Divisional Accounting Assistant - Financial Management

Job overview

The post holder will provide support to the Directorate Accountant in the delivery of financial and statutory obligations of the Trusts Financial Management function. Responsibility for producing financial information and providing support to a group of clinical and departmental budget holders. To be a key member of the Trust’s Finance Department and contribute to the delivery of its overall objectives. They will be a member of the divisional team, providing complex financial and business information to clinical and non-clinical colleagues. They will support aspects of service area financial and business performance and financial management processes to ensure efficiency and effectiveness.

Main duties of the job

Working with the Directorate Accountant, the post holder will develop and produce information to support accurate and timely monthly performance reports for presentation at service meetings and to feed into the Trusts position for internal and external corporate reporting. There will be a requirement to discuss this review with budget holders. To achieve this, the post holder will be expected to work with the clinicians and budget holders within the service area to model financial information to enable informed decision making on business processes and plans, which improve and enhance the overall productivity of the Trust. The post holder will support the Directorate Accountant in the preparation of robust financial forecasts to be agreed with the Finance Manager and Head of Finance. This will include supporting the planning process and associated work streams. They will deputise for the Directorate Accountant as and when necessary.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

While responsible to the Directorate Accountant the post holder works under minimum supervision, and is responsible for ensuring that a range of deadlines are met within the section. This post requires a high level of initiative in dealing with queries from Managers, Clinicians and other staff within the Trust. Decisions on day to day operational issues can be made and in the case of complex issues, with reference to the Directorate Accountant. It would be expected that a member of staff in this post would to a large extent manage and prioritise their own workload and that of support staff, to ensure predetermined deadlines are met in a timely manner. - This post requires excellent communication and working relationships within the Finance Department, the Trust and externally. In particular the post has to deal with a high volume of queries from the Directorates. It is expected that the post holder would communicate complex financial matters to non-financial staff such as Clinicians, Clinical Managers and administrators. - The post holder is responsible for at least one other member of staff and there will be responsibility to train new staff in what is quite a technically demanding role. - The nature of the position requires that the post plays an important role in the financial reporting of the Trust. High levels of IT skills are essential to deal with the wide range of systems used within the department. It is expected that the post holder would be actively pursuing a recognised professional qualification, or possess the equivalent experience. - The nature of the post requires a high level of VDU usage. In addition, the monthly reporting cycle requires a high level of input for approximately 2 weeks out of every month, this can be extremely demanding at times. - To take responsibility for the maintenance and development of spreadsheets, delegating routine tasks to the Assistant Accountant, and reporting issues to the Directorate Accountant. To ensure income and expenditure is recorded accurately. To discuss routine and more complex queries with internal managers and external bodies where necessary. To provide support and advice to the Assistant Accountant in dealing with queries. Financial information and reports are produced in a timely and accurate manner. Queries are dealt with in a timely and professional manner - To take responsibility for analysing income and expenditure, identifying variances, investigating where necessary and providing high level reporting to the Directorate Accountants for review. High quality information is provided to Directorate Accountants for review. - To oversee the completion & reconciliation of control accounts in conjunction with the assistant accountant on a monthly basis and maintain appropriate documentation on file. All control accounts are fully reconciled and signed off in line with the agreed timetable for completion. - To ensure that budgets are reconciled on a monthly basis, and maintain appropriate documentation on file. Budgets are fully reconciled and signed off in line with the agreed timetable for completion. - To develop a detailed understanding of the recharge system, providing high level support in assisting the Directorate Accountants setting, developing and maintaining recharge budgets. To ensure that recharges are processed accurately in accordance with the monthly timetable, covering recharges between Directorates within the Trust and recharges to external bodies. To ensure that a thorough understanding of the basis of recharging is developed, to enable clear and appropriate advice and support to be given within the Trust and to external bodies. - To complete all necessary work in respect of recharge systems in line with the agreed timetable, to respond to all queries effectively - To raise ad hoc requests for invoices to be raised and to ensure the income is recorded in an accurate and timely manner. Invoices are raised within the agreed timetable - To provide high level support in the annual budget setting process for Directorates. Developing an awareness of Directorates pressures and development needs and linking these to key targets and initiatives. - To develop an awareness of the Business Planning process and support the Directorate Accountants in producing financial information relating to it. To make significant contributions to the process in support of the Directorate Accountant - To produce the budget statements in Excel format from the General Ledger system on a monthly basis, ensuring that all data is reconciled and updated prior to being sent to the Directorates. Statements are produced to a high level of quality in terms of presentation, within agreed timescales. - Assist in the provision of reference cost and financial flows information, undertaking complex costing and analytical work, and providing interpretation and review of outcomes. Developing a thorough understanding of guidance provided by the Department of Health, and applying to relevant areas as required. Develop a thorough understanding of the mechanics involved in undertaking work, to develop an understanding of the guidance and be able to advise as necessary. - Contribute to the smooth and efficient functioning of the finance function by performing ad hoc duties as and when required especially to ensure the fulfilment of any statutory financial information requirements. - To be responsive and flexible when required. Assist the Directorate Accountant where necessary in the provision of information and costs relating to specialist contracts. Developing an understanding of the relevant service areas, and linking the commissioning arrangements with the process of setting and maintaining budgets. - Develop sufficient knowledge and be able to clearly link budgetary and commissioning arrangements. Take responsibility for calculating and monitoring costs of projects, reporting to the Directorate Accountant - Develop sufficient knowledge and provide support when required. Support the training process when required, both in terms of finance and non-finance staff. Favourable feedback where training is undertaken.