise divisions on financial performance.
• Lead monitoring, reporting and budgeting activities to ensure financial balance across divisions.
• Develop and implement financial planning aligned with organisational strategy and CIP targets.
• Produce timely financial information for internal committees and the board.

Skills

Analytical skills

Communication skills

Financial reporting

Budgeting and forecasting

Leadership

Education

CCAB/CIMA Qualified Accountant

Job description

The successful candidate will be a highly motivated and an enthusiastic CCAB/CIMA qualified accountant, who has extensive experience in effective financial management, possess strong management and communication skills, as well as excellent analytical, technical and IT skills from within the Public or Private sector. You will have the ability to operate at a strategic level, work under pressure and to manage multiple and conflicting deadlines.

We actively promote innovation and change to ensure we are continually working efficiently to provide a comprehensive service.

Working at The Christie NHS Foundation Trust entitles you to; 27-33 days annual leave plus bank holidays, access to the highly regarded NHS Pension scheme. The availability of salary finance schemes in addition to a lease car scheme.

As a Financial Management team we offer a dynamic, diverse and developmental environment in which to nurture and enhance your career within the NHS. We have embedded a culture of strong teamwork, and ensure we get quality time together to build and enhance inter-team relationships.

The Finance Directorate actively promotes training and development within the team, we have developed a comprehensive finance education strategy and hold Level 3 accreditation in Towards Excellence and Future Focused Finance. We are an active member of the FSD (Finance Skills Development) Network, Future Focused Finance, and Towards Excellence scheme.

Main duties of the job

The Divisional Finance Manager role is accountable to the Networked Services Division, managing a small team, and reporting into the Head of Financial Management. In addition to working closely with other areas of the Finance Directorate.

The role provides high quality, accurate and timely professional financial management advice, monitoring and reporting services to a range of divisions.

You will be the lead Finance contact to the Networked Services Division, being the key point of contact for budget holders and managers.

You will also provide support and input to projects, business cases and service developments.

We recognise how important a modern working practices to enable our employees to maximise their performance and productivity whilst maintaining an excellent work life balance and so have adopted a hybrid office/home working approach where employees have the opportunity to work either from home or flex their time between both.

Working for our organisation

The Christie is one of Europe’s leading cancer centres, treating over 60,000 patients a year. We are based in Manchester and serve a population of 3.2 million across Greater Manchester & Cheshire, but as a national specialist around 15% patients are referred to us from other parts of the country. We provide radiotherapy through one of the largest radiotherapy departments in the world; chemotherapy on site and through 14 other hospitals; highly specialist surgery for complex and rare cancer; and a wide range of support and diagnostic services. We are also an international leader in research, with world first breakthroughs for over 100 years. We run one of the largest early clinical trial units in Europe with over 300 trials every year. Cancer research in Manchester, most of which is undertaken on the Christie site, has been officially ranked the best in the UK.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

1. Provide support to the Assistant Director of Finance (ADoF) and Head of Financial Management (HoFM) in providing an effective monitoring and reporting service to the trust in accordance with the agreed timetables, procedures and standards prescribed within the trust.

2. Provide a high quality professional financial management advice and support service, acting as lead accountant and contact point for a range of clinical and non-clinical divisions. To ensure that these divisions/directorates achieve financial balance and that financial pressures are highlighted at an early stage and appropriate action identified. Continue to develop financial reporting and planning to reflect the needs of the divisions/directorates and improve accountability.

3. Provide specialist strategic, financial and business skills input into the planning of any service development including strategic change within the division/directorate as appropriate, ensure that divisional/directorate objectives are affordable within available resources consistent with organisational financial strategy.

4. Provide support and input to projects within finance or across the Trust as assigned.

5. Provide support to the HoFM and ADoF, ensuring the HoFM is kept informed of divisional and team issues.

6. Co-ordinate the production of divisional monthly financial management information in line with agreed timetables and to feed into the trust reporting framework with reports taken to internal committees as well as reported externally. Internal committees to include divisional board, capital and workforce planning group, drugs management committee, research committee, charitable funds committee, management board and trust board of directors.

7. Co-ordinate the budget setting process for division(s)/directorates by establishing and maintaining systems and procedures and ensuring the production of working papers to enable the formulation of the Trust budget book. Contribute to the financial planning process to enable the formation to the Trust’s annual plan.

8. Interpret financial information and communicate variances from budget and any areas of potential risk to senior managers and offer guidance and advise to enable action plans to be formulated which maximise the financial resources available.

9. Proactively assist colleagues in managing budgets and continually act to promote financial control and stewardship to safeguard the use of funds and promote value for money and ensure the appropriate use of funds within the division/directorate.

10. In conjunction with the division(s) and the Programme Management Office, proactively identify, monitor and evaluate schemes to ensure achievement of Cost Improvement Programme (CIP) targets, and contribute to CIP working groups by being the nominated finance representative.

11. Accurately forecast the year end financial position of the division/directorates on a monthly basis to enable the year-end position for the trust/charity to be provided to the board.

12. Act corporately, upholding the professionalism, position and focus of the Finance Directorate, whilst also being an integral and trusted member of the divisional team(s).

13. As a member of divisional board(s), develop a close working relationship with other members of the board and divisional senior management team. Present financial information to clinicians, managers and other staff to improve financial awareness and efficiency.

14. Provide the division with information on the links between the achievement of performance targets and the financial performance of the division. This will include advising the divisional board on Local Delivery Plan’s; cost and price implications of service changes and advising of financial implications of changes to local tariff and payment by results.

15. Link with the Income, Costing and Contracting team in the production of profitability reporting through divisional/directorate agreement of cost and income allocation and understanding of service contribution to the running of the trust.

