Senior Assistant Management Accountant

St. Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust; Knowsley; On-site; GBP 35,000 - 48,000; Full time

Job summary

Mersey West Lancashire NHS Trust is seeking a Senior Assistant Management Accountant to join the Financial Management team. The role provides accurate financial information and reporting to internal and external colleagues, supporting budget holders across the organisation.

The post holder will use Excel and other software for financial reporting and analysis, contribute to annual budget planning, and help improve the efficiency of the Finance function within a large NHS provider.

Qualifications

• Significant Financial Management experience.
• Experience of managing budgets and providing financial information to non-finance managers.
• Proven ability to analyse, interpret and forecast financial data.

Responsibilities

• Provide high quality financial information and advice to budget holders and non-finance managers.
• Develop relationships with budget holders and review financial information regularly.
• Monitor income/expenditure and resolve queries with budget holders and colleagues.
• Use Excel and other software to produce financial reports and analyses.
• Complete monthly tasks and update ledgers to reflect accurate financial position.
• Assist with annual budgeting/financial planning and liaise with budget holders.
• Identify opportunities for process improvements within the Finance function.

Skills

Financial management

Budgeting

Forecasting

Data analysis

Excel

Report writing

Education

AAT membership or CCAB/CIMA qualification

Experience in finance role in large organisation

Tools

Excel

Oracle General Ledger

Job description

After applying via NHS Jobs, your submitted application will be imported into our preferred Third-party recruitment system. All subsequent information regarding your application will be generated from apps.trac.jobs. You will not be able to track the progress of your application or receive messages through the NHS Jobs website, and furthermore, as an employer, we will not be able to respond to any e-mails sent to us via the NHS Jobs website. By applying for this post you are agreeing to "name of trust" transferring the information contained in this application to its preferred applicant management system. If you are appointed to a post information will also be transferred into the national NHS Electronic Staff Records system.

Job overview

An opportunity has arisen for a Senior Assistant Management Accountant, acting as a key member of the Financial Management team. The postholder will provide accurate and timely financial information and reporting to colleagues internal and external to Finance, including providing support to budget holders across the organisation.

Interview Date is yet to be confirmed.

Main duties of the job

• Ensure the provision of high quality financial information and accurate advice to budget holders and other non-finance managers.
• Develop good working relationships with budget holders, regularly meeting with them to review their financial information and provide advice.
• Assist Financial Management colleagues in ensuring income and expenditure is monitored and is recorded accurately, including monitoring variances from planned income and expenditure and resolving queries with budget holders and Finance colleagues.
• Use Excel and other software to provide financial reports and conduct financial analysis, using formulae and other functionality as required.
• Complete regular tasks accurately and in line with the monthly timetable, including where relevant internal recharges between departments and updates to the ledger to reflect an accurate financial position.
• Ensure most effective use of the Trust's financial resources, including assisting with the annual budget setting/financial planning process by updating and reviewing information for the new financial year, including staffing information. To liaise with budget holders as part of this process, to ensure accurate information is used.
• Proactively review regular tasks within their areas of responsibility, identifying opportunities for improvements and more efficient working to support continuous improvement of the Finance function.

Working for our organisation

Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust serves a population of over 600,000 with a workforce of over 9000 dedicated and skilled staff across 21 sites.

We strongly believe that the communities we serve should all have access to Five Star Patient Care.

Our Services:

Acute Care

Providing emergency and maternity services at Whiston, Southport and Ormskirk hospitals, and medical and surgical specialties across all our sites.

Primary Care

Providing primary care services at Marshalls Cross Medical Centre situated in St Helens Hospital.

Community Services

Providing adult community services for St Helens and a wheelchair service in Chorley, South Ribble, and West Lancashire. Our inpatient unit at Newton Community Hospital is where patients needing acute hospital beds can continue rehabilitation, freeing up space for more unwell patients. We also provide urgent care at our Urgent Treatment Centre located in St Helens town centre.

Specialist Regional Services

We provide the Mersey Regional Burns & Plastic Surgery Unit at Whiston Hospital and the Spinal Injuries Unit at Southport Hospital to more than 4 million people across the whole of Merseyside, West Lancashire, Cheshire, Isle of Man and North Wales.

