Job Description

1. To contribute to the financial management of the Finance Directorate as a member of the senior finance team and to ensure the provision of a management accounting service that is agreed and acceptable to both the Director of Finance and Executive Board of the Trust.
2. To provide effective budgetary control to the Trust by producing regular, meaningful and accurate income and expenditure information to budget holders by the formulation of appropriate budget setting methodologies and ensuring these are accurately recorded in the financial ledger system.
3. To ensure that budgetary units develop and act as effective businesses units within the Trust, ensuring cost efficiencies are delivered and margins maximized.
4. To develop strategies that will maximize the Trust’s financial position through effective co-ordination between income, expenditure and business management.
5. To provide expert input into the formulation of business cases bringing together budgetary plans as well as assessments of risk ratings and particularly the impact on the Trust’s EBITDA.
6. To analyze costs and make recommendations to develop cost improvement plans. Thereafter to monitor cost improvement schemes to ensure targets, timescales and Trust expectations are met, reporting deviations as appropriate.
7. To ensure the production of accurate financial returns to commissioners and other external stakeholders as required in line with set deadlines.
8. Ensure their team of Management Accountants delivers month end financial information within the 3 working day turnaround.
9. To identify and notify internal control risks, taking adequate and appropriate action as necessary.
10. Proactively participate and assist colleagues in managing budgets, planning service developments, identifying and achieving targets and participating in the development of business cases.
11. Deliver formal and/or informal training to budget holders to assist them in understanding the financial information provided to them and managing their budgets.
12. To maintain accurate budgets as a result of pay awards, service changes, virements and new developments.
13. To analyze and report significant budgetary variances to the Associate Director of Finance Business partnering and the Deputy Chief Finance officer.
14. To meet and discuss with budget holders where necessary, remedial action to address financial issues.
15. To actively promote cost improvement ideas and deliver monitoring arrangements for identified schemes.
16. To oversee the maintenance of accurate financial records of staff in post, and to ensure that this information is provided to budget managers on a monthly basis and is reflected in the Trust’s budgeting software.
17. To assist and work closely with Directorates and the Associate Director of Finance Business Partnering to produce forecasts of expenditure and devolved income and to ensure that explanations for variances and deviation from forecast outturns are communicated effectively.
18. To work closely with service and other Finance Managers on areas such as service development, performance management, business planning, service reviews and key performance indicators.
19. To produce relevant, timely and accurate adhoc reports as requested by internal managers and external stakeholders to meet their needs and obligations.
20. To ensure that sound financial systems exist for the complete, accurate and efficient recording of transactions and their adherence to Standing Financial Instructions (SFIs). This will include well documented systems and procedures through a series of procedure notes, revised as and where necessary to maintain relevance and promote best practice.
21. To jointly manage and implement the annual expenditure and devolved income budget setting process whilst ensuring effective links with business planning.
22. Where necessary, interpret, formulate and implement financial plans to achieve NHS reforms as they arise.
23. To work with the Associate Director of Finance, Performance and Contracts and their teams to further the development and roll out of service line reporting and patient level costing across the services.
24. To work closely with the Head of Financial Assurance & Compliance to ensure the effective closedown of the Trust’s accounts at year-end.

Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities