Senior Financial Accountant

TN United Kingdom; Gillingham; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 55,000; Full time

Job summary

Join a leading healthcare trust as a Senior Financial Accountant, where you'll manage financial accounts and lead a team within a supportive environment. This role offers opportunities for professional development and a commitment to employee wellbeing. The position is based in Rainham, with a focus on delivering high-quality financial management in the NHS.

Benefits

Training and development opportunities

Agile working kit

High Cost Area Supplement

Employee assistance programme

Flexible working opportunities

Qualifications

• Significant experience in NHS Organisation.
• Extensive experience in Financial Management role.
• Experience in preparing financial plans.

Responsibilities

• Assist in the production of the monthly accounts and maintenance of fixed asset register.
• Manage the Financial accountants and staff.
• Prepare working papers for external auditors.

Skills

Communication

Analytical skills

Negotiation

Decision making

IT skills

Education

CCAB part qualified or fully qualified Accounting Technician

Job description

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Joining #TeamNELFT means you’ll become part of a welcoming and supportive working environment. We’re CQC rated Good, and we want you to join us on the journey towards an Outstanding rating. NELFT has sites across North East London, Essex, Kent and Medway. We provide community and mental healthcare services to adults and children within these areas.

The Trust has award winning equality and diversity initiatives and staff health and wellbeing activities. We invest heavily in your development, because when you are valued and supported, we provide the best care to our patients. We are a Level 3 Disability Confident Leader, have been featured in the Working Families Top 10 Employers benchmark for three consecutive years, and we have achieved a Carers UK Level 1 Accreditation. Along with our staff networks and training opportunities, we work hard to embed a just and compassionate culture here at NELFT.

Find out more about NELFT careers and what makes our Trust a great place to work, in this video

Job overview

We are seeking a motivated and dynamic Senior Financial Accountant to apply for this exciting opportunity to work within the NELFT Finance team.

Band 6 to 7 dependant on experience.

The role will require the successful candidate to work as part of the team based in the Finance department at CEME Innovation Centre, Marsh way, Rainham, RM13 8EY.

Main duties of the job

The candidate will need good communication skills and will be required to understand highly complex financial information and translate this to non-financial managers and external organisations.

Assist in the production of the monthly accounts and maintenance of comprehensive fixed asset register system. This involves managing staff and working to tight deadlines.

Working collaboratively across the wider finance team.

Managing a team within the Financial Accounts Team. Any other financial duties as required by the Associate Director of Finance. The successful post holder will be expected to work in an agile way.

As part of the Finance team team we can offer you:
• Ensure that your own knowledge and skills are constantly updated, including mandatory training
• Management supervision and appraisals
• Training and development opportunities
• Provide agile working kit to enable agile working

Working for our organisation

Probationary Period

This post will be subject to a probationary period. Internal applicants are exempt from the probationary period (unless you are an internal applicant currently part way through a probationary period or currently a bank member of staff).

High Cost Area Supplement

This post also attracts payment for High Cost Area Supplement of 15% of the basic salary (with a minimum of £4,551 to a maximum of £5,735).

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• To undertake all duties in compliance with the Trust’s SOs and SFIs and other operational policies, procedures and targets.
• Ensure good standards of working for the control of the financial database, ensuring they are updated accurately and timely.
• To manage the Financial accountants and staff underneath ensuring the personal and professional development of the sections including regular staff supervision sessions and annual appraisals.
• To assist in the production of the Trusts statutory Annual Accounts and Notes and Trust Returns in accordance with IFRS.
• Ensure that the capital programme and fixed assets are accounted for correctly, in line with the relevant statutory and NHS accounting policies and procedures.
• Responsible for recording, monitoring and analysing commitment and expenditure against budgets. Reconciling monthly accounts and producing periodic variance reports appropriate to differing management levels.
• Works with scheme managers to plan and develop robust forecasts of expenditure in order to monitor project cost against budget and to project cash flow and the resulting capital charges.
• Monitors actual and projected cash flows against the NHS improvement Threshold and giving early notification of any forecast variation.
• Maintains the Trust asset register in full compliance with the NHS Trust’s, including additions, disposals, revaluations, impairments and transfers. Production of monthly reconciliations to the general ledger.
• Prepare all working papers, as required by the external auditors in their "prepared by client schedules" in advance of their final audit visit. This information will be used in preparation of the Trust’s Annual Accounts.
• Calculate the capital charges estimate for the Trust’s Annual Plan and provide capital charges forecasts as and when required to SLR Manager.
• Ensure that the proper procedures and process are in place for the reporting of and accounting for capital and asset revaluation

Please see the attached job description and person specification for more information about this role and working at North East London NHS Foundation Trust. We encourage you to refer closely to this when completing your application.

We welcome your application even if you do not meet all the criteria listed in the person specification. Any development needs to help you succeed in the role, can be discussed at the interview stage.

Use of AI

Applications for this role should be written by the applicant. If artificial intelligence (AI) programmes are used, then the application may be rejected due to this document being an important part of the assessment process. This does not prevent applicants seeking appropriate support with applications should they need to for the purposes of any declared disability.

Person specification

Educational/Technical

• CCAB part qualified, or fully qualified Accounting Technician with significant post qualifying experience

Experience

• Significant experience of working in an NHS Organisation
• Extensive experience of working in a Financial Management role
• Significant experience in Staff Management
• Experience in preparing financial plans
• Ability to communicate effectively and pass on knowledge to all levels of staff especially directors and senior managers and clinicians
• Significant experience working in public sector finance
• Previous Experience of Strategic Financial Management gained in a public sector setting
• Experience of involvement in medium term financial planning
• Experience of managing change
• Experience of preparing, writing and presenting reports including on a range of complex financial issues
• Experience of negotiating and supporting contract and service level agreements

Knowledge

• Fundamental knowledge of NHS accounting principles
• experience in annual accounts
• experience in capital accounting
• experience in cash management

Skills/Abilities

• Able to manage, and organise own work and input from other stakeholders to complete task by agreed dates.
• Able to produce reports and present information to large groups in a clear and concise way and with confidence
• Able to work with senior managers and clinicians
• Able to fully cost projects and services
• Able to interpret non-financial data and to link it with financial information
• Excellent negotiation and influencing skills
• Good decision making and prioritisation skills
• Good analytical and judgemental skills
• Good IT skills, including spreadsheets, databases and cost apportionment
• Clear and accurate written and verbal communication skills
• Good understanding of NHS finance
• Ability to travel efficiently throughout the business unit
• Ability to work flexibly and adjust to changing requirements
• Experience of organising and providing finance training to non-finance and junior finance staff

We believe in bringing your authentic and best self to work, in order to deliver the best care to our patients. We are committed to supporting our employees holistically. Here is a snapshot of what is on offer at NELFT:

• A long-standing and award-winning approach to equality and diversity with supportive networks for ethnic minority staff, staff with disabilities or long term/chronic conditions and LGBT staff.
• A commitment to supporting colleagues to achieve a work life balance, through flexible working opportunities and our effortsto support our working parents and carers. This has resulted in us being recognised as a ‘Top 10 Family Friendly Employer’ from the Working Families Charity.
• Proactive health and wellbeing support, including access to our employee assistance programme, staff psychological support, individual wellbeing conversations and a network of health and wellbeing ambassadors.
• Detailed information about our wellbeing and benefits offer can be found in this link.

As a flexible working friendly organisation, we want to be sure that you can work in a way that is best for us and for our patients, and for you. Speak to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement whether that’s a job share, part time hours or another flexible pattern.