Achievements:

• Rated Outstanding by CQC Inspection August 2018
• Top 100 places to work in the NHS (NHS Employers & Health Service Journal)
• National Preceptorship Accreditation (2023) for Nursing & AHP Preceptorship Programme

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

For the main responsibilities and requirements of this position, please refer to the attached job description and person specification.

Person specification

Our Values

Essential criteria

• We are Kind
• We are Open
• We are Inclusive

Qualifications

Essential criteria

• High standard of general education (to A-Level or equivalent)
• GCSE Level C or above in Maths and English
• Qualified full member of AAT or equivalent and actively studying for CCAB or CIMA qualification or equivalent experience

Knowledge and Experience

Essential criteria

• Significant Financial Management experience
• Experience within a finance function of a large organisation
• Experience of providing training and support to others in own specialist area
• Evidence of planning and organising tasks required to achieve a specific outcome within a specified timeframe without direction from line manager
• Experience of analysing, interpreting and presenting complex data and producing robust forecasts
• Highly computer literate including MS Word, Excel, able to extract data, create and manipulate complex spreadsheets

Desirable criteria

• Substantial NHS Finance experience working in a provider or commissioning NHS organisation in a relevant role
• Experience of the Oracle General Ledger System including Business Intelligence
• Experience of providing financial and /or business advice to clinical and / or budget holders

Skills

Essential criteria

• Good standard of communication skills including the ability to effectively communicate complex financial information to non-finance managers
• Acts professionally in all dealings with colleagues and in liaising with external bodies; must be able to adapt style appropriately to deal diplomatically with senior personnel
• Good standard of written communications
• To be able to carry out business ensuring all accounting treatments are adhering to Generally Agreed Accounting Principles (GAAP) and International Accounting Standards (IAS)
• Excellent problem solving and analytical skills to identify weaknesses in the feeder systems to the General Ledger and management accounting processes and implement improvements
• Well organised, able to plan and prioritise own workload
• Good negotiating and influencing skills
• Ability to work under pressure and to meet tight deadlines
• Ability to support change
• Ability to manage conflicting priorities
• Ability to produce high quality financial information to managers and budget holders
• Ability to understand and interpret detailed financial information
• Excellent electronic records management

Other

Essential criteria

• Ability to work effectively as a team player and the ability to work under own initiative.
• Demonstrate drive and enthusiasm
• Be willing to learn new skills and develop knowledge: committed to own and others continued professional development
• Concentration required for effectively multi-tasking, analysing data, writing detailed reports etc.
• The post holder has to be able to work successfully under pressure of time and resourcesThe ability to get on with others and build good relationships with a wide variety of individuals both internal and external to the organisation
• Standard keyboard skills
• Occasional requirement to move office equipment

Regular requirement for long periods of concentration are required for when exploring reports for accuracy

Frequent interruptions in the form of telephone enquiries, Microsoft Teams calls and support required from colleagues

Requirement to deal with difficult discussions concerning budgets

Frequent requirement to travel independently across sites

Requirement to use VDU equipment for a majority of the working day

Thank you for considering an application to work for Mersey West Lancashire NHS Trust. MWL is an exciting and forward-thinking NHS Trust who are one of the best places to work for in England.

Given sometimes we receive a high volume of applications to work for us, please be aware, that we may close a vacancy earlier than stated should a sufficient number of applications be received from which a shortlist can be confirmed. Therefore, you are advised to apply at your earliest convenience.

The Trust may contact you during the recruitment process for your feedback on your experience. We always aim for continuous improvement in our practice.

Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion

We actively cultivate a professional environment of fairness, equality, dignity, and respect for all individuals. We welcome individuals from all backgrounds and value the unique skills, perspective and experience you bring. We are grounded in the belief that diversity enhances our collective strength, fostering innovation and excellence within our workforce. We welcome all applications irrespective of people's race, disability, gender, sexual orientation, religion/belief, age, gender identity, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy/maternity and in particular those from under- represented groups.

As a Disability Confident Leader, we commit to offering an interview to all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the job (the essential criteria) listed in the personal specification. If you wish to apply under this Guaranteed Interview Scheme, please indicate this on the online application form.

If you are having difficulty completing an online application, or require any disability reasonable adjustments, to the application process, please contact