Senior Management Accountant

NHS Jobs; Brierley Hill; On-site; GBP 45,000 - 65,000; Full time

Job summary

NHS Jobs is seeking a Finance Business Partner to support budgeting, forecasting, and financial reporting for the Trusts areas. You will work with Budget Managers to ensure budgets align with financial resources and timetables, input budgets into finance systems, and deliver monthly monitoring and year-end projections.

The role involves advising on financial recovery plans, creating new reports, and ensuring compliance with Standing Orders and financial governance, while supervising junior staff

Responsibilities

• Compile and maintain budgets and forecasts for their areas and liaise with Budget Managers to apply budget guidelines.
• Input all budgets into the Trusts finance systems after agreement, ensuring accuracy and completeness.
• Coordinate and reconcile forecast and budget adjustments and document environments as needed.
• Prepare accurate monthly monitoring reports including management accounts, year-end forecasts, and staffing/projects analyses.
• Meet monthly with Budget Managers to discuss reported positions and provide guidance on variances and corrective actions.
• Prepare and post required journal entries and maintain supporting documentation.
• Ensure reports include accruals and prepayments with solid working papers.
• Analyse financial data, produce variance exception reports, and support financial recovery plans implementation.

Job description

To assist the Finance Business Partner to:

• Compile and maintain the budgets and forecasts for their respective areas, liaising with Budget Managers to ensure the correct application of the Trusts budget setting guidelines and to ensure that budgets are set within the available financial resources and are finalised within the Trusts agreed timetable;
• Input all budgets into the Trusts finance systems, once they have been agreed, ensuring both accuracy and completeness;
• Co-ordinate and reconcile forecast and budget adjustments in their respective areas and complete required documentation for all agreed environments;
• In accordance with the monthly timetable, prepare accurate monthly monitoring reports for their areas, including management accounts, year-end forecasts, commentary, staffing and projects and deal in the first instance with queries arising. Meet monthly with Budget Managers to discuss their reported position-comparing budgets against actual expenditure, activity and manpower and providing detailed guidance and advice on complex / contentious financial issues;
• Prepare and post required journal entries each month and maintain back-up documentation;
• Ensure monitoring reports include accurate accruals and prepayments supported by comprehensive working papers;
• Analyse financial data, prepare exception reports for Budget Managers on variances from plan, including developing recommendations for corrective action and support the Budget Managers in the implementation and monitoring of agreed financial recovery plans;
• Provide financial and business support and advice to Budget Managers including costing up the implications of any service changes, cost efficiency plans, service developments and Project Initiation Documents;
• Create new reports to meet the changing needs/additional requirements of Budget Managers;
• Ensure that all Budget Managers are aware of and are working to the requirements set out by the Trust in its SFIs, Standing Orders, Scheme of Delegation and other financial procedures and policies;
• Proactively assist in the training of Budget Managers and other Trust staff in financial management and in the interpretation and application of the Trusts financial governance framework;
• Ensure that all appropriate invoicing instructions are produced both promptly and accurately and that all income is received in line with budgets and processes are in place to achieve any income generation targets;
• Ensure that payroll transactions are accurately coded and reported, where necessary in liaison with Budget Managers, and other relevant staff. This includes liaising with HR and the ESR team to agree staff coding changes and to ensure that Financial Reports accurately reflect operational and Trust Workforce Plans;
• Assist with maintaining within the finance system an appropriate coding structure which meets the needs of management and create new codes within this structure on an ad hoc basis, as required. Create new links between existing codes within this structure on an ad hoc basis, as required;
• Ensure that all appropriate members of staff have access to accurate and up to date finance coding information;
• Support the Debt Management function by providing information to support claims against other organisations/debtor invoices, and where appropriate liaise with debtors to resolve queries that prevent settlement;
• Support the Creditor Payment function by assisting the payments team to resolve queries that prevent payment and to code payments correctly;
• Supervise the work of the Management Accountant(s) for their respective area, including allocating/delegating tasks, monitoring performance and providing instruction where necessary and where particular skills and knowledge are held;

In addition, the post-holder will be required to:

• Deputise for the Finance Business Partner as required within their respective area;
• From time to time perform other tasks of a similar level as requested/agreed with the Finance management team and carry out special projects with other staff as required;
• Attend meetings with senior managers and other staff, as appropriate;
• Liaise with other members of the Financial Management team and act on their behalf during their absence in relevant areas;
• Notify the Deputy Director of Finance and the Head of Financial Management at the first opportunity whenever items or matters of significance arise;
• As directed by the Chief Financial Accountant, support the Financial Accounts process by maintaining/clearing Control and Suspense Accounts as required and by producing working papers as part of the Final Accounts process;
• Work in accordance with the documented procedures, financial regulations and Standing Orders of the Trust;
• Assist with the periodic review of all such procedures to ensure that they continue to remain accurate and relevant;
• Create and maintain methodologies for undertaking routine procedures within the finance system, especially with regard to year-end closedowns;
• Contribute suggestions for improving the efficiency of the Trust;
• Be responsible for their professional development and participate in the Trust Performance Review process. This includes attendance at mandatory training sessions and any other session or training module which line management believes will contribute to personal and/or team growth.

Communication & Working Relationships

• Create and maintain effective working relationships with other individuals within the Finance Directorate, other Officers and Managers within the Trust, and members of external organisations including internal and external auditors;
• Work with other Officers and Managers within the Trust when undertaking costing and tendering exercises, both for sources of Income and areas of Expenditure.
• For Income generation, this will include preparing data for presentation to a third party and being an integral part of the tender presentation team;
• Act as Finance Directorate representative on committees / projects, as required;
• Supervise, support and motivate Managements Accounts staff within the Team