16. Link with the Financial Services Manager to ensure the accurate reporting of the trust balance sheet and cash flow statement, to also ensure the trust maximises its cash balance on a daily basis.

17. Contribute to and where appropriate lead on identified corporate financial projects, for example the preparation of elements of the Annual Accounts process.

18. Work co-operatively across the finance function to ensure that common standards of accounting practice are maintained within the Trust and to share information and best practice to achieve more effective use of resources or enhance productivity.

19. Authorised signatory for cheques and bank payment transfers ensuring requests meet the Standing Financial Instructions and Standing Orders of the Trust.

20. Exercise independent judgement and initiative when problems arise and take appropriate action to resolve areas of concern.

21. Responsible for prioritising own work and that of specific sub-teams(s) within the divisional financial management team (the post requires no direct supervision). To line manage specific sub-teams(s) within the divisional financial management team including appraisals; training and development; sickness absence; disciplinary matters; recruitment and selection decisions; personal and career development and workload allocations.

22. Provision of financial training to managers, clinicians and all budget holders within the division/directorates and the Trust.

23. Provide input to the development and implementation of policies, procedures and protocols for the provision of financial management information to ensure the trust complies with statutory and internal requirements, in conjunction with the ADoF/ HoFM.

24. To provide cover for other financial management team members’ absences, including supporting other divisions.

25. Work with the HoFM to agree Personal Objectives, and a Personal Development Plan and keep up to date professionally through mandatory continuing professional development.

26. Ability to demonstrates the Trust values and behaviours.

27. To be accountable for own attitude and behaviour.

Person specification

Qualifications

• CCAB/CIMA Qualified Accountant
• Demonstrate Continuing Professional Development
• Degree

Experience

• Have post qualification experience in a senior role, working as a senior manager within a complex finance department, have a thorough understanding of financial management and financial accounting principles
• Experience in working in a multi – agency and disciplinary environment
• Significant experience of management accounting
• Experience of managing, motivating and developing staff
• Experience of computerised financial systems
• Experience of NHS finance and the NHS financial regime
• Have experience in the preparation of the statutory annual accounts process
• Experience of the Charity / third sector accounting
• Have experience of Research grants and contracts accounting

Skills

• Excellent analytical and reasoning skills
• Ability to prepare and present financial information to non financial people
• Planning, monitoring and influencing skills
• Excellent written and verbal communication and interpersonal skills to people at all levels within the organisation
• Proficient in the use of computerised and manual financial systems, including spreadsheets and database packages, and have the ability to develop systems to maximum benefits to users
• Possess a robust understanding of financial and activity systems and to be able to extract, interpret, manipulate and present information in a meaningful way
• Ability to manage, motivate and develop staff
• Ability to work without supervision and to deliver to deadlines
• Ability to be both a team leader and a team player
• Ability to lead change and have a positive influence on others
• Evidence of past achievements and ability to deliver
• Ability to proactively contribute to business cases, providing an effective and professional financial input

Knowledge

• In depth knowledge of the NHS financial regime including Payment by Results and the impact on Trust income
• Knowledge of the FT financial regime including an understanding of the compliance framework.
• Understanding of the NHS Cancer Plan and Trust performance targets and to be able to understand the impact that these have on the Trust

VALUES

• Ability to demonstrate the organisational values and behaviours

OTHER

• Be able to manage time effectively, prioritise and deliver to agreed deadlines
• Enthusiasm, determination, motivated and positive
• Confident approach, hardworking, committed and reliable
• Open, honest and fair
• Treat colleagues with dignity and respect

Sponsorship Information -We are an approved sponsoring organisation. Applications will be considered from applicants requiring sponsorship alongside all other applications. Please be aware, not all roles are eligible for sponsorship. You can review the list of eligible role and requirements on the government website.

Pre-Employment Checks -To confirm your suitability for the role, we will carry out pre-employment checks in line with NHS Employment Check Standards . These include:

• Identity verification
• Right to work check
• Disclosure and barring service (DBS)/Criminal record check (dependent on role, payment of this will be the applicants responsibility)
• Professional registration and/or qualification check
• Occupational health assessment
• Employment history and reference validation

All applicants external to The Christie NHS Foundation Trust will be required to provide their HMRC employment history to cover the most recent three years employment. This information will used to validate employment history andreferences.

If you require sponsorship, we will assess your eligibility based on current government guidance. If the role is not eligible and you cannot demonstrate your right to work, your conditional offer may be withdrawn.

Sponsorship Information -We are an approved sponsoring organisation. Applications will be considered from applicants requiring sponsorship alongside all other applications. Please be aware, not all roles are eligible for sponsorship. You can review the list of eligible role and requirements on the government website.

No Smoking Policy - You should be aware the Trust operates a No Smoking Policy and therefore employees are not permitted to smoke at work.

Additional Information - We want to ensure that everyone who works at the Christie or uses our services is welcomed, valued and treated with dignity and respect.The Christie values diversity and is committed to ensuring equal opportunities for all and fair representation across the organisation at all levels. In support of these commitments, we particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian and other ethnic minority people and people with disabilities for this post. Appointment will be only on merit.

We are committed to creating a balanced and diverse workforce. As such we welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds. Together we will foster inclusion and tackle inequity and health inequalities in cancer care.

As users of the disability confident scheme, we guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the vacancy.

The Christie NHS Foundation Trust is committed to the highest standards of ethical conduct and integrity in all our activities. We have a zero-tolerance approach to modern slavery in any of its forms, including slavery, servitude, forced or compulsory labour, and human trafficking. We are fully committed to acting ethically and with transparency in all our business dealings and relationships, and to implementing and enforcing effective systems and controls to ensure modern slavery is not taking place anywhere in our organisation or supply chains.