Job summary
Employer heading
Senior Assistant Management Accountant
NHS AfC: Band 5
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Job overview
An opportunity has arisen for a Senior Assistant Management Accountant, acting as a key member of the Financial Management team.
The post holder 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.
The successful candidate will have completed their Diploma Level of CIMA/CCAB qualification or have a relevant degree in Accounting or have equivalent experience. They will have strong numeracy skills and attention to detail, alongside excellent I.T. and communication skills.
The department currently has a hybrid working policy, so the successful candidate will be required to work a minimum of 3 days a week in the office. With sites at both Southport and Knowsley.
Interview date: 15th of January 2025
Main duties of the job
The Senior Assistant Management Accountant’s main duties will be to:
- 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
KEY DUTIES
• To establish and maintain strong working relationships with both key internal and external individuals to ensure effective working. The post holder will be expected to liaise with both internal departments and external bodies.
• To ensure the provision of high-quality financial advice to budget holders and other non-finance managers to enable the delivery of the Trust’s strategic, corporate financial objectives.
• To monitor financial performance against agreed budgets, analysing, reporting on variations and assisting in formulating corrective actions. Proactively support the delivery of targets by sharing good practice, identifying areas for improvement, and agreeing and monitoring action plans.
• To have specialised knowledge within the division supported by the team, gained through relevant theoretical knowledge and experience of other financial areas.
• To validate output from the monthly payroll process to ensure all payments are coded correctly in accordance with the budgets. Identification and correction of errors to ensure financial data is correct.
• To contribute to the completion of statutory returns, adhering to strict timetables.
• To attend the relevant divisional and specialty business meetings on behalf of Financial Management and provide relevant financial support, advice and information.
• To maintain the integrity of the financial ledger and other financial systems to ensure that compliance with audit requirements is adhered to.
• To contribute to the formulation of the annual budget setting for the Trust and ensure pressures are reported and monitored.
• To promote effective financial management and financial control amongst the divisional management teams. To provide appropriate advice and support with the divisional structure to ensure all efforts are made to achieve financial stability, including the review and monitoring of establishment information.
• To assist in the delivery of financial awareness training to all levels of management within the Care Group. informal training will be provided to budget holders and managers in relation to financial issues on a regular basis.
• To carry out any other work as may be required to satisfy the requirements of both the finance department and Care Group.
MANAGEMENT & LEADERSHIP
• Responsible for the production and monitoring of timely and accurate financial information and reporting to strict deadlines, enabling the proactive management of budgets by budget holders.
• To contribute to the development of financial management information and communicate ideas and suggestions for departmental improvements to the Management Accountant(s) and Senior Management Accountant.
• To allocate work to staff members within the department and provide training within own areas of work enabling them to develop in accordance with their KSF outline. 3
• To deputise for the Management Accountant(s) as required.
• To train new and existing staff within the team, providing induction materials including accurate up to date procedure notes, demonstrating working routines and coordinating work between the Assistant Management Accountants as necessary. Education & Development
• To provide training to non-financial managers within the Trust on all matters relating to budgetary control and financial management; including effective use of information systems/reports.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Completed AAT Level 4 or equivalent experience
- Diploma Level CCAB/CIMA qualification or relevant degree in Accounting or equivalent experience
Knowledge & Experience
Essential criteria
- Financial management experience
- Experience of income and expenditure budgets
- Knowledge of accountancy policies and procedures
Desirable criteria
- Staff management skills
- NHS Finance experience
- Experience of contract monitoring and reporting
Skills
Essential criteria
- Ability to analyse, investigate and interpret financial information and queries
- Ability to report and present financial information to both finance and non-finance individuals (internal and external)
- Well organised, able to prioritise own workload to deliver to tight deadlines
- The ability to manage conflicting priorities
Other
Essential criteria
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
- The ability to maintain effective working relationships, both internal and external
- Strong IT skills and experience using Microsoft Office suite
- Evidence of continued professional and personal development and learning through the PDP process
Applicant requirements
You must have appropriate UK professional registration.
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Nicola Findlater
- Job title
- Senior Management Accountant
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- (0151) 478 7896
- Additional information
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