External Reporting Manager

Staffordshire County Council; Acton Gate; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

Staffordshire County Council is seeking a finance professional to join the central Capital team, focusing on tracking expenditure forecasts, maintaining the capital grants register and processes for capital budgeting and monitoring.

The role also covers fixed assets management, including the asset register, revaluations, impairments and disposals, plus monitoring capital receipts and developer contributions. Strong analysis and statutory returns experience are essential.

Qualifications

• Membership of a CCAB body preferably CIPFA (or AAT Member with minimum 2 years post-qualification)
• Experience working in Local Government Finance, including the preparation and analysis of financial statements
• Knowledge and understanding of the statutes, codes of practice and other rules in respect of Local Government Finance, and the ability to interpret and apply them
• Experience of preparing statutory returns and/or grant claims
• Experience of analysing complex financial information and presenting results
• Able to analyse complex financial information or statistics and identify errors or inconsistencies
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills

Responsibilities

• Coordinate timely completion and submission of statutory returns and grant claims to ensure compliance with regulations and maximise income for Staffordshire
• Create and manage a schedule for grant claims and statutory returns, allocating staff resources accordingly, to ensure that all required evidence is submitted when required
• Liaise with Finance Partners and Corporate Accountants to offer advice and guidance on potential external grants, to maximise resources available to Staffordshire.
• Oversee the timely collection of statutory information required for Government Returns and forward these for sign off
• Support Finance Partners in the preparation of estimates, by providing intelligence on grant claims in a timely manner

Skills

Interpersonal communication

Analytical thinking

Financial analysis

Attention to detail

Education

CCAB membership (CIPFA preferred)

AAT member with 2+ years post-qualification

Job description

An opportunity has arisen to be at the heart of a dynamic and flexible finance team, helping Staffordshire to face the issues currently challenging local government and to overcome them successfully. The role is within the central Capital team and involves tracking forecasts of expenditure and funding for capital projects, maintaining the capital grants register and the system processes required for capital budgeting and monitoring. The team will also focus on fixed assets, maintaining the asset register including processing revaluations, impairments and disposals alongside monitoring capital receipts and developer contributions,

• Accountable for co-ordinating the timely completion and submission of statutory returns and grant claims to ensure compliance with regulations and maximise income for Staffordshire
• Create and manage a schedule for grant claims and statutory returns, allocating staff resources accordingly, to ensure that all required evidence is submitted when required
• Liaise with Finance Partners and Corporate Accountants to offer advice and guidance on potential external grants, to maximise resources available to Staffordshire.
• Oversee the timely collection of statutory information required for Government Returns and forward these for sign off
• Support Finance Partners in the preparation of estimates, by providing intelligence on grant claims in a timely manner

Minimum criteria that will be used to shortlist for this role will be:

• Membership of a CCAB body preferably CIPFA (or AAT Member with minimum 2 years post-qualification)
• Experience working in Local Government Finance, including the preparation and analysis of financial statements
• Knowledge and understanding of the statutes, codes of practice and other rules in respect of Local Government Finance, and the ability to interpret and apply them
• Experience of preparing statutory returns and/or grant claims
• Experience of analysing complex financial information and presenting results
• Able to analyse complex financial information or statistics and identify errors or inconsistencies

• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills

Core values

The core of who we are as an organisation. Just like we all have personal values that shape our thoughts and behaviour, organisational values drive how we think and act collectively. Our values were created and shaped by colleague feedback and national best practice and they sit at the heart of People Strategy: We have a real sense of community spirit that brings our people together. This feeling of belonging means we are all connected to what we do and take pride in the difference we make every day for Staffordshire people. We are ambitious and our sights are set firmly on a better future. We look forward and race ahead - that goes for your career too.

Benefits

Our benefits: We recognise that it is our employees that are central to everything we do. We aim to create a supportive working environment where employees can achieve their full potential and achieve a healthy work-life balance. In addition to your salary, as a member of staff, you will have access to Our rewards and benefits - Careers at Staffordshire