Senior Management Accountant

Health Jobs UK; Grays; On-site; GBP 65,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading health service provider is seeking a Senior Management Accountant to deliver comprehensive financial management across multiple directorates. The role requires producing accurate budgets and timely reports, ensuring financial control, and supporting directors in strategic financial decisions. Ideal candidates will possess strong financial expertise, communication skills, and hold relevant qualifications.

Benefits

NHS discounts for staff

Excellent Training facilities

Salary Sacrifice schemes

Flexible Employer

Qualifications

• Membership of AAT or equivalent qualification.
• Engaged in study for CCAB or willing to commence training.
• Experience in NHS finance department using computerized financial information systems.

Responsibilities

• Produce monthly budget reports for services.
• Attend Senior Management Team meetings to present financial information.
• Identify variances and communicate with budget holders.

Skills

Financial Management

Communication

Analytical Skills

Education

Membership of AAT

Relevant degree or equivalent

GCSE level or equivalent

Tools

Spreadsheets

Word Processing Software

Job description

About Us
EPUT provides community health, mental health and learning disability services to support more than 3.2 million people living across Bedfordshire, Essex and Suffolk. Also:

• We are among the largest employers in the in the East of England region, with more than 10,000 staff working across more than 200 sites.
• We run the COVID-19 vaccination programme across mid and south Essex and Suffolk and north east Essex.

EPUT was formed on 1 April 2017 following the merger of North Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (NEP) and South Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (SEPT). A new leadership team was established at the Trust in 2020.
Our vision and values
Our Vision

"To be the leading health and wellbeing service in the provision of mental health and community care".

Our Purpose

"We care for people every day. What we do together, matters".

Our Values

• We Care
• We Learn
• We Empower

Our strategic objectives

• We will deliver safe, high quality integrated care services.
• We will enable each other to be the best that we can.
• We will work together with our partners to make our services better.
• We will help our communities to thrive.

Our services

• Mental Health Services
• Community Health Services
• Learning Disabilities Services
• Social Care

Find out more about the services we offer in our service directory.

Job overview

To provide a comprehensive financial management service to corporate managers within one or more directorates. This will involve working closely with budget managers to provide financial management advice and support using information produced by the management accounting team.
The role involves the production of timely and accurate management information, and requires both technical knowledge of accounting procedures and an understanding of the operational business of the Trust
The senior management accountant is part of a team providing support to one or more Executive Directors. Within this larger team, each Senior management accountant works with a management accountant providing financial management information and advice to a defined group of budget holders.

Main duties of the job

To produce monthly budget reports for services within one or more directorates. Understand the key drivers of the underlying financial position and communicate these effectively to budget holders. Meet regularly with budget holders to discuss financial performance and to understand the reasons for any variances. Identify areas of concern and communicate these to the budget holders and, where appropriate, senior finance team and service directors. Attend Directorate Senior Management Team meetings with senior management and clinical staff and present the financial information clearly. Undertake costings for new developments and service enhancements within the service area supported. Provide support and advice on the revenue implications of business cases, service developments and proposed service changes. Support managers to develop an annual budget to ensure services are planned within available resources and accurately reflect the expected cost of the service. Assist budget holders in identifying their Cost Improvement Programmes, and monitor delivery of cost reductions and achievement of any CIP targets set. Provide support to the Senior Finance Manager in monitoring contract income.

Working for our organisation

EPUT are looking for motivated staff who shares our Trust values of Care, Learn and Empower. In return, EPUT can offer you a range of benefits and development including;

• Season Ticket Loans
• NHS discounts for staff
• Excellent Training facilities and opportunities
• Buying and Selling annual leave scheme
• The opportunity to work bank shifts and expand knowledge and experience in other areas
• Salary Sacrifice schemes including lease cars and Cycle to Work
• Day One Flexible Employer

Join our Staff bank

What is Staff Bank?

Our EPUT NHS staff bank is an entity managed by the trust that hires clinical and non-clinical healthcare professionals to take on shifts at our trust hospitals and community settings. Here at EPUT we maintain our own bank of specialist staff to ensure that we are able offer safe and effective care at all times.

All our permanent staff are automatically enrolled onto the staff bank however this does not mean you have to work any additional shifts, but the option is there for you if you wish.

