Finance Assistant

Job overview

An exciting opportunity has arisen within South Warwickshire University NHS Foundation Trust. We are looking to recruit a Band 4  Finance Assistant  to join our Finance team.  The successful candidate will assist the finance manager to provide accurate, timely and meaningful financial information and advice  to a range of individuals.

Main duties of the job

To assist the Trust’s Management manage the financial affairs of the Trust by assisting the Finance Directorate in the provision of accurate, timely and meaningful financial information and advice to a range of individuals from director level down within the Trust and other NHS and non-NHS organisations.

Working within the Finance Team and with ward and departmental  managers, assist in improving the quality of the financial service to wards  and departments within and outside the Trust.

Ensure ward and department managers understand their budgets and the  impact of cost pressures and cost improvements so that they are aware of  any major changes therein; obtain management sign off on all budgets in  line with set timetables.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Understand and comply with the Trust’s policies, Standing Financial Instructions and Standing Orders.

Understand the Trust-wide financial and operational issues; contribute to the achievement of the Trust’s financial objectives.

Working within the Finance Team and with ward and departmental managers, assist in improving the quality of the financial service to wards and departments within and outside the Trust

Write and maintain written procedures for tasks within the department

Determine priorities in workload in order to maximise personal productivity and efficiency; treat all data in an appropriate manner (e.g. preparation, storage, retrieval, dissemination)

On an annual basis and at other times during the year assist in the preparation of ward and department budgets; make a note ensure all cost pressures are noted; cost improvements are recorded; check all budgets for reasonableness and amend as appropriate.

Ensure ward and department managers understand their budgets and the impact of cost pressures and cost improvements so that they are aware of any major changes therein; obtain management sign off on all budgets in line with set timetable

Log all budget changes and ensure that each is supported by evidence of their validity (e.g. senior manager sign off, skill mix requests, etc); ensure all movements in and out of Trust reserves are authorised by the Associate Director of Finance; store all documents in an appropriate manner and respond to management and audit queries as they arise

Process budget and actual transactions accurately in line with departmental timescales at month, quarter and year end; escalate to more Senior Management, if any transaction is out of the norm; raise recurrent and adhoc invoice requests and, where recurrent, work with the Income & Contracts team to put appropriate Service Level Agreements in place.

Carry out regular reconciliations of appropriate accrued and prepaid expenditure and accrued and deferred income to ensure reports reflect the most up to date situation.

Assist in the maintenance of the schedule of delegated authority and the financial report distribution list.

Prepare, in line within the departmental timetable, draft ward and departmental financial reports and review the anomalies and variances with a view to ensuring the final reports are accurate; where there are anomalies and/or major variances, identify causes (e.g. activity/price changes) and prepare reports to show managers what has happened.

Meet with ward and department managers, on a regular basis, to discuss areas of concern in the financial reports (eg unexpected trends, significant variances); respond in reasonable timescales to any request from managers for further analysis of costs and income.

To work independently, raising any matters of concern with the Deputy Manager or Senior Manager (Financial Management) as appropriate.

Carry out other recurrent and ad-hoc exercises relating to financial information and advice to all levels of management within the Trust (e.g. General Managers, Associate Directors of Operations, Executive Management and Board members) ensuring that each person has the authority to request such information.

Carry out other recurrent and ad-hoc exercises relating to financial information to organisations and individuals (e.g. NHSI, FOI) ensuring that each has the authority to request such information.

Carry out ad-hoc costing requests in support of budget changes (e.g. skill mix) and/or business cases of varying complexity for internal and Health Economy-wide purposes.

Assist in the preparation of ward & departmental financial forecasts in line with set timetables.

Work with ward & departmental managers to ensure they understand what financial reports are telling them, interpret graphs and reports and assist managers with the formulation of plans to hit their set budgets

Undertake mandatory training as appropriate – Information Governance, Health & Safety, Equal Opportunities