If you are joining our Trust in a fixed term role, please indicate on your New Starter Paperwork that you wish to join our staff bank.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities
- To produce monthly budget reports for services within one or more directorates, ensuring that the monthly reporting timetable is achieved, the data within the reports is accurate and correctly takes account of all appropriate accruals and pre-payments. This will include reconciling budget movements, monitoring savings plans and identifying and investigating variances.
- Understand the key drivers of the underlying financial position and communicate these effectively to budget holders. Through knowledge of the service and dialogue with the budget holder prepare robust forecast income and expenditure estimates to feed into the organisational monitoring returns and performance reports.
- Meet regularly with budget holders to discuss financial performance and to understand the reasons for any variances. Provide challenge, support and advice to ensure that variances are dealt with and financial control is maintained.
- Identify areas of concern and communicate these to the budget holders and, where appropriate, senior finance team and service directors. Provide advice to managers to take corrective action, including identifying opportunities for cost reduction or income generation. Follow through on agreements for corrective action and provide appropriate level of challenge where performance does not improve.
- Attend Directorate Senior Management Team meetings with senior management and clinical staff and present the financial information clearly. Be able to explain and discuss financial performance in detail and deal with any queries arising.
- Undertake costings for new developments and service enhancements within the service area supported. Attend relevant meetings with operational managers and commissioners as required.
- Provide support and advice on the revenue implications of business cases, service developments and proposed service changes.
- Support managers to develop an annual budget to ensure services are planned within available resources and accurately reflect the expected cost of the service. This will include costing an approved staffing establishment, assessing the level of non pay expenditure, understanding income flows and identifying cost pressures.
- Assist budget holders in identifying their Cost Improvement Programmes, and monitor delivery of cost reductions and achievement of any CIP targets set.
- Provide support to the Senior Finance Manager in monitoring contract income, ensuring that contract variations are recorded in the ledger in a timely fashion and any payment issues are highlighted immediately. Responsible for ensuring that monthly block invoices for defined contracts are raised and income reconciled on a monthly basis.
- Ensure that all directorate income is invoiced correctly and regularly. Provide appropriate and clear supporting information for charges and liaise with debtor organisations to resolve any queries.
- Provide training and advice to budget holders on trust financial and purchasing systems and interpretation of the financial statements provided to them.
- Ensure that budget holders understand and comply with key financial procedures and policies including Trust Standing Orders, Standing Financial Instructions and purchasing procedures. Provide advice and clarification as required.
- Contribute to the production of the Trust Annual Accounts, completing working papers, analyses and returns as directed.
- Responsible for the management, development and training of the Management

Person specification

Educational Qualifications
Essential criteria

• Membership of AAT, relevant degree or equivalent qualification or equivalent knowledge gained through extensive experience in a similar role.
• Engaged in study for CCAB or equivalent qualification or willing to commence training
• Evidence of commitment to continuing and ongoing personal and professional development
• GCSE level or equivalent

Desirable criteria

• Willing to learn new skills

Knowledge
Essential criteria

• Proficient in use of IT software including spreadsheets, word processing
• Knowledge of NHS finance regime
• Awareness of current NHS issues and challenges

Skills /Experience
Essential criteria

• Literate in IT/Computer Skills
• Good oral communication skills based on fluency on the English language
• Experience working in NHS finance department using computerised financial information systems
• Ability to clearly present and explain complex financial information and concepts to non financial managers
• High degree of accuracy and excellent attention to detail

Please note - staff who are formally at risk within the organisation will be given priority in securing alternative employment. Should it come to light that a post being advertised by the Trust is considered 'suitable alternative employment' to an individual who is at risk, the recruiting manager will be advised and the post will be withdrawn from NHS Jobs.

Use of Artificial Intelligence (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.

Important Professional References

Make sure that as a part of your application you have professional references with business contract information covering your last three year employment history. We are unable to accept personal or character references.

As a newly appointed employee you are responsible for incurring the cost of your initial DBS check relevant to your post, the amount will be deducted from your first salary with the Trust.

Applications for Job Share are positively welcomed.

Equal Opportunities Employer

Our Trust is an Equal Opportunities Employer. We particularly welcome applications from people with experience of using mental health services. We also hold the Disability two tick symbol and have made the pledge to commit to employing more people with learning disabilities, we encourage people with a disability to apply. If you require this application form in another format i.e. Braille or audio tape etc, please contact the Recruitment Department on 01375 364513 or email [email protected] and we can arrange for this to be dispatched to you.

The Trust has the right to expire vacancies prior to the closing date if they so wish. The Trust makes every attempt to contact all applicants and we strongly advise that you check the email account which is registered with NHS Jobs regularly, we would advise however due to the high number of applications we receive that if you have not heard from us within three weeks of the closing date your application has been unsuccessful on this occasion.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults, and expect all staff to undertake this commitment. Applicants will be subject to robust safer recruitment processes.

Covid Vaccination

Although Covid vaccinations are no longer a mandatory requirement within the NHS we continue to encourage and support the vaccination uptake as this remains the best line of defence against Covid19. The safety of our staff and patients is a top priority for us at EPUT.

If you would like to book a Covid vaccination or would like more information please contact us by emailing [email protected] .

Employer certification / accreditation badges
Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

Documents to download

• JD ( PDF , 696.5 KB )
• PS ( PDF , 592.3 KB )
• Why Join The NHS Pension Scheme ( PDF , 91.3 KB )
• EPUT Pledge - Step into Health ( PDF , 211.0 KB )
• Candidate Privacy Policy ( PDF , 336.6 KB )
• Right to Work Information ( PDF , 293.6 KB )
• Employer Recognition Scheme - Gold Award ( PDF , 27.7 KB )
• Trust Vision and Values ( PDF , 168.9 KB )
• Values of the NHS Pension ( PDF , 151.3 KB )
• EPUT Staff Benefits ( PDF , 89.3 KB )

£64789.43 Per Annum £64,789.43 pa plus travel to work allowance up to £3800 pa

£64789.43 Per Annum £64,789.43 pa plus travel to work allowance up to £3800